rickashay
New member
I honestly don't know why I haven't thought about posting this before. It seems like more and more retrofits are popping up on people's rigs so I thought I would create this thread to do a few things:
- help people get the most out of their new and probably pricey headlight mod
- ensure you aren't blinding oncoming drivers with all of your "new" lumens (yes, you can still blind people with projectors - if aimed incorrectly)
- make it an EASY thread to follow, so you can do it yourself in a short amount of time
Here it goes:
How to Aim Your Projector Headlights
- by following this guide I am in no way taking responsibility for the retrofit performed on your rig whether correct or incorrect, the final light output, and/or any accidents or mishaps that may occur from blinding oncoming drivers due to the results of this headlight modification
- I am simply providing a GUIDE as to how these lights should be set up to fall, in/close to what I have researched to be, DOT requirements.
olice:
Tools needed: Masking tape, measuring tape, Philips (forget the number, can someone please verify? I think its a #5??)
1) Find a flat wide wall (preferably white - cause it looks the coolest
) with a flat parking surface in front of it. You need about ~40 feet of space behind the wall to move your vehicle around. Grocery stores/warehouses etc. often work great.
2) Measure from the ground to the height of the center of the projector. Call this measurement "X"
As seen below - let's call it 40"
20121206-IMG_3530 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
3) Take the height of "X" and transfer it onto the wall with a piece of masking tape - call this "M1"
Ignore my beam pattern here... that green tape line is 40" off the ground despite the crappy camera angle:
20121206-IMG_3535 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
4) Now measure down 2 inches from the "M1", and place another piece of masking tape - call this "M2"
*note: if your vehicle is lifted or has a "raked" suspension, such as my own, it may be a good idea to measure down 3-4 inches instead of the 2" mentioned above depending on the specs of your vehicle. Remember, a higher vehicle's light output will fall higher on oncoming traffic. It may not be required but I myself, do this as a courtesy. Even at 4" of beam drop, you still have a VERY useable beam pattern.
Here I have 4" of drop to account for the lift. When I load the truck up for wheeling/camping, the rear will "squat" and therefore raise the beam height to around the 2" drop mark. Again, I could raise them higher, but these measurements suite my truck and my needs perfectly - and I'm not a d*** to other drivers.
20121206-IMG_3538 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
5) Now, measure 25ft back from the wall on the ground (perpendicular to your marks on the wall) and mark it with masking tape.
6) Move your vehicle so that it is perpendicular to the wall at the 25ft. mark you just created. Your headlights should be in-line with the 25ft mark on the ground - meaning your vehicle is aimed, shining it's headlights, 25 feet away from the flat wall ahead.
Notice the blue tape mark - you'll have to trust that it's 25 ft. from the wall
20121206-IMG_3542 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
7) Now, using the headlight height adjustment screws, adjust BOTH headlights so that the "top" of each cutoff is even with "M2" in terms of height. Both cutoffs should now overlap in the center making it appear that there is just ONE "step" in the light output, despite each projector having an individual "step" in their beam pattern alone.
Here is where you slide your Philips screwdriver down into the headlight adjustment gears
20121206-IMG_3543 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
8) Your final output should look similar to this - Notice how the top of BOTH beams are hitting the top of the "M2" blue tape mark on the wall
20121206-IMG_3553 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
And another shot, showing the 25ft distance from the wall and the resulting output height
20121206-IMG_3555 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
Now that you have your height set, you can now set how far apart the two beams are. The 2nd adjustment screw on your headlight assemblies (usually the top one that is easiest to access) will adjust the beams Horizontal Movement (NOT rotational alignment, two different things). The Horizontal Movement is the adjustment of the distance between the left and right beam in relation to one another, along the horizontal line "M2". This part is not as finicky and really is user-preference. However the rule of thumb is to have the 2 cutoff steps to be 3-4ft apart from each other on the horizontal plane. Obviously if your vehicle is wider, you'll be closer to that 4ft mark, but on the 3rd gen 4Runners, you should be closer to the 3ft mark. Sorry, no photos of this but it is pretty self explanatory.
This guide provides a great place to start for fine-tuning your vertical alignment. If you find you are unhappy with the output and adjustment after this procedure, tweak the height incrimentally to suite your personal preference. Please be mindful of the laws in your area and other road users.
