2nd Gen Headlights

[djelectron]

Thought I'd share a little insight on the composite headlights for the 92-95 4Runners.

I've seen a lot of posts where people have retrofit projectors into their housings. They work great, but I didn't want to have a small circle of light in a big rectangular housing. I also couldn't keep driving with the junk the truck came with.

I picked up a set of Depo Crystal Chrome Headlights that are direct replacements for European trucks. The optics and cutoffs are left hand drive with right hand traffic.

I also picked up a set of the GTR Lighting GEN 3 Ultra Series LED H4 Bulbs. They are definitely pricey, but well worth it! The LED chips on the bulbs almost perfectly emulate the filaments in a regular H4 halogen, and they output a ridiculous 1800 effective Lumens per bulb.

So... I can finally see everything, and I'm not blinding oncoming traffic!

 

[djelectron]

Should have posted a pic of the cut offs. Here are the low beams.

 

[HanginInUtah]

Just added to my list of wants. Thanks for the info!
Did you replace the lens assembly because the old ones were cloudy? They look OEM to me.

 

[Dropzone]

I am running the same housings..my cut off is not nearly as well defined, I am running a different set of LED bulbs.
I swapped because housings because the 3 sets of 92-95 housings I had were all faded/hazey
[MENTION=177249]djelectron[/MENTION] do you have a link to your bulbs. I didn't have much luck searching for them

 

[djelectron]

I am running the same housings..my cut off is not nearly as well defined, I am running a different set of LED bulbs.
I swapped because housings because the 3 sets of 92-95 housings I had were all faded/hazey
[MENTION=177249]djelectron[/MENTION] do you have a link to your bulbs. I didn't have much luck searching for them

I got mine here: Headlight Revolution - GTR Lighting GEN 3 LED Headlight Bulbs

This company has TONS of fantastic info, reviews and legit comparisons about lighting so I chose to buy from them rather than direct from GTR Lighting.

All I had to do was get adapters wire to convert our 9004 connectors to the H4 connectors. The set was $10 on ebay.

Here are some examples of the reviews I was talking about on HR:

2014+ Toyota Tundra LED Headlight Bulbs | Headlight Revolution


15 Brands LED Headlight Bulb Shoot-Out! Which one's the best?
GTR Lighting Gen 3 @ 19:32

 

[djelectron]

Just added to my list of wants. Thanks for the info!
Did you replace the lens assembly because the old ones were cloudy? They look OEM to me.

You're welcome! These are my old housings. I'll get a pic of the new ones on the truck after I get home.

The driver's was a little cloudy, and the passenger side had a broken mounting tab on the back on top. The spring is on the bottom causing it to always aim down.

There were a couple factors in changing them to something new rather than the OEM parts. The 9004 bulbs and parabolic reflectors are just old, crappy tech. The filaments are vertical in those bulbs, and very close to each other. The high beam filament is in focus in the dish, but the low beam is slightly out of focus, up and to the left. That makes the low beam pattern shine down and to the right. Light is scattered all over the place using this reflector whether on low or high beam, especially in combination with the fluted glass lens.

I knew if I wanted better light output I would need a more modern reflector design. I could have retrofitted some HID projectors in my current housings, but I still had the fluted glass to scatter the light. So, new housings were a must. Now the question was bulbs.

I studied and considered The ultimate headlight upgrade (not LED or HID) thread on tacomaworld.com, but didn't want to run HOT, 90w halogens with so many watts drawing on my system, even with a harness upgrade and relay. I knew I wanted LED because of the power savings, and I finally found the GTRs after watching so many awesome and informative videos by Headlight Revolution.

The rest, as they say, is history.

 

[djelectron]

Finally... This was not a cheap thing to do. Between $189 for the housings (which did include a set of clear corners), $10 for the harness adapters, and $239 for the LED bulbs, I'm out $438!

I had seriously considered swapping the grill to the 90-91 style that used the sealed beam headlights.

After that I would have installed a set of JW Speaker 8900 Evolution headlights, but they are $450 a set, before I even change out the grill and buckets.

I do like the look of the newer grill and aero headlights vs. the older style. This option was less than the JW Speakers anyway. I believe it is also cheaper, or about the same, as retrofitting HIDs in after you factor that I would have to buy the clear housings anyway.

All-in-all, I'm really happy with the upgrade. I feel like I got the best possible for the money. And, at the end of the day, $400 in lights is cheap insurance vs. repairing a truck with harder and harder to find parts after hitting an animal on a dark road at night.

