Onboard Scales Wrong - Affects Headlights

[J17GT]

Yes you have the sensors and correct on the CCD. If you have CCD which you do then your height sensor is built into the rear shock assemblies according to the service manual. From my experience (rain sensing wipers for example which weren’t turned on in the coding when I received my truck) I wouldn’t doubt there are people out there, and you may be one of them, who have equipment which isn’t turned on in the programming. Intentional? Who knows…my guess would be unintentional oversight of what options these trucks were actually ordered with and the program they wrote to the modules in some cases.

Truly appreciate the info, super helpful. Gives me what I need to try and go educate my dealer on how all this should work.

Sponsored

 

[Snakebitten]

Height sensor feeds the VDM module which communicates with the PCM and regulates voltage to each damper solenoid.

 

[antho]

See attached

 

[BAP84]

See attached

Antho, I see you’ve got a 21 801A Raptor as well. What do yours do? Can you put a bag of your favorite groceries in the bed without getting the screwdriver out and adjusting your headlights or blinding everyone on your way home lol?

 

[J17GT]

Height sensor feeds the VDM module which communicates with the PCM and regulates voltage to each damper solenoid.

Perfect! Thanks for the confirmation!!

 

[antho]

Antho, I see you’ve got a 21 801A Raptor as well. What do yours do? Can you put a bag of your favorite groceries in the bed without getting the screwdriver out and adjusting your headlights or blinding everyone on your way home lol?

@BAP84
I did haul a BBQ pit from Texas to Las Vegas at night. I had to stop and crank the adjustable screws wayyy down. I was blinding 18 wheelers. So i would say, No, Mine do not work properly. I haven't ever dug into it but seeing the time you put into it is kinda making me want to look further into it.

 

[BAP84]

@BAP84
I did haul a BBQ pit from Texas to Las Vegas at night. I had to stop and crank the adjustable screws wayyy down. I was blinding 18 wheelers. So i would say, No, Mine do not work properly. I haven't ever dug into it but seeing the time you put into it is kinda making me want to look further into it.

Please do! Are you a FORScan user? I’d love to compare data…

 

[antho]

Please do! Are you a FORScan user? I’d love to compare data…

@BAP84 I use Forscan and FDRS

 

[antho]

Ok. I have glare free enabled and im not really seeing any leveling. I can see the key on initialization but putting weight in bed and jacking up on the bumper just moves the light as if its stationary. Going to go look at some stuff and report back.

@BAP84 See Edit
EDIT: Did some testing. Lifting the driver side front showed the headlights calculating and adjusting to level. But by level it was looking at the difference between the left side and front side and balancing that out. So mine are "leveling" the difference between left and right but they balanced to the higher light (driver side) Gonna test some more on the front/rear aspect. Heck, Maybe we are thinking of leveling in the wrong aspect?

 

[BAP84]

@BAP84 I use Forscan and FDRS

Oh man I feel like you could be the missing link in this broken chain…Have I got some questions for you!

Starting with FDRS. Ive thought about buying the 2 day license just to look at what all is in there that isn’t accessible with FORScan but haven’t done it yet. Kind of figured I would take a shot at trying to explain this to the service department at the dealer I bought the truck from to see what they say first. I don’t have my laptop in front of me right now so going off of memory but I did the headlight function test in FORScan as well as the calibration where it goes through the limit stops and sets the headlights to what I assume is the neutral point then prompts you to set the headlight beam cutoff point per the service instruction based on your unloaded ride height then hit ok and it finishes whatever that one does. Made no difference to the direction the adjustment is made when weight is applied to the bed. Are there little gold mines of options in FDRS that aren’t available in FORScan that may be able to remedy this inverted Y axis adjustment issue?

 

[BAP84]

Ok. I have glare free enabled and im not really seeing any leveling. I can see the key on initialization but putting weight in bed and jacking up on the bumper just moves the light as if its stationary. Going to go look at some stuff and report back.

I just enabled glare free the other day and that works fantastic in my opinion. Haven’t checked my leveling functionality since doing that as I was messing with the leveling stuff a couple days prior to enabling glare free. I’ll check that out again tonight after work and see if my headlights are still moving vertically with travel. I had to have a friend help me run the jack while I watched the light or you really couldn’t notice any movement otherwise if you were running the jack then moving around to where you could see the cutoff like vs tape line as the adjustment happens rather quickly. I did however watch the live data on FORScan while jacking it up and that was moving the pitch axis as the height values changed. When my friend was jacking the back of the truck up I was able to watch it adjust though and you’d get the initial movement from the actual pitch of the truck changing, then the headlight adjustment would take place and it was going even further down (the wrong direction)…

 

[vidwiz]

I have glare free enabled too. If memory serves correctly, auto level did not operate properly before or after. That is if auto level is what i think it is but gosh i hope antho is wrong about us thinking about the wrong axis.

 

[vidwiz]

Here's another thought. For those without CCD. disconnect the rear sensor and move it while observing the effects. Just a thought, not sure if it helps. I could do it on the front, but that would not seem to prove anything given anthos post.

 

[BAP84]

Here's another thought. For those without CCD. disconnect the rear sensor and move it while observing the effects. Just a thought, not sure if it helps. I could do it on the front, but that would not seem to prove anything given anthos post.

Yeah I want to do more testing with the front vs rear. In theory when you load the back of the truck the front suspension will raise a certain amount as well which in theory would be corrected for as well as the rear squat for instance and when I had all of the height sensor values shown on FORScan they were all 4 changing (and I believe in the appropriate direction but can’t confirm as I don’t know what the manufacturer determines positive and negative numbers represent for the Y axis) raising the height of a given sensor was going negative and loading the suspension was making the numbers bigger on the positive side.

 

[crazywayne311]

Ok. I have glare free enabled and im not really seeing any leveling. I can see the key on initialization but putting weight in bed and jacking up on the bumper just moves the light as if its stationary. Going to go look at some stuff and report back.

@BAP84 See Edit
EDIT: Did some testing. Lifting the driver side front showed the headlights calculating and adjusting to level. But by level it was looking at the difference between the left side and front side and balancing that out. So mine are "leveling" the difference between left and right but they balanced to the higher light (driver side) Gonna test some more on the front/rear aspect. Heck, Maybe we are thinking of leveling in the wrong aspect?

this is very interesting guys.

my question is this: seems as if another common factor here is enabling glare free...which i have enabled too.

someone mentioned that maybe people havent really noticed whether or not their headlights are working as intended (not towing, city driving, whatever the case) but some of us are noticing.
did enabling glare free cause this? maybe reverting back to "stock" and seeing if the headlights respond?

like i said, i've been on solid flat ground and aimed my headlights twice now and for some reason they still seem to be high or aiming up if parked beside a wall.

i dont have the dynamic suspension but have onboard scales

Sponsored