I was involved in an accident today and luckily, the only thing damaged by the collision itself was my front right headlight and corner light. The replacement bumper I have kept any body damage from occurring. However, once I got the $180 replacement headlamp assembly and went to install it, I was unable to because the lip on my replacement bumper is the way! Eek! I was able to get the old one out because it was broken up in a few places, but the new one won't go in at all and I don't know what to do! As far as I know, the replacement bumper is welded to the frame and I have no idea how I'm going to get a headlight in there. Can anybody help me? Please?

 

Cutting torch maybe? How about a grinder? Trim out just enough to get the assembly in, then trim the other side to match.

 

Upon closer inspection, the grille guard doesn't appear to be welded on. I think it's just bolted on. Not sure where it's bolted or attached up top, but here is where it's attached to the frame underneath. Maybe someone here who has experience installing these know where it attaches up top. It's dark outside, so I couldn't see too well. If it's just bolted on, I guess I could try to find a place that installs them here and see if they'll pull it off for me for a fee so that I can put on the head headlight assembly. Any thoughts?

 

I'd be willing to bet those 3 bolts (on each side for a total of 6) hold that bumper on. Loosen them and see if the bumper will tilt forward enough to get your light in. You might have to remove a bolt from each side in addition to loosening the others to get the bumper to lean forward enough.

I also like Crobtex's idea of cutting some of that diamond plate away because when you have a headlight that burns out, the "proper" way of replacing the bulb is to pull the headlight assembly out. There was a recent thread where someone had a heck of a time replacing the bulb because there wasn't enough clearance in back and all he had to do was pull the headlight assy out.

 

Stat,

Welded bumper just dosn't make sense. The whole idea of a bolted connection in this case is to shear or give to dissapate energy in a collision as well as provide play for alighment.

Stockers are held via 6 bolts, 3 aside if memory serves me correct. 1 to the angled strut each side and 2, one above the other at the front end of the frame.

FYI handy, headlamp removal is not necessary. Bayonet connection at rear of housing is easy once batteries are removed, and even that isn't critical.

Took a whole 5 minutes to upgrade my bulbs a while back.

Why remove assy and risk alignment problems?

 

I have to be honest, I haven't replaced a bulb yet on this truck. But I do know that some guy on this forum spent hours and numerous posts trying to replace the bulb and all he had to do is remove 1 push pin and then 3 bolts holding the headlight assembly in.

Just went out and looked at my truck and there is NO WAY I would attempt a bulb replacement from the back. The 3 bolts and push pin are right there in plain sight.

Not sure about your 98 but the lights on an 04 have a separate screw for alignment. The three bolts that hold it on have nothing to do with alignment.

 

 

The guy having problems with the bulbs was doing it in below zero temps, anything is hard then.
I've found bulb replacement to be a five minute job without removing anything.

Back on topic.
Stat, you may want to take a look before you get too far, the lower lamp adjustment screw may be inaccessable due to your bumper. The bumper may have to be removed totally or at least tilted way forward just to adjust the headlight.

 

Stat, I have an aftermarket bumper on mine, though a different brand than yours. It appears your bumper is mounted in a similar fashion as mine. The bumper uses 2 mounting ears that attach to the frame. Your pix show 2 bolts, but I think I remember 4 on mine. Then, in my case the bumper itself mounted to the the other end of the ears with another 4 or 5 bolts. I'm willing to bet that yours is not welded to the frame but bolted. It should be a very easy job to lift off, but it might be heavy. My aluminum bumper weighs around 135 lbs., so make sure you have someone to spot the bumper as you remove the bolts.

 

I found a place here in town that does grille guards and said they'd lift it off and install the light assy. for about $30-$40. I'm gonna take it in tomorrow morning. We'll see how it goes.

 

From the pictures it looks to be bolted on.

 

Got fed up with the lousy and continuously deteriorating headlights in my truck. Even with polishing the covers, the emitted light was pretty well useless. Besides that, these old lights did not look good. Finally decided to buy what appeared to be the same lights as OEM but from Headlights Depot and with the Perde 9007 Xenon enhanced bulbs. WOW! What a difference. From memory, I would say that the combination of these new lights and the bulbs provide more light than the OE lights. So far I am very happy with these lights, plus it makes my truck look look so much better.

 

I thought the headlights in my 12 Suburban were good, I'm due to replace the stockers in the 01. I'm gonna do the sport conversion to keep it stock looking......

 

I did the sport conversion a few year ago. Had to pull the bumper off to do it. Wasn't immediately impressed. I rewired them so on low, both low beams are on instead of just the one. I also figured out why all my lights (hi, lo, fog) come on at the same time with the switches in a certain position. The LED fog lights seem to latch everything on. A poor man's "bright box".