 

[djelectron]

Here's a shot of the lights installed.

 

[Dropzone]

Finally... This was not a cheap thing to do. Between $189 for the housings (which did include a set of clear corners), $10 for the harness adapters, and $239 for the LED bulbs, I'm out $438!

I had seriously considered swapping the grill to the 90-91 style that used the sealed beam headlights.

After that I would have installed a set of JW Speaker 8900 Evolution headlights, but they are $450 a set, before I even change out the grill and buckets.

I had the truck lite LED's mounted in my old 81 Trekker. I absolutely loved the output, nice even white light. I accumulated the parts (buckets, grill etc) to mount a similar set in the 94. I tackled it a week or so ago. Mounting the buckets turned out to be more work than i wanted to tackle since I didn't want to half ass it. I had heard from more than one source that it would require swapping the core supports. Not worth it to me.
Returned the headlights and bought a set of the GTR bulbs like you had. Cost was relatively close. I already have the housing like you have.

 

[Dropzone]

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

pattern is different from what [MENTION=177249]djelectron[/MENTION] got

Should have posted a pic of the cut offs. Here are the low beams.

did you remove the center deflector before you installed the lights? or is this just a matter of me getting the beam pattern adjusted a little better?
4runner headlight by ocdropzone, on Flickr

 

[djelectron]

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

Tell me about it. Didn't realize just how annoying my bull bar would be. Had to loosen all the bolts so it would drop forward and down an inch before I could just barely bend and scrape the grill out and then back in after.

pattern is different from what [MENTION=177249]djelectron[/MENTION] got

did you remove the center deflector before you installed the lights? or is this just a matter of me getting the beam pattern adjusted a little better?

I didn't remove the reflector. I think your pattern is pretty close to mine. I think you're a bit closer to the garage door than in my pic. If you back up a few feet I think yours would be pretty close. Same flat driver's side and same up-angled passenger as you. Plus, my phone shoots in HDR mode. I think that throws off the comparison between ours. I will get a non-HDR shot tonight.

How is the pattern on the road? On mine, I get great light forward and to the sides. What isn't so bright is the first 10 feet or so. Byproduct of no up or down-facing leds I think. My lights far outshine other cars on the road, but their plain old lights are brighter on the pavement from the bumper and out maybe 10-20 feet. Mine do put light there, but not as much. I don't mind tho since all of my light is going to where I need it the most - down the road. Are you seeing the same on the road?

 

[Dropzone]

I didn't remove the reflector. I think your pattern is pretty close to mine. I think you're a bit closer to the garage door than in my pic. If you back up a few feet I think yours would be pretty close. Same flat driver's side and same up-angled passenger as you. Plus, my phone shoots in HDR mode. I think that throws off the comparison between ours. I will get a non-HDR shot tonight.

How is the pattern on the road? On mine, I get great light forward and to the sides. What isn't so bright is the first 10 feet or so. Byproduct of no up or down-facing leds I think. My lights far outshine other cars on the road, but their plain old lights are brighter on the pavement from the bumper and out maybe 10-20 feet. Mine do put light there, but not as much. I don't mind tho since all of my light is going to where I need it the most - down the road. Are you seeing the same on the road?

awesome, thanks for the quick response. Output is way better than what I had before, better defined but it was sort of hard to tell because it was raining pretty good on my way to work this morning. Hopefully it will be a little drier on the way home tonight.
Price point was about what I would have had into doing the truck lites again.
Great first impression.

 

[r4ffi]

Finally... This was not a cheap thing to do. Between $189 for the housings (which did include a set of clear corners), $10 for the harness adapters, and $239 for the LED bulbs, I'm out $438!

Where did you find the housing? I googled/searched everywhere but I cannot find the bucket, trim, housing, bezel to switch over to 5x7 LEDs.

Anyone?

 

[Dropzone]

Where did you find the housing? I googled/searched everywhere but I cannot find the bucket, trim, housing, bezel to switch over to 5x7 LEDs.

Anyone?

Where did you find the housing? I googled/searched everywhere but I cannot find the bucket, trim, housing, bezel to switch over to 5x7 LEDs.

