Brighter Headlights for FJ60??? (2 Viewers)

[dcoy]

Got Maxxima LEDs to replace my H4s. The H4 upgrade plus the Wired Wagon wiring harness were always a disappointment to me. Now I look forward to driving in the dark with the LEDs. I also need to upgrade my auxiliary lighting because the IPF Jo 1's don't seem to add very much to the LED headlights. The only wrinkle in the LED installation is, at least for my FJ60, that they were, unfortunately, not plug and play. Apparently the lights are polarity sensitive and the stock/H4s were not so we had to redo the wiring harness to make the lights work. We have yet to make the High Beam indicator work; apparently, the low current draw of the LEDs is not producing enough amperage to fire the indicator. Seems that others have had success with the plug and play approach. I don't know if this problem was LED brand related (Maxxima versus Trucklite versus whatever) or to my specific truck. Still a worthwhile upgrade despite the headaches.

 

[MACFJ60]

Pics?

 

[Laughingjackal]

I picked up the 27270C Truck-lites. Wow, they are a nice piece of engineering.

Do I need to protect those beautiful lenses with anything? The things just look so different from normal headlights.

I'm looking into the 27270C Truck-lites that you installed on your truck. Did you have to make any changes to the wiring harness?

 

[Cruzerman]

The cibbie set up was still yellow light, looked kinda like a room lit by a candle lol. These things put out nice white light and are just plain better.

Color is a function of the bulb. 3500-4000 Kelvin provides the best vision & accurate color for headlights. Most "white" (actually blue) headlights trick your eye into thinking they are brighter, but they are actually don't work as well.

Nice thing about H4 setups is that you can get a wide variety of bulbs so you can customize brightness & color to suite your needs. As always, JMHO.

 

[MrCWineMan]

Though not the cheapest option I just installed Dapper Lighting- The Most Trusted Name in Classic Car Lighting HID 7" in the car, and even with the ballast install and fixing a bezel from my fathers deer encounter 18 years ago the install didn't take too long and they are WAY better and much brighter. I know there is a dedicated dapper thread here somewhere too, it's where I got the idea.

 

[Sacto60]

Okay if everyone here gets to finally see at night, then I want to see at night too. I've never upgraded, just bought new headlights that I easily just swapped out, but never really saw too much improvement. Now what's this about wiring harness upgrades? Easy? All accessible, or what?

 

[MrCWineMan]

I had to add new harnesses, and HID ballasts. If you are comfortable with basic instructions, zip ties, old hardware not cooperating (maybe) and double sided tape it was super easy. Ordering from dapper included 100% of what I needdd.

 

[Sacto60]

so our basic stock headlamps on the 60s are a sealed system where the bulb is inside and unable to be changed out? And the upgrade would be to a similar 7" round but CAN have interchangeable bulbs, yes? So it's a question of the headlamp purchase AND the type/strength of bulb. And since the original wiring can't support these newer heavy-duty bulbs, they sell wiring upgrades, which can be done fairly easily...I see.

 

[MrCWineMan]

so our basic stock headlamps on the 60s are a sealed system where the bulb is inside and unable to be changed out? And the upgrade would be to a similar 7" round but CAN have interchangeable bulbs, yes? So it's a question of the headlamp purchase AND the type/strength of bulb.

Yep! I (obviously at this point) opted for the dapper' as you can swap in basic halogens with just an adaptor provided, or upgrade to HID and some more wireing. So the basic dapper are halogen bulb projectors, and I opted to swap in HID 55W for a brighter bluer light. There are plenty of choice on their site. I did look at Hella, but driving HID in my other car from manufacture has me pining for bluer light.

 

[Sacto60]

Yep! I (obviously at this point) opted for the dapper' as you can swap in basic halogens with just an adaptor provided, or upgrade to HID and some more wireing. So the basic dapper are halogen bulb projectors, and I opted to swap in HID 55W for a brighter bluer light. There are plenty of choice on their site. I did look at Hella, but driving HID in my other car from manufacture has me pining for bluer light.

Initially, I'd like to try and upgrade w/o having to upgrade any wiring (for now). Which set up in your opinion is the best on a stock wiring set up?

