Headlights not very bright
 

I have put about 60,000 miles on this truck so it hasn't bothered me all that much. Truck is at 197,000 miles.

Bright headlights are not much brighter than dim. What strange is when lights are on dim, I pull back switch part way, before they click, and the headlights are bright, really good. But when I pull switch back far enough that it clicks, the headlights go dimmer than the halfway back position and only a little brighter than the dim.

The bright indicator light comes on. I have new bulbs that weren't the cheapest. The lens looks good. I don't want to mess with those HID or other fancy light systems. My guess would be a switch, but I don't see how it could just work some, seems it should either close the bright circuit or not and not be half way.

Anyone ever notice anything like this on their trucks?

It's the switch.

I been thinking that, but don't understand why it only partly works, they do get brighter, just not as bright as when pulled part way back.

Doesn't look hard to change out, does anyone know about that tilt steering arm. The top half of steering cover won't come off with that end on. Does the end screw off the tilt arm or does the arm and knob all screw out the assembly. I can see it has to be removed to get the top half of cover off.

Tilt arm unscrews. You can see two "flats" on it, for a small crescent wrench.

The contacts inside of the switch are probably worn and/or lost some of their "springiness" when the contact lever is fully seated in the "on" position. But halfway, are still making good contact.

The reason your lights get brighter when pulling the arm back part way is because you are lighting both high and low beam elements in the bulb. It makes it nice to see better, but it can burn out bulbs faster and/or melt the housing. It also adds a lot of electrical load to an already weak system.

Try cleaning/ replacing the switch as others have said. If that doesn't help look for the headlamp relay kit on lmc trucks dot com.

Thanks, that explains why they are brighter. Looks like that switch is $65.00 plus Kansas high 9.15% tax, may replace it next week. I just keep driving it until it dies and then going to replace, but it just keep going. Guess the switch won't break the bank. Didn't see two deer the other night until I was right beside them, they just watched me go by. Course, if I hit them I could collect the comp insurance and get something new.