Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jmhenrie]

Hi all, am I missing something in the dark? have to remove the trim ring to get to the headlight adjustment screws, only 2 screws adjustable?
 After 3 months with my ultra I finally went for a late night ride, the head light was terrible could not tell the difference between low and high beam, both aimed about 15 in front of bike. Found a nice wall to drive up two and marked the center of my beam with the bike against the wall backed up about 20 feet and the center of the beam dropped about 12 inches. got out the trusty HD tool kit and found that the three adjustment indents on the trim ring lined up with nothing, took off trim ring thinking just screw in the top screw it was to tight to move and no spring behind it. then tried loosing the bottom two screws left screw philips right screw torx nice huh. was able to loosen the bottom two screws enough to raise center of beam about 3 inches before the screws felt like they would fall out.  went for another test ride still no noticeable improvement in performance low and high beam still seem to hit the ground about 15 feet in front of bike, this about 1/3 the distance my o4 road king had.  are there any tricks to tilting the headlight more?  is the double bulb setup supposed to be better than the single bulb style in the 2004 bikes?
Thanks for any ideas
Mike Henrie

[Smiler]

Get it back to the dealer and let them sort it out!

Ride safe

[Chief]

Hi all, am I missing something in the dark? have to remove the trim ring to get to the headlight adjustment screws, only 2 screws adjustable?
 After 3 months with my ultra I finally went for a late night ride, the head light was terrible could not tell the difference between low and high beam, both aimed about 15 in front of bike. Found a nice wall to drive up two and marked the center of my beam with the bike against the wall backed up about 20 feet and the center of the beam dropped about 12 inches. got out the trusty HD tool kit and found that the three adjustment indents on the trim ring lined up with nothing, took off trim ring thinking just screw in the top screw it was to tight to move and no spring behind it. then tried loosing the bottom two screws left screw philips right screw torx nice huh. was able to loosen the bottom two screws enough to raise center of beam about 3 inches before the screws felt like they would fall out.  went for another test ride still no noticeable improvement in performance low and high beam still seem to hit the ground about 15 feet in front of bike, this about 1/3 the distance my o4 road king had.  are there any tricks to tilting the headlight more?  is the double bulb setup supposed to be better than the single bulb style in the 2004 bikes?
Thanks for any ideas
Mike Henrie

Mike,

Yes, the factory headlight adjustment is laughable. The alignment screws are allen head. The three small phillips head screws only hold on the retainer ring. I was not able to get the light aimed up enough before the spring compressed all the way down. You can either clip off a few coils, or add some washers under the lower springs to move them further out. Either way, you can raise it up further.

Good luck.

[charlie]

Let the dealer do it, there responsible for it.

[Twolanerider]

Let the dealer do it, there responsible for it.

Have heard a few cases where dealers would not shorten the top adjusting spring.  It was an excuse not to mess with it but they were telling owners things like "would void warranty on light," 'won't pass state inspection anymore" or (my favorite) "not DOT approved." 

Sometimes when it's such a simple thing it's just easier to do it and not worry with it anymore.

[grc]

Have heard a few cases where dealers would not shorten the top adjusting spring.  It was an excuse not to mess with it but they were telling owners things like "would void warranty on light," 'won't pass state inspection anymore" or (my favorite) "not DOT approved." 

Sometimes when it's such a simple thing it's just easier to do it and not worry with it anymore.