Anyone?

ebay for the
depo housings that he used (which are not the 5x7's)
DEPO Crystal GLASS Lens Headlights + Corner Lights For 1992-1995 Toyota 4Runner | eBay


for the 5x7's you can find the headlight buckets on amazon or ebay
or you can try these used parts sources for everything
Dave'z Off Road Performance - Specializing in Toyota Trucks
Used OEM Toyota Auto, Truck and Suv Parts Recycling
CalMini-Truck Dismantler
Toyo Kings, Inc.

there used to be a couple of great toyota yards in colorado for used parts.

any of the classifieds sections on toyota forums like marlin crawler, yotatech, t4r etc

the parts can also be from 89-95 trucks (3rd gen) keep in mind that 90-91 (same on 89-95 trucks) side marker lights are different from 92-95

 

[r4ffi]

ebay for the
depo housings that he used (which are not the 5x7's)
DEPO Crystal GLASS Lens Headlights + Corner Lights For 1992-1995 Toyota 4Runner | eBay


for the 5x7's you can find the headlight buckets on amazon or ebay
or you can try these used parts sources for everything
Dave'z Off Road Performance - Specializing in Toyota Trucks
Used OEM Toyota Auto, Truck and Suv Parts Recycling
CalMini-Truck Dismantler
Toyo Kings, Inc.

there used to be a couple of great toyota yards in colorado for used parts.

any of the classifieds sections on toyota forums like marlin crawler, yotatech, t4r etc

the parts can also be from 89-95 trucks (3rd gen) keep in mind that 90-91 (same on 89-95 trucks) side marker lights are different from 92-95

So I bought these 7x5s to fit in my 1995 4runner (2nd Gen, SR5 V6):
https://www.amazon.com/Partsam-Headlights-Replacement-Corvette-Wrangler/dp/B076Y1DNVZ

I tried all those websites, but could not find just the bucket to fit my grille. Looks like I will have to switch to a different grille...?! Would the 89-95 truck grille fit my 4runner, with little to no adjustments? Or what would you recommend?

Thank you!

 

[VanillaWafer]

So I bought these 7x5s to fit in my 1995 4runner (2nd Gen, SR5 V6):
https://www.amazon.com/Partsam-Headlights-Replacement-Corvette-Wrangler/dp/B076Y1DNVZ

I tried all those websites, but could not find just the bucket to fit my grille. Looks like I will have to switch to a different grille...?! Would the 89-95 truck grille fit my 4runner, with little to no adjustments? Or what would you recommend?

Thank you!

I'm in the same boat as you for my 94 runner. Still shopping around though. I think the buckets are these.

TOYOTA 4RUNNER HILUX LN50 LN60 LN80 LN100 LN106 111 HEADLIGHT BUCKET PAIR 88- 98 | eBay

And for grille/trim pieces I found these.

For 1989-1991 PICKUP 4WD HEADLIGHT DOOR PARK/CLEARANCE LIGHT CHROME BEZEL 4PCS | eBay

I'm hoping someone can confirm those buckets will hold the 5x7s and bolt up to a 92-95 runner.. and the trim will bolt up fine as well.

 

[r4ffi]

I'm in the same boat as you for my 94 runner. Still shopping around though. I think the buckets are these.

TOYOTA 4RUNNER HILUX LN50 LN60 LN80 LN100 LN106 111 HEADLIGHT BUCKET PAIR 88- 98 | eBay

And for grille/trim pieces I found these.

For 1989-1991 PICKUP 4WD HEADLIGHT DOOR PARK/CLEARANCE LIGHT CHROME BEZEL 4PCS | eBay

I'm hoping someone can confirm those buckets will hold the 5x7s and bolt up to a 92-95 runner.. and the trim will bolt up fine as well.

Those do look like they might fit. Just not sure if they bolt straight in, or further adjustments would have to be made. Also, the grille would need to be shortened, for the new bezel. Great find!

 

[Kutanks]

Im happy that i have 1990 since it uses sealed beam. It does look like the previous owner put in new headlights but im hoping i can upgrade to LED once i take care of some other issues

 

[EscapePod]

Ive been looking into this led upgrade on my 95. I can find the housing just fine but when it comes to the gtr bulbs i cant seem to find the gen 3s mentioned. I dont know much about bulbs or choosing correct adaptors for them, can someone point me in the right direction so i can choose something compatible but not overly horrendously bright ? Thanks

 

[Carmechanicsac]

Headlights

I had a cab driver in Sacramento and had the same issue! couldn't see a thing at night with the junk coming with his car. had to replace them to him with the new-gen headlights. I think he works for Sacramento Airport Taxi Service 25-30% Off| Online Taxi Cab Sacramento. he send me a bunch of people who had the same issue. Now he picks up fares from the SMF airport at night with no problem.