Headlamp Housing Defect?

[Chilly]

Bought new headlamp housings to replace the ones that were totaled when I hit a deer with my 06 TB awhile back. The replacement housings were supposed to be the Spyder brand, but they came in an unmarked box. I installed them anyway.

Within 20 hours of on-road use, the HB4 Chinese-made dim bulbs burned out. I assumed the brights would go next, so I bought replacements for both the dims and the brights. I had to pull the housings clear out to make the job easier, because the retaining rings for the bulbs were screwed down really tight and I could not twist them out by hand.

While fitting the new HB4 brights into their sockets, I noticed the bulbs fit loosely in the housing and the O-rings on the bulbs were not seating and/or sealing against the side of the sockets. The housings otherwise seem OK. The Chinese-made bulbs that came with the housing also fit loosely. I'm thinking this is a clear defect in the housing design and those O-rings should fit snug and seal the socket. I assume that all HB3 and HB4 bulb bases and O-rings are manufactured to a standard size. Is there a chance I've just got wrong size replacement bulbs? I'm thinking I ship these Chinese-made junk housings back to the vendor, but I'm not looking forward to an argument with an on-line dealer who might not want to take them back. Any suggestions?

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Do a projector retrofit.

 

[Blckshdw]

While I agree with @HARDTRAILZ , I am a bit biased so...

If you still have the lights off the truck, can you snap a pic of where the bulb seats? Maybe if you have clearance to get a screw driver in there, you can get the bulb retainers off the reflector bowl, and can add a rubber washer/o-ring for the bulb base to wedge against when you try to lock it in place.

Edit: I guess it would be easier to try and add a thicker o-ring to the bulb too.

 

[TequilaWarrior]

While I agree with @HARDTRAILZ , I am a bit biased so...

If you still have the lights off the truck, can you snap a pic of where the bulb seats? Maybe if you have clearance to get a screw driver in there, you can get the bulb retainers off the reflector bowl, and can add a rubber washer/o-ring for the bulb base to wedge against when you try to lock it in place.

Edit: I guess it would be easier to try and add a thicker o-ring to the bulb too.

Quite a few of the aftermarket LED upgrades require you to retain the previous bulb's o-ring in order for them to get "tight". I ended up having to use the o-rings from all 6 headlight & foglight bulbs in order for my LEDs to not back out.

 

[Chilly]

There is so much slop that I'm not sure a thicker O-ring would work, but maybe. I like the idea of the retrofit, if I can get a refund on these housings. Will let you know. Thanks for the replys!

 

[Blckshdw]

If you were going to do a retrofit, you should keep those housings and use them. The problem child bulb retainers would get removed, and the projectors fitted in their place.