1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Anyone familiar with older 9000s headlight adjusters know that the black plastic housings that the adjuster bolts screw thru,dry out and pretty much disintigrate under pressure from the now non lubricated screws. What really happens is the metal threads seize inside them and that coupled with the age of the plastic prompts failure, and your headlights kinda float around without that solid mounting point. To fix, gently pop out the three white plastic ball and socket clips,which will allow the whole headlight to come free. Now your looking at the headlight bucket, go ahead and remove the srews (the black plastic semi-triangular inserts are what will most likely be cracked or badly broken away inside the " bucket housings" allowing you to remove the srews with the ball and socket on one end and the finger knob on the other. Gently remove the ball and socket (may want to soak in hot water to avoid breaking them, its still cold here) and cut away the adjuster knob from the other end( yes you have to destroy it) Now you have just the metal screw. I fabricated triangular pieces from a solid block rubber exhaust hanger 1" thick to fit snugly in the triangular shape of where the screws passed thru the bucket housings and drilled holes thru the rubber triangles so the screws would thread tightly thru them. Lubricate with your choice ( I used Neversieze ) and reassemble,eyeballing the angle of the lights, all that is left to do now is choose a new finger knob for the other ends of the screws , I used the plastic stopper tops of Grolsh beer bottles,(some are ceramic, use the plastic ones) drilled holes in them and epoxied to the knob end of the screws, fine tune your headlight aim and your all set. Saab wants 99.00 each for new adjusters/buckets,..dont/wont sell just the screws and plastic inserts ? Who needs em, Goldberg it!
posted by 146.18.17...
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