Low beam on passenger side burns out (or so I think). Pull out the bulb to find that the wire that connects into the bulb is burned up and no good...bulb seems fine.

It looks as if the whole headlight is self contained and can't be opened up. Is this wrong?
I'm reading that guys are buying "9006 wire adaptors" and splicing them into the burned out wire to fix the problem.

I'm hoping that I don't need to buy a whole new headlight unit....seems like overkill.

 

You can buy the connector and then splice it in. Why are you concerned with the headlamp assembly? Is the hole the bulb goes in melted or something?

 

have same problem with '05 low-beam driver side. bulbs dont burn out but connector does. have replaced connector several times with replacement parts from O Reilly's. is there a different connector I should be using?

 

Welcome to the forum. It depends on what part fails (burns up, melts?). If it were at the splice points, consider soldering the splices and sealing them good with heat shrink tubing. If it were the connector itself, make sure you're not using a higher current bulb and clean the terminal blades good.