Idiot Needs Help
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Instructor
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 233
Likes: 6
From: Lake Charles LA
Idiot Needs Help
Ok, I am attempting to change the headlamp actuators on my 79 with the hood on the car. I have read the GM Shop Manual and Wilcox's step by step procedure to do the job. A 4 on a job scale of 1-10, I believe it said. 
Ok, I got the old one out, but is there a trick to getting the new one back in without taking the hood off the car? None of the directions included that part. Really didn't want to do that today. It came out, you would think it would go back in, but I am having a heck of a time getting it there. Any tips? Or, is this pretty much impossible to do?
Edit: Never mind. I got it in. It is not impossible, just a big PITA! I should have known...
Ok, I got the old one out, but is there a trick to getting the new one back in without taking the hood off the car? None of the directions included that part. Really didn't want to do that today. It came out, you would think it would go back in, but I am having a heck of a time getting it there. Any tips? Or, is this pretty much impossible to do?
Edit: Never mind. I got it in. It is not impossible, just a big PITA! I should have known...
Last edited by beige79; Jan 23, 2011 at 02:15 PM.
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 4,062
Likes: 104
From: Southeast, Tennessee
St. Jude Donor '09 thru '26
glad you finally got it. seems to me when i changed out the actuators on my 78 a few years ago i was able to work most of putting it in place either through the front grill or from underneath (i don't remember which, but i do remember that it wasn't a hard job that took an unusual amount of time (of course time has a way of making you forget the frustrations of a particular job, lol)
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 57
Likes: 0
From: alabama
my way
I had a problem getting mine in too. then i had to take them out AGAIN!
my way was to wrap them in a rag(to protect the hood paint)
then open the hood and slide them down and let them rest on the bottom of the radiator support
then close the hood and install them from underneath the from bumper
not the right way just my way(not a fan of removing the hood)
J
my way was to wrap them in a rag(to protect the hood paint)
then open the hood and slide them down and let them rest on the bottom of the radiator support
then close the hood and install them from underneath the from bumper
not the right way just my way(not a fan of removing the hood)
J
