Driver's-side headlight tray -- I F'd up!

[jluetjen]

Note to self -- ALWAYS watch a YouTube video of a repair before starting.

I removed the old tray the hard-way -- be removing the HW with the tray from the car. It made sense since the new tray came with shiney new HW. I even got it out without cutting anything! But I digress...

Putting in the new tray -- the new HW just doesn't clamp on the sheet metal!


Looking at the other side, it's clear that the knurled adjuster clamps down on the sheet metal against the sleeved flat. What you can't see is the flange-nut under the adjuster that clamps against the inner sleeve.



But as you can see in the 1st picture, even with the flanged nut tight against the sleeve, the knurled piece isn't close enough the flat portion of the sleeve to clamp on the metal.

Am I missing something, or do I need to take out a grinding wheel to shorten the sleeve of the out-of-spec HW?

[jluetjen]

After a night's reflection -- grinding down the sleeve would be a mistake since the knurled adjuster is retained by a slight swage at the too of the skeeve. But a few washers that fit around the sleeve and under the nut will do the trick.

I suspect that the tooling which swages the sleeve has warn over time (worn down, and now it doesn't press as far down on the sleeve as it used to.

[jluetjen]

Yup. I put a lock-washer under each nut and it worked perfectly.

I put the car down on the tires, rolled it back to forth a couple of times and checked the right side tray with a small level. It was basically level side to side and front to back. I adjusted the left side tray the same way.

Plugged the headlight in, and everything seems to be pointed in the right direction.