Headlight upgrade FJ60? (1 Viewer)

[Hokie LX]

If you have the money and want real lights. I would go with Dapper Lighting HID's. I have them, nothing else really compares that looks proper.

OE7

For years we have strived to create headlights that integrate modern technology that retain the stock looks your classic vehicles deserve. Well, we’ve finally achieved our goal. At the core of the OE7 is our featured LED projector technology with the appearance of a classic H4 headlight. The OE7...

www.dapperlighting.com

That is really interesting... do you have any output pictures?

 

[Haggis]

That is a mod I'm going to do. I was not aware of those Toyota parts. Thanks!

 

[John McVicker]

Subscribed. OE7 looks interesting. Going to do some checking.

 

[dbbowen]

Here ya go. Trucklite LEDs vs Holley Retrobright LEDs. The retrobrites have been great. My dads got them on his firstgen camaro and a buddy has them on his firstgen 4runner. No complaints. The Holleys use a morimoto led bulb cartridge thats removable. You can buy the white colored headlights, and then get a spare set of the more yellow bulbs and switch them out if you wanted to haha

 

[CruiserTrash]

@Mace @dbbowen

Do any of those LED options melt snow and ice from the lens? One drawback to LED that keeps me from making the move is that most (all?) of them require an extra heater for cold climates. To me that negates the benefits of lower current draw and less strain on the alternator, which is the #1 reason I would ever get LED headlights. The heaters have got to suck a decent amount of juice, no?

 

[dbbowen]

It just snowed and iced here in Portland for about a week and I drove every day. No issues with ice or snow or anything. I didn’t even think about it to be honest

 

[mdw83fj60]

@Mace @dbbowen

Do any of those LED options melt snow and ice from the lens? One drawback to LED that keeps me from making the move is that most (all?) of them require an extra heater for cold climates. To me that negates the benefits of lower current draw and less strain on the alternator, which is the #1 reason I would ever get LED headlights. The heaters have got to suck a decent amount of juice, no?

When I got my 60 the PO had installed trucklites that have the built in heater, 7" Round LED, 2 Diode Headlight, Polycarbonate Lens, Aluminum, Heated Lens, 12-24V - https://www.truck-lite.com/27275c.html , I believe that kicks on around freezing temp. When it did come on I did notice a big drop on my voltage gauge in cab. With that and adding other things drawing more juice I decided to install a 90 amp alternator for a 62and that seemed to fix the issue. Now I never see my voltage drop below 13.9 even with everything on at same time. I wish there was an option for the heaters to not kick on unless it’s actually snowing, because when it’s just cold the heaters are not needed.

 

[cruiserpilot]

That is really interesting... do you have any output pictures?

I just went through the whole website. It's pretty impressive. My concern is with the aftermarket denial of cut-off
restrictions. That being said, they offer a OEM lens ( costs more of course ) with a glass and factory fit. Plug and play.
Need clearance behind, lots of us have bigger batteries and battery trays right there so do the math. It's not much,
3/4"? but in a small world that's a lot.
In response to entry above, these are very low draw. So upgrading alternator isn't required, that's a huge deal
since my experience with Toyota wiring in 60's and 40's is the weak link in these trucks. Old and cracked, vintage
technology.
I run Hella's H4's but trying to get that extra bit of brightness is hard. Worth a look.

 

[lugueto]

I've had both Trucklites and Holley Retrobrights. Having used proper LED replacements I highly recommend them over going high-end halogen unless you're going for a 100% authentic restoration. And even then, The Retrobrights look so correct that they might be a perfect fit for that application anyways.

My two cents:

Trucklites look cool IMO, both when turned off and on. the light color and output is pretty good and the light pattern is up to date with most modern vehicles, so performance is improved to modern standards. I used to joke that when driving the vehicle I had the Trucklites in at night, it transformed into a late-model Mercedes Vs. the Koitos.