 

[MrCWineMan]

Initially, I'd like to try and upgrade w/o having to upgrade any wiring (for now). Which set up in your opinion is the best on a stock wiring set up?

I don't really have any experience with that - I went from stock to Dapper HID - though you could skip the HID and get a bulb style replacement light bulb that could go in a 7" style light by just doing the Dapper Halogen.... There is a thread here somewhere about that.

 

[Output Shaft]

If you just install a new headlamp wiring harness (which is easy) that's a BIG upgrade right there. That should be step no. 1. The yucky sealed beams will get noticeably brighter with that.

The new headlight wiring harness will save your ground connections, headlight switch and stock relays from dying the slow death of too much current.

 

[ander42b]

Output shaft,

The new headlight wiring harness will save your ground connections, headlight switch and stock relays from dying the slow death of too much current.[/QUOTE]

So, how does the new wiring harness save the grounds ?????????

Also WHERE are the grounds for the head light harness. I have a 1985 October manufactured FJ60. I can find the ground on the Toyota wiring diagram but the real hunt for them has been fruitless.

Thanks Jason

 

[Sacto60]

The ARB website shows model M002 IPF headlamp wiring loom for $113, does this sound about right?

 

[jmccandless]

Has anyone tried these in a good H4 housing of course...?? (No affiliation).

I have a set of their old bulbs (what they are calling 'budget') in a 6volt car and they work great. (Not the most organized website.)

Anyway, I just finished installing SLCFJ62's harness and I'm reading up on the headlight choices. ~$150 for two bulbs...

Classic Dynamo & Regulator Conversions

Details

60/55w equivalent direct replacement LED H4 dipping bulb. P43t fitting.

Flying lead plugs into the vehicles existing H4 socket.

Can be used in P45t fittings with our adaptor ring

Suitable for negative and positive earth vehicles

4000 Lumens (a std H4 is around 1500 Lumens)

Colour 6500k (std H4 is 3500-4000k)

 

[ander42b]

X2 any progress on these questions

Output shaft,

The new headlight wiring harness will save your ground connections, headlight switch and stock relays from dying the slow death of too much current.

So, how does the new wiring harness save the grounds ?????????

Also WHERE are the grounds for the head light harness. I have a 1985 October manufactured FJ60. I can find the ground on the Toyota wiring diagram but the real hunt for them has been fruitless.

Thanks Jason[/QUOTE]

 

[Pantingfish]

So I may come back here tomorrow with more pictures, but I too am tired of these awful defualt headlights. Are there any brighter bulbs that will just plug in and fit without having to replace the harness? I'm also wondering if the precious owner replaced the harness already, because there are two small lights built into the ARB bumper I have, and there is a wire leading to the battery to them and an inline fuse.

 

[gregnash]

Has anyone tried these in a good H4 housing of course...?? (No affiliation).

I have a set of their old bulbs (what they are calling 'budget') in a 6volt car and they work great. (Not the most organized website.)

Anyway, I just finished installing SLCFJ62's harness and I'm reading up on the headlight choices. ~$150 for two bulbs...

Classic Dynamo & Regulator Conversions

Details

60/55w equivalent direct replacement LED H4 dipping bulb. P43t fitting.

Flying lead plugs into the vehicles existing H4 socket.

Can be used in P45t fittings with our adaptor ring

Suitable for negative and positive earth vehicles

4000 Lumens (a std H4 is around 1500 Lumens)

Colour 6500k (std H4 is 3500-4000k)

Problem with these is that they are not DOT compliant. If the beam pattern is thrown incorrectly for our right side lane drivers then you run the possibility of blinding oncoming traffic (why you don't throw average LED bulbs in H4 reflector housings).

 

[Jaric00n]

I went with the Putco ones (LED)

Much better than stock ^^

 

[Seth S]

This picture is taken from the drivers seat going down the road in my FJ60 which is running a pair of Hella 7" H4's with stock old wiring harness and basic 55/60 watt bulbs. Light pattern and out put are magnitudes of order higher than the old school sealed beam lights. Upgraded harness with better relays, independent grounds, and better power leads and a better bulb will be even better.

Just after install and before they were aimed properly