headlight upgrade - Toyota 4Runner Forum

jbarr89 · 12-19-2019, 12:18 PM

anyone have any good luck and could recommend a brighter bulb? Are the LED bulbs that much better or do you have a recommendation of a brighter, whiter halogen/xenon bulb?

joeynational · 12-19-2019, 12:44 PM

Don't throw in an LED bulb. They are not designed for that kind of housing and you will scatter light where you don't need it especially onto other drivers. I would highly recommend doing an HID retrofit. Check out my build thread, one of the best upgrades i've ever done. I also did one to my 91 Pickup. If you retrofit projectors you can then go with the LED bulb if you choose.

check out The Retrofit Source | The Best HID & LED Projector Headlight Upgrades if you want to do it right. They can also help you pick out your parts if you are unsure what you need.

Ripper238 · 12-19-2019, 12:48 PM

Throw in some slightly modified H9 bulbs for $8 each and you will be golden, i think they would work with a 4th gen? Worked much better than i thought on my 19 4R and i am super happy so far. But you may have to replace the bulbs every year or so.

jbarr89 · 12-19-2019, 12:49 PM

yeah, I've done an HID retrofit before on my Discovery and I was not 100% sure I wanted to tackle that again but I'll consider it. Thank you for the reply!

RAD4Runner · 12-23-2019, 02:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeynational

Don't throw in an LED bulb. They are not designed for that kind of housing and you will scatter light where you don't need it especially onto other drivers. ...

I second this.

Furthermore, more essential upgrade is to FIX the poorly-wired headlight circuit that sends the ground return current from the bulbs, back to the cabin, to the dimmer-stalk switch, back to the engine compartment to the fender ground. This creates a lot of power loss over wiring and subjects the dimmer stalk switch contacts to unnecessarily-high currents. Use a relay circuit to do that (often called H4 Harness Conversion). CAVEAT: H4 conversion converts switched-ground to switched-positive and may not work with some LED lights, especially the cheap ones.

I wonder how difficult it would be to convert your headlights to standard 5 x 7 and install DOT-legit Truck-Lites...
Compared with halogens here: Truck-Lite 5x7 LED headlight review - Page 2 - YotaTech Forums

Dropzone · 12-29-2019, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbarr89

anyone have any good luck and could recommend a brighter bulb? Are the LED bulbs that much better or do you have a recommendation of a brighter, whiter halogen/xenon bulb?

something to think about LED's if you live where is snows much is that they don't generate enough heat (unless you install headlight buckets out of a 3rd gen truck/90-91 4runner and use a set of Truck Lite's) to melt the snow

that being said I used a set of new housing off ebay, some Depo glass housing
DEPO Crystal Chrome Headlights + Corner Lights For 1992-1995 Toyota 4Runner | eBay

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dropzone

*

these things are definitely clearer than the old foggy with moisture housings:

they look pretty decent

install is pretty straight forward, remove the corner lights, remove the grill install and re-install the other junk.
I went ahead and pulled a PIAA H4 headlight harness from the trekker and used it with these headlights (which use a H4 bulb)*
Daylight they definitely seem brighter. *Will get them aimed tonight see what the verdict is.

using this thread: 2nd Gen Headlights - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum

went ahead and sucked it up and ordered a set of quality LED bulbs:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dropzone

A few weeks ago i accumulated all the stuff (grill, headlight buckets etc) to convert to a set of Truck Light LED's. I had those in my Trekker and loved them. Started pulling everything apart and found it was going to be a major PITA to get the buckets to mount with out:
1) half assing it to get the buckets so they would have some form of adjustment
2) changing the core support
neither was gonna happen so I went ahead and looked at this 2nd Gen head light thread

bit the bullet and ordered the LED's, spendy but recouped a lot of the cost returning the headlight conversion parts on amazon

GTR bulbs came in saturday morning, installed them that afternoon
the usual PITA pulling the grill off etc

2017-10-21_05-23-41 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
old LED compared to the new. The GTR is definately better built

2017-10-21_05-24-00 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
old beam pattern

2017-10-21_05-24-36 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
new beam pattern, much better and well defined compared to the old one

2017-10-21_05-24-20 by ocdropzone, on Flickr

need to play with the adjustment a little bit but the overall improvement is great

the cut off and pattern is great. huge improvement over stock pattern. again they don't generate enough heat to melt snow though.
I have more into my headlights now than I paid for my 4Runner. the beam pics against the garage don't do them justice. they were well worth the investment. especially with the PIAA harness upgrade..not available anymore though, I scored mine from a NOS sale a when I first started building my 81 Trekker and only put 6K on the truck in the 10 years I had it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripper238

Throw in some slightly modified H9 bulbs for $8 each and you will be golden, i think they would work with a 4th gen? Worked much better than i thought on my 19 4R and i am super happy so far. But you may have to replace the bulbs every year or so.

4th gen? he has a 95

CamTom12 · 01-07-2020, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAD4Runner

I wonder how difficult it would be to convert your headlights to standard 5 x 7 and install DOT-legit Truck-Lites...
Compared with halogens here: Truck-Lite 5x7 LED headlight review - Page 2 - YotaTech Forums

I have a set of these on my 85 and love the light output. I still haven't fixed the highbeam switch in the column (I mean to fix it to a switched positive like you posted above), but I don't feel the need for my highbeams as much as I used to since the lowbeams throw so much light!

ALANTYRA · 01-07-2020, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbarr89

anyone have any good luck and could recommend a brighter bulb? Are the LED bulbs that much better or do you have a recommendation of a brighter, whiter halogen/xenon bulb xender discord omegle?

f you want to do it right. They can also help you pick out your parts if you are unsure what you need.

RAD4Runner · 01-08-2020, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CamTom12

... the lowbeams throw so much light!

Same here. The Truck-Lites cut-off and spread are so nice, I put my foglights project in the back burner. LOL!

Griswald · 01-23-2020, 11:48 AM

Check these out

Amazon.com: 5" x 7" LED Headlight for Jeep Cherokee Wrangler Comanche YJ XJ Trucks 4X4 Offroad: Automotive

Kind of a Chinese knock off of Truck Lites which are 3x as much. I have them in my 89. So far so good. Install you need to use the adapter provided.

For the money they’re great. Bright and direct. I think they’re DOT approved too.

Only issue is that in order to get the hi beam to work you’ll need to do some modification. But the low beams are super bright and throw pretty far, so I really never needed the high beams anyway. They’re good in the snow too. For $90 a pair I’m happy. Really helped this winter when it’s dark at 5pm.

RAD4Runner · 01-24-2020, 03:04 AM

Happy New Decade!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griswald

... I think they’re DOT approved too....

Nice! Yeah, indeed looks like the Truck-Lites.
DOT or not, you can tell by the cut-off and the spread. Good headlights used by considerate drivers would have cut-off that directs light to the road and the sides, not the Gods. - LOL!

Problem is that O.P. has a second Gen. That's why I asked him if he could convert his headlight mount to fit the standard 5x7. Too bad that the newer vehicles have to look unique they make it difficult for owners to find replacement or upgrade parts.

jbarr89 · 01-24-2020, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAD4Runner

Problem is that O.P. has a second Gen. That's why I asked him if he could convert his headlight mount to fit the standard 5x7. Too bad that the newer vehicles have to look unique they make it difficult for owners to find replacement or upgrade parts.

yeah, I would prefer to not change them to the older 5x7 style but I will if that's where the best options are.
Thank you for all your responses! Definitely gave me a lot to think about