Replace Headlights: 1993-1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2024
- Word of advice: BUY OEM!
We found brand new OEM headlights on eBay. The aftermarket replacements from Amazon were not plug and play - you'll see the extra effort John had to put in for these lights to clip in. Eventually it worked, but I can't imagine many people want to waste all that time and put in all that effort when the OEM part was available at nearly the same price.
I can't get over just how loose fitted the headlight housings and even the side marker and turn signal housings are
as well! What a fricken mess that Jeep had conjured up to begin with! That and the fact of how in the hell are you
are supposed to do proper headlight alignment and maintain said alignment if everything is loose as hell and really
doesn't appear to want to stay in the first place! The cheapness even of the OEM and even the aftermarket set just
blows my mind, first and foremost!!! Even though I have a broken plastic side mount tab on my 03 Jeep Grand
Cherokee and that all started with a front corner hit, yet ever so slight, to get an even close alignment from the more
outboard adjustment, I had gotten the idea of cutting a 3"x4" piece of rubber floormat so as to wedge it in between
the broken plastic mounting tab and the area that the housing tab and the mount rest position to get the headlamp
to be center neutral! Beforehand, the headlight was shinning right beyond the road ditch and since the headlamp
R&R can be a little stubborn to say the least, my son had mentioned, well let's try and pry at the portion of where the
curved uppermost part of the fender meets up with the headlamp itself, so he did! Secondly, this is where I came up
with the use of that 3'x4" scrap of floor mat to wedge in there to keep from the headlight to end up moving cockeyed
all over again! It just wasn't enough to try a pull out some of that curled and creased edge of the fender what was
telling me that perhaps the headlight back housing which is metal was probably bent up as well! The previous owner
had hit something like a glancing deer hit at the corner of the bumper that also jammed part of the uppermost part
of the fender however so slight! The strongest evidence is where the bumper skin got split of the topside of the skin
and thus what's behind the skin can and will tell a better side of damage underneath, although, ever so slight! But who
is really going to go through that much trouble, yet to do bumper skin removal and seam mending and all the rest all
because cosmetically it is EVER so slight??? Not me nor my son go to those absolute lengths because of a very slight
imperfection on an already 20+ year old vehicle that could cost you 3 1/2 hours R&R at minimum and full restoration
that has the potential to cost oh say upwards into 900-1000 bucks to faithfully restore including a near paint match but
not straight on! I used to carry full coverage back when my 2003 Saturn Ion 3 was still on the road because back then,
I positively knew that any kind of wreckage or vehicle carnage could prove to be very costly but who really has that kind
of coverage that they really can afford anymore??? So as a mister fix-it, you just run with it and anything outside of
some aspects of repair, you just do what you can and skip the high cost bs all together. Once again Margarette and John,
both problem solvers when just some things, just want to drive yah's nutso and it's that quick thinking on your feet solves
those problems. There has also been reported incidences where by Dorman parts solutions don't always works best
and it's of my opinion that Dorman buys up leftover OEM parts from the automakers and/or product overruns and these
parts can also be problematic from time to time as well! And so don't even really think that we are immune to the
auto part places that also buy up OEM parts from their warehouses that are excess to their inventories as well and it's
because warehouse storage of parts that are not easily sold comes at a very high cost premium for storage. The auto
parts stores also buy up some of these Chineseium type parts as well, be it for the lack of not having parts to sell
although they rely on parts sourced here in the states first! Examples: those damnable Chinese made brake rotors and
Chinese rebuilt and new marketed alternators and starters that have flooded the market like crazy. Since the trade market
is way out of whack and whether certain parts are still made in Mexico for instance, these parts houses just have a nasty
habit of turning on a dime towards what and where stuff is available and fulfill the demand in the shortest amount of time
is mostly their kind of aims in the short term but then again, will things really return back to normal; I kind of doubt that!!
Things can only get worse and this is why I bought up as many parts deemed affordable for my 03 starting in 2021, parts
that I know will come at a hefty premium if I didn't act right away!
Craig - John and I were wondering how you're doing - and so glad you stopped by to share your Jeep wisdom with everyone! Happy Father's Day, by the way! You were smart to start stockpiling - I wish we did the same - parts are getting worse and yet more expensive. After watching what he just went through with his sister's Jeep headlights, I went looking for my Ford OEM replacements, and they no longer make them. So pretty soon we're going to try the "polish" route with my car and post the results. Also, I haven't forgotten about your Steak Diane yet... still looking at recipes, so stay tuned!
@@diyduo_getyourfix Thank-You for the Father's Day wish and I hope that
your celebration and refection was also most favorable too! I'm still hanging
in there, although not robust. Much happiness to you and yours! Bye for now
and take care!