About Headlight removal

[treepete]

I'm ashamed to even have to ask this question. :shy:

When I turn the headlight removal bolts, they just turn and turn and turn, but never come out... I cannot change my bulbs in my headlights from behind, and this is the only way to get to them.
I know you mechanics are laughing at me, but I think these are stripped somehow. Either that or Im a total idiot. Am I doing something wrong? os there a secret to this type of light housing? a clip or somthing that Im missing? is it even possibly to strip them? This has to be the first time they have been out... unless someone changed them back when it had 25K miles on it...
Murphy's Law of headlights states that I'm gonna get pulled over tonight since the bulb failed.
Im going at lunch for some replacements 9005 and 9006 (might as well do both while Im in there.)

DONT LAUGH. man, I'm shamed. :budo:

 

[Harry Pluta]

Don't feel too bad. I was wondering the same thing. I ended up pulling the battery to change mine! I would be interested in the answer as well.

-Harry

 

[Rollin Thunder]

since i dont own my 99 any more i cant tell you how to get it out, but someone will.

BUT the screw your turning i think is your aimer, you aiming one of your lights higher or lower.

 

[boostaholic]

You have to turn the 2 black hex bolts and pull up on them, they're kind of a pain in the ass to pull out but once you get them you can pull the entire assembly out. I think I used a 6mm nut driver to remove them but they're pretty small iirc. The torx screw is for headlight adjustment.

 

[treepete]

nice new avatar, Boost. You look like Arh-nuhld with Richard Simmons hair.

Yeah, those ARE the two that Im turning. I think I have to go again and try pulling up on the with something at the same time. I drove over to autozone and grabbed some Sylvania Silverstar Ultras for the replacements.
man... a hundred bones for those things.. thats crazy.

 

[boostaholic]

Damn I would have sold you some piaas for way cheaper, silverstars are good tho. BTW its an old picture of arnold in a hot tub, forget what movie but the govenator looks pretty damn funny.

 

[blk87brd]

I've had the same problem on a 99 tahoe. The easiest way I found was to remove the grill (four screws and four clips plus eight screws in park lights)and take the headlight assembly off the rad support. I used a tool for removing interior panels (forked screwdriver like) under the stripped bolt while turning it and it came right out. To repair the threads, I epoxied a nut to the bottom of the mount.
Regards
Tom G.

 

[Mike97]

nice new avatar, Boost. You look like Arh-nuhld with Richard Simmons hair.

Yeah, those ARE the two that Im turning. I think I have to go again and try pulling up on the with something at the same time. I drove over to autozone and grabbed some Sylvania Silverstar Ultras for the replacements.
man... a hundred bones for those things.. thats crazy.

I hope your Sylvania Silverstars last longer than any that I have bought. I went through 3 sets of them before I decided I would never buy those again. They would die within 6 months of installing them, almost to the day. Now I use Osram Silverstars after a friend recommended them. They are not available in the states but you can order them online from overseas.

 

[treepete]

dude, if my hundred dollar lights last only six months, I think my head will explode.

OK last night I got the one burnt out bulb in. Luckily the one that burnt out was THE ONLY ONE I COULD GET AT from the empty battery tray area.
all the hex bolts to remove the headlights are wasted.. they turn, but like i said, they still wont come out.
So now that I'm safe from the police for now, I ask for your help to get these things fixed or replaced.
I think when i have a few days of not driving and its a bit warmer, ill take the front grill off again and get the digital camera ready and see if I can find the exact thing from the headlight assebly that is failing. I tried lifting while unscrewing, but had no luck there.
Anyone have a plasma cutter or something?

 

[blk87brd]

Now that you are legal, here is what I can offer. I have a spare set of lights sitting in my shop. I will take some digital pictures this weekend and show you what needs to be fixed. It is a fairly easy fix. I'll do some work to the pictures to add arrows etc. so they make sense.
Regards
Tom G.

 

[treepete]

Tom, thanks that would be great.
WAY TO GET ON THE FORUM AND START SLINGING PICTURES AROUND

thats awesome.

 

[96ProCompTahoe]

i have the same problem with one of my headlights.

WHY DOES IT JUST TURN?:

the nut that it screws down into is just held in the plastic bracket. the hex bolt and nut rust together, making the nut spin inside the plastic housing.

the best way to "fix" the problem is pull the grill, pull the entire light assembly and replace the back bracket that holds the actual light housing. (takes 20 minutes) they are usually up on ebay for around $20 for the bracket.

 

[boostaholic]

Are you guys pulling up vertically? I swear mine were a pain in the ass to pull the first time and I needed to get some vice grips and a long pry bar for leverage to get them loose. You can pull the lower bumper and get at the lower headlight brackets to remove the assemblies but you are better off finding a way to get the posts out.

 

[blk87brd]

Good Morning
Had a chance to take some shots of a headligth I have lying around. Put them into a PDF in the belief that pretty much anyone can open a PDF with Adobe.
I hope I did the attachment thing correctly. If not let me know and I can e-mail them to you.
Regards
Tom G.

 

[blk87brd]

Treepete
Pretty obvious that I screwed up the attachment process as there don't appear to be any. I attempted to e-mail them to you but you have requested no private e-mail. Let me know how best to get them to you.
I would suggest that while you have your bolts loose, that you put an anti sieze agent on them. You would have the problem again.
Regards
Tom G.
Now I think I have got the attachments in place. There is text in each slide describing the purpose of the slide.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Tom G.

 

[treepete]

Tom, thanks a bunch. Those are great pictures and the descriptions are awesome too. This isnt the exact headlight assembly that I have, but can apply the principles anyway.
If i can get the whole assy off the truck when the grill is off, then I can do this fix and swap the bulbs out at the same time.

I am always confused by my model year and the exterior package for my truck. Its yukon on the inside, but escalade on the outside. the headlights and grill are different when I search for the 99 Denali parts. It makes finding grills and lights etc difficult.
the door of my ride says manufac in 6 of 98 I think, but under the hood sticker says its a 99. Maybe its like a half year or something.
here is the type of front I have, except with the GMC grill. Of course, its not white, but NINJA BLACK!

man, i got nuthin' today.

Pete