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Headlight adjustment

Started by John Bates, November 01, 2004, 10:18:47 PM

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John Bates

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Bikes don't leak oil, they mark their territory.  (Joerg)
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2002 Harley Sportster XLH883 with V&H Straight Shots
Prior owner of 1992 GS500E stock
Fairfield County, OH
USA

Ed89

Wild guess here, but on my headlight there seems to be a spring loaded adjustment screw a little below 3 o'clock position (looking at the headlight).  Maybe try that one?

Cheers,
e.

Dave Fowler

Hi,

Sounds like either the headlight itself is upside down, or the bulb within the headlight is not positioned correctly. Take a look at the bulb and there will be two filaments, the one closest to the connection is the one for the dipped beam and there should be a little piece of metal directly below it so that the light goes up and then is reflected down by the reflector. I think its possible to mount the bulb such that it is rotated plus or minus 60 degrees. You'll see what I mean when you see it.

Dave Fowler

Kerry

Ed's got the right screw for horizontal adjustments, I think:



For the vertical adjustment you're looking at THIS unit, right John?




Does this look any different than your setup?  (Ignoring the windshield hardware, of course.)

Whenever I experiment with different rear tires I usually have to adjust the headlight.  The same would be true if you switch to a Kat600 or other rear shock.  My point being that I HAVE adjusted my headlight 2 or 3 times, so I know it's do-able.
Yellow 1999 GS500E
Kerry's Suzuki GS500 Page

John Bates

Quote from: Ed89Wild guess here, but on my headlight there seems to be a spring loaded adjustment screw a little below 3 o'clock position (looking at the headlight).  Maybe try that one?

Cheers,
e.

Thanks Ed but that is the horizontal adjustment screw, Kerry's first pic above.
----------------------------------------------------
Bikes don't leak oil, they mark their territory.  (Joerg)
----------------------------------------------------


2002 Harley Sportster XLH883 with V&H Straight Shots
Prior owner of 1992 GS500E stock
Fairfield County, OH
USA

John Bates

Quote from: Dave FowlerHi,

Sounds like either the headlight itself is upside down, ..........

I think the headlight (assembly) can only mount one way because the locking bracket is on the side and has to line up with the locking nut.  


Quote from: Dave Fowler
..........or the bulb within the headlight is not positioned correctly. Take a look at the bulb and there will be two filaments, the one closest to the connection is the one for the dipped beam and there should be a little piece of metal directly below it so that the light goes up and then is reflected down by the reflector. I think its possible to mount the bulb such that it is rotated plus or minus 60 degrees. You'll see what I mean when you see it.

Dave Fowler

Thanks Dave, I will take a look at the bulb.
----------------------------------------------------
Bikes don't leak oil, they mark their territory.  (Joerg)
----------------------------------------------------


2002 Harley Sportster XLH883 with V&H Straight Shots
Prior owner of 1992 GS500E stock
Fairfield County, OH
USA

John Bates

Kerry, I don't know what we would do without your pics.  Great shots.

Yes, the first pic is of the horizontal adjust screw.  I assume mine works but haven't tried it yet because my immediate problem is the vertical.

Pic #2 looks like a rear view of the locking mechinizm for the vertical adjustment that I am talking about.

And pic #3, the bottom bolt head is the vertical adjust locking bolt.

My setup is the same but the positioning is different.  In pic #2 your black bracket (which is attached to the headlight housing) is positioned with the locking nut about 2/3 from the top of the slot, giving you some down adjustment and a lot of up adjustment.

On mine, the black bracket is positioned all the way down with the locking nut at the top of the slot. This give me no up adjustment and full down adjustment at the bracket.

So my headlight is at the extreme up position (black bracket down means headlight up).

Looking at pic#1 again, I think I see some space between the headlight housing and the turn signal mounting bracket.  However, on mine there is no space there, so I can't rotate the headlight down even though the locking bracket would allow it.

What is there about your headlight mounting that gives you space to rotate the headlight fully down?

And, this question for me, what is there about my headlight mounting that is different?

So far I don't see it.
----------------------------------------------------
Bikes don't leak oil, they mark their territory.  (Joerg)
----------------------------------------------------


2002 Harley Sportster XLH883 with V&H Straight Shots
Prior owner of 1992 GS500E stock
Fairfield County, OH
USA

John Bates

My solution is at hand.  :thumb:  I found two causes.

1. I removed the headlight and found a difference in the hardware at the rear adjustment.
On my bike, the nut shown in Kerry's pic #2, has an attached washer with a bent over tab.  The tab is probably there to keep the nut from turning when the bolt is loosened and tightened while adjusting the headlight. The problem was that the tab had rotated to the top of the bracket and blocked the movement of the bracket, result, no downward rotation of the headlight.

2. In addition to 1. above, the right headlight/turn signal bracket is bent in and stops the headlight from turning down.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to straighten the headlight/turn signal bracket without taking it off the bike.

Thanks Kerry, for the great pics. They helped me diagnose the problem. :cheers:
----------------------------------------------------
Bikes don't leak oil, they mark their territory.  (Joerg)
----------------------------------------------------


2002 Harley Sportster XLH883 with V&H Straight Shots
Prior owner of 1992 GS500E stock
Fairfield County, OH
USA

Kerry

Cool.  :thumb:

I took #2 and #3 just for you.   8)
Yellow 1999 GS500E
Kerry's Suzuki GS500 Page

straightforward

to make the picture complete, this thread has solved the problem I had when I tried to adjust the headlight. Haven't been aware of that pic 2 & 3 situation bur figured it out after having seen the pics. Thanks from Vienna as well, Kerry! :thumb:

Just my
Walter (waving)
red '98 GS500E

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