Retrobrights however look as if they belong there, nothing out of the ordinary to see unless you mention it. Even the Holley logo looks like a old sealed beam unit. Output is AWESOME, I have the "Classic White" light color, so it mimics the Halogen even more, but output is very much improved over even high quality halogens.

 

[CardinalFJ60]

OK...I'll play.
I've had the IPF, CIBIE, and now the Kioto. I liked them all muuuuch more than OEM sealed for sure.

so far, I like the CIBIE light pattern ever so slightly more than the Kiotos, but I like the flat face look of the Kioto lights. harness is key - I got mine from @cruiseroutfit - plug and play and the highbeam indicator works.

being where we are @CruiserTrash, I'm sticking with halogens. my LED aux lights get iced up when my headlights do not.

 

[CardinalFJ60]

 

[CruiserTrash]

OK...I'll play.
I've had the IPF, CIBIE, and now the Kioto. I liked them all muuuuch more than OEM sealed for sure.

so far, I like the CIBIE light pattern ever so slightly more than the Kiotos, but I like the flat face look of the Kioto lights. harness is key - I got mine from @cruiseroutfit - plug and play and the highbeam indicator works.

being where we are @CruiserTrash, I'm sticking with halogens. my LED aux lights get iced up when my headlights do not.

Good to know Shawn! You’ve had approximately 10x more Cruisers than I’ve ever had and been through the ringer on every possible electrical setup known to mankind, so I trust your opinion here. My goal with LEDs would be to cut the system current draw. Adding lens heaters to LEDs would negate that. I guess I’ll continue running six halogen lights across the front haha.

 

[TexasLandCruiser]

@Beehanger Get the Koito headlight kit from Toyota. Best bang for the buck and they look period-correct (I don't like the aesthetics of LEDs or the glass housings for LEDs). Many places sell them, including dealerships. I sell them too: click here. Take your pick of where to get them. Best part about them is that the bulbs are replaceable. It's not like the old-style "sealed beams" where you have to throw the whole glass away because the bulb itself is sealed inside.

They come with pretty good Sylvania halogen bulbs. I like Osram Nightbreaker Laser bulbs for a little more brightness, despite the fact that they claim to be the same power (wattage) as every other legal bulb on the market.

Dan aren’t up up in icy cold ass country? LEDs may give you a fit with ice and snow?

 

[Mace]

That is really interesting... do you have any output pictures?

I did a whole post on them.. HID projector headlights. - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/hid-projector-headlights.787181/

 

[ntsqd]

A question that was just posed to me, are the Koito lens' cut for LHD or RHD?

 

[CruiserTrash]

A question that was just posed to me, are the Koito lens' cut for LHD or RHD?

LHD cutoff. Works on an RHD vehicle in a LHD country though. So think about it from the perspective of what side of the road are you driving on, regardless of what side your steering wheel is on.

 

[ntsqd]

Thanks!!!

 

[cruiserinsanity]

I have the Koito H4 in my 60 as well, and I’m running Hella 100/80w bulbs I believe. The light output is great.

 

[cheeese]

I have the City Racer LEDs and can give a relatively long term review. The beam pattern is pretty good, nice and wide with a sharp cutoff and good fill in the foreground. I'd like a bit more long-range projection, but that's a nitpick coming from comparing them to some cars with really good euro HID projectors and easily augmented with some driving lights. Colour temp is good, neutral white.

I'd be interested to compare to the Dapper HIDs or a quality set of drop-in H4 LEDs like the Morimotos in the Koito housings though. I used to have Hella H4s and the City Racers are better on low, but not as good on high vs an overwatt bulb on standalone harness.

 

[ntsqd]

For actual driving light in remote or dark areas I've been slowly migrating to Baja Design Squadron Pro LEDs with the combo lens. Slowly because they're not inexpensive. Aiming those is critical to on-coming drivers, but they're what I actually prefer to drive by. Placing them as low as reasonable on the vehicle helps a lot with the aiming issue.