home-grown light upgrade

[JJorgensen52]

Always looking to upgrade lighting on my truck - this is an upgrade I first did on a buddies' '67 mustang coupe.

Jeep JK Wrangler headlights ('07-current) are a direct bolt in swap for the old sealed beam headlights in our trucks. Requires changing from the H4 style connector to a H13 style connector (late model fords, jeep, etc). This whole swap (using junkyard parts) cost me about $100, including silverstar bulbs.

one old, one new



new on right (crisp light cutoff and concentrated beam), old on left (wider, more scattered light and hazy cutoff)



Lows, silverstar bulbs and new housings

Highs


difference in the amount of light on the road ahead of you is absolutely night and day. Well worth the hour and a half of effort.

[firedog]

Did you upgrade the headlight wiring harness to use relays?
Posted via Mobile Device

[Longhorn Man]

THIS is the kind of info I love seeing on here.
If you haven't done the relay mod yet, do it. Your lights will be just as bright as when they were on the Jeep.
Also... silverstars are amazing bulbs for those not in the know

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by firedog

Did you upgrade the headlight wiring harness to use relays?
Posted via Mobile Device

No relays yet, it's in the works - need to modify the plow lights harness to better fit the truck, will add them at the same time

[Cdaddy731]

Very cool, can someone elaborate on the relay upgrade?
Posted via Mobile Device

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Cdaddy731

Very cool, can someone elaborate on the relay upgrade?
Posted via Mobile Device

I am sure someone will come up with a diagram here in a few minutes, but in a nutshell:

you take 2 standard normally off relays, and hook them into the high and low beam power wires on the headlight harness on one side, and to the battery/alternator on the other.

Then you use your original high and low beam wires to trigger the relays and supply power to the headlights right from the battery (or alternator).

This serves two purposes: 1. it gives your headlights the most direct line of power they can have, allowing them to perform to their fullest potential and 2. it prevents your new, upgraded headlights from pulling too much current through the 40+ year old headlight switch and causing it to fail (or light on fire )

[69sixpackbee]

Great mod!
Too bad they're plastic or I'd do it in a heartbeat. Southwestern sandstorms and UV rays are not conducive to their longevity

[stealthy '69]

very cool. I'll be looking into doing this

[SevenOne]

Should this mod work on the 67-72 gmc's also?

[Andy4639]

Can you show the upgraded connector you speak of. I would like to see the diferance between the two. I have done the light update with aftermarket lights with the relays just was thinking about the bulb upgrade.

[Shyguy]

Here you go.

[m6z]

great info.

[RPBurris]

Sooo....where can you buy the relay? this sounds like a great easy upgrade that i would like to do. Is it a over the counter part? can i swipe it from the jeep when i find my headlights?

[Warrens69GMC]

Autozone carries the 4lug relay and a 5 lug relay for less than 5.99ea.

[msgross]

very cool upgrade, thanks for sharing... pics of the entire process would help some of the guys...

[Warrens69GMC]

heres a ebay listing for the 7" round conversion kit-
7" round Conversion

[lowrollin70gmc]

I'll be saving this page so I can do my k20 and my nova.

[Lippyp]

LMC sell a ready made conversion harness with the relays etc, just plug it in. Top of the page, tbh by the time you've bought the relays, cable and connectors it won't be much cheaper and this is very neat. http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cb/full.aspx?Page=69

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Warrens69GMC

heres a ebay listing for the 7" round conversion kit-
7" round Conversion

One of the reasons I chose the Jeep lights over the after market lights is that the Jeep ones have a much better seal, I've had water get in the aftermarkets too many times. Also, both the overall build quality and the light pattern of the Jeep ones is better.

Also, for those who have state safety inspections, the aftermarket lights are not actually legal (and I have been gigged for it). The Jeep headlights are SAE and DOT approved for road use.

These are the connectors that the new headlights use.

http://www.repairconnector.com/produ...or-Socket.html

Originally Posted by msgross

very cool upgrade, thanks for sharing... pics of the entire process would help some of the guys...

Other than soldering the new connectors in place, it's just like changing a lightbulb. The Jeep lights even have the same lugs cast into the housing as sealed beams so you can't install them wrong side up. My wiring (because it's a plow light harness) looks different than the factory stuff, also.

That said, I can tell you the following:
On the factory bulb, when you pull the connector off the back and look at the socket, you'll see three slots, two vertical on each side and one horizontal on top. The driver's side vertical is ground, the top is low beam and the passenger's side vertical is high beam.
On the new connectors, black is ground, red is low and green is high. (I always test just by sticking the stripped wires into the old connector first, to be sure)

[Dave]

Thanks to all for the info, this is a really useful install.

[Longhorn Man]

I'll never buy those china made low dollar headlights again. I have never seen any that were any better than a mini mag light. They claim to be DOT, but I'm willing to bet you won't get converson lights with a real DOT cert for less than $60 a piece.

Originally Posted by SevenOne

Should this mod work on the 67-72 gmc's also?

The relay will, but the jeep headlights are 7 inches... GMC has smaller lamps.

[pritch]

Hey-I got a set of those Jeep lights just sitting out in the garage.

(I wonder if my wife would notice we traded)

[Sir Fisher]

sweet, thanks for the info

[mr48chev]

The Jeep lights will throw a better and more consistent light pattern than most of the aftermarket lights.

I can say from experience that relays are a must if you upgrade the lights on these trucks. I killed several dimmer switches before installing the relays.
Jeep Cherokees from the mid 80's have a bracket on the right inner fender with several of the common cube relays that is easy to get. I took as much wire as I could get with the set I got.

I went through several sets of H4 lights that had the clear lens and etched reflectors and was never satisfied with them. I finally went with these. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/7-H60...Q5fAccessories With the 55/100 White bulbs you can't outrun them on high beam. They run pretty close to the Cibies I had in the 48 years ago.
That seller is excellent to deal with too and his lights are first rate.

I might just be hunting an unsuspecting Jeep though.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

With the 55/100 White bulbs you can't outrun them on high beam. They run pretty close to the Cibies I had in the 48 years ago.

Cibie Bobis. That's all I needed to hear. Best alternative to landing lights ever. If those lights throw a beam like those,I'm sold!