Headlight Motor or Gear?
 

My driver side headlight opens fully sometimes and only half way other times. When it opens halfway it just hangs there and can be moved around a bit. When I close it, it makes this rhythmic knocking sound for about 4-5 seconds and looks like it’s trying to close further when it’s already closed. Whether it’s opened halfway or fully it will always close. There are times where I will open and close them repeatedly in an attempt to open the headlights and it will not open. Then other times it will fully open and close 12+ times in a row 🙄. I’ve tried using the little knob on the motor but it won’t move the headlight at all. It just keeps spinning and spinning. Is it the motor or gears? I’d hate to spend $80+ on a motor when all I need is a $25 set of gears. Please help!

You probably only need new "pellets" in your headlight motor. Not too difficult to replace, and the parts may be available at your favorite auto parts store. They are apparently the same as the "pellets" that are used in some Ford window motors. This vid might help:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...A&&FORM=VDRVRV

Id say its the gears. Worse case you open it up and it's the motor, you should swap out the gears anyway, that way you never have to do it again. Make sure you put a good amount of grease when putting the new gear back in.

Also, when turning the knob - you do have to turn it alot as it moved the headlight unit very little. So it's a lot of turns = very little movement but you should see some movement. Also try it in both directions (I think) if you get to a certain point, it will turn and not move the headlight unit anymore...but someone should verify cause its been a while since I've needed to use the knob.

Hot Rod Roy is dead on. Do not over think this. you can find the pellets or bushings at Advance Auto sometimes. Same ones that I used in my Ford Crown Victoria.

Yep, Roy be right. I've got to do my passenger's side one of these days. it still opens and closes but the noise when it closes tells me the pellets are bad. Already did the driver's side a while back.
Bad pellets with new pellets
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...389d5dd617.jpg