Cheers and GL on those retrofit projects!
- help people get the most out of their new and probably pricey headlight mod
- ensure you aren't blinding oncoming drivers with all of your "new" lumens (yes, you can still blind people with projectors - if aimed incorrectly)
- make it an EASY thread to follow, so you can do it yourself in a short amount of time
Here it goes:
How to Aim Your Projector Headlights
- by following this guide I am in no way taking responsibility for the retrofit performed on your rig whether correct or incorrect, the final light output, and/or any accidents or mishaps that may occur from blinding oncoming drivers due to the results of this headlight modification
- I am simply providing a GUIDE as to how these lights should be set up to fall, in/close to what I have researched to be, DOT requirements.
olice:Tools needed: Masking tape, measuring tape, Philips (forget the number, can someone please verify? I think its a #5??)
1) Find a flat wide wall (preferably white - cause it looks the coolest
) with a flat parking surface in front of it. You need about ~40 feet of space behind the wall to move your vehicle around. Grocery stores/warehouses etc. often work great.2) Measure from the ground to the height of the center of the projector. Call this measurement "X"
As seen below - let's call it 40"
20121206-IMG_3530 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
3) Take the height of "X" and transfer it onto the wall with a piece of masking tape - call this "M1"
Ignore my beam pattern here... that green tape line is 40" off the ground despite the crappy camera angle:
20121206-IMG_3535 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
4) Now measure down 2 inches from the "M1", and place another piece of masking tape - call this "M2"
*note: if your vehicle is lifted or has a "raked" suspension, such as my own, it may be a good idea to measure down 3-4 inches instead of the 2" mentioned above depending on the specs of your vehicle. Remember, a higher vehicle's light output will fall higher on oncoming traffic. It may not be required but I myself, do this as a courtesy. Even at 4" of beam drop, you still have a VERY useable beam pattern.
Here I have 4" of drop to account for the lift. When I load the truck up for wheeling/camping, the rear will "squat" and therefore raise the beam height to around the 2" drop mark. Again, I could raise them higher, but these measurements suite my truck and my needs perfectly - and I'm not a d*** to other drivers.
20121206-IMG_3538 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
5) Now, measure 25ft back from the wall on the ground (perpendicular to your marks on the wall) and mark it with masking tape.
6) Move your vehicle so that it is perpendicular to the wall at the 25ft. mark you just created. Your headlights should be in-line with the 25ft mark on the ground - meaning your vehicle is aimed, shining it's headlights, 25 feet away from the flat wall ahead.
Notice the blue tape mark - you'll have to trust that it's 25 ft. from the wall
20121206-IMG_3542 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
7) Now, using the headlight height adjustment screws, adjust BOTH headlights so that the "top" of each cutoff is even with "M2" in terms of height. Both cutoffs should now overlap in the center making it appear that there is just ONE "step" in the light output, despite each projector having an individual "step" in their beam pattern alone.
Here is where you slide your Philips screwdriver down into the headlight adjustment gears
20121206-IMG_3543 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
8) Your final output should look similar to this - Notice how the top of BOTH beams are hitting the top of the "M2" blue tape mark on the wall
20121206-IMG_3553 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
And another shot, showing the 25ft distance from the wall and the resulting output height
20121206-IMG_3555 by Headlight Hookup, on Flickr
Now that you have your height set, you can now set how far apart the two beams are. The 2nd adjustment screw on your headlight assemblies (usually the top one that is easiest to access) will adjust the beams Horizontal Movement (NOT rotational alignment, two different things). The Horizontal Movement is the adjustment of the distance between the left and right beam in relation to one another, along the horizontal line "M2". This part is not as finicky and really is user-preference. However the rule of thumb is to have the 2 cutoff steps to be 3-4ft apart from each other on the horizontal plane. Obviously if your vehicle is wider, you'll be closer to that 4ft mark, but on the 3rd gen 4Runners, you should be closer to the 3ft mark. Sorry, no photos of this but it is pretty self explanatory.
This guide provides a great place to start for fine-tuning your vertical alignment. If you find you are unhappy with the output and adjustment after this procedure, tweak the height incrimentally to suite your personal preference. Please be mindful of the laws in your area and other road users.
Cheers and GL on those retrofit projects!
Last edited:
