FJ62 Headlight Upgrade LED Swap (1 Viewer)

[SirBeef]

Hey friends.

For a long time I've been wanting to upgrade my factory halogen headlights on my 1988 FJ62. When I would drive at night, it felt like I was on the Oregon Trail using candlelight. If somebody walked in front of my cruiser it was game over...because I wouldn't be able to see them, not because my brakes are highly questionable. So I finally decided it was time and began scouring Mud posts for fellow FJ62 owners doing headlight upgrades.

I found lots of posts with lots of different options, but not many with what I was looking for. My two biggest concerns were:
- I think most LED headlights are ugly. I like the dated look of the halogens but want the better light production of the LEDs
- I wanted all four headlights to be on in low beams AND in high beams

So lets get into it. Buckle up for a long post.

DECIDING ON A PRODUCT
After lots of researching I had narrowed it down to two options...TorFab or Dapper Lighting.

TorFab
The guys at TorFab seem to have done a great job at a significantly cheaper price point than Dapper. They even have an install video on youtube and a tech post on Mud. The guys at TorFab seem great, but my biggest issue is that it appeared in the youtube video that you had to mount a relay to the body of the cruiser which I didn't want to do, but more importantly I think their headlight design is ugly. Just my personal opinion, not a shot at them. Again, they seem great and have an amazing price point.

Dapper Lighting
While TorFab seemed to specialize in cruiser products, Dapper specializes in headlights specifically. They custom build each headlight to your specific request, which could also include halo rings should you want to go that route. Dapper was selling 4x6 headlights that would fit perfectly and were supposedly plug and play with no mounting relays, etc. The real deciding factor for me in choosing Dapper was that I actually liked their headlight design and they seemed very professional. I suppose that happens when lighting is all that you do as a company. Dapper also has some great YouTube videos (here and here).

ORDERING
Before I pulled the trigger I wanted to make sure that the lights were actually plug and play, and that I could have all four lights on at the same time in low beam, as well as high beam. Not just for the brightness and being able to see at night, I just really liked the look of all four lights being on. So I called Dapper and spoke with their tech support guy named Mark. I have nothing but great things to say about Mark. He answered all my stupid questions and assured me we could accomplish everything I wanted with the four lights being on. So before I knew it, I was placing an order with Mark over the phone for their FourSix headlights with 30watt BiLED 2400 lumens LEDs. (fyi because they are being custom made they do take a while to arrive. I think it took over almost two months for mine to arrive.) In the spirit of full transparency, below is a screenshot of the final order total:

INSTALLATION
Like I mentioned earlier, my old halogen lights were terrible. Here they are in low beam, and don't let the built in night-mode exposure of my cellphone camera fool you...they were NOT bright:

So after waiting for about a month or so, the new headlights from Dapper arrived.

 

[SirBeef]

INSTALLATION PT2

In the box you'll find the headlight units, the led bulbs, 3-pin connection wiring, and a 3-pin adapter/splitter (that plugs into your low beam 3-pin)

Just pull the headlights out of the box, grab the led bulb, and easily mount and twist the bulb to lock it in place in the headlight

After that, you can plug up the remaining wiring

 

[SirBeef]

INSTALLATION PT3
Now it was time to pull out my old halogen lighting. This should have been an easy process but soon you will see why it wasn't.

To access your headlights you need to remove a series of screws. Your order should be:
- Turn Signals
- Chrome headlight bezels
- Headlights

First, unscrew the two screws in each turn signal. I didn't take a closeup but you can see them in this photo.

Once those two screws are out and you pop the hood, you now have access to the four screws that need to be removed from the chrome headlight bezels.

Now it was time to remove the lights. There are two screws per light and one spring per light which attaches in the lower corner.

 

[SirBeef]

INSTALLATION PT4
Once you have all the screws out and the springs unhooked, you can remove the four lights. From here, you will need to remove four screws from each headlight housing to remove the old halogen headlights.

Ideally, this is what it should look like when you take out the four screws from the housing

But before we get too far, WE MUST TALK ABOUT THESE FOUR SCREWS!!! The screws suck. I don't know if you're allowed to curse on Mud or not, but let's just say I think these screws were forged in the fires of hell only to bring misery and pain to everyone who tries to remove them. More than likely, your screws will be rusted and seized together like mine were. I was able to use a hammer drill and phillips head attachment to remove 8 of the 16 screws total from the four lights, but the remaining 8 did not budge and I completely stripped them. So before you embark on this, I would recommend soaking the screws in a penetrating oil like PB Blaster, and letting it sit for a day. Hopefully that will be enough to allow you to remove them without stripping them. If not, then you will have to go down my path of anguish. I tried drilling out the screws and using a screw extractor set to pull them out, but nothing would work. At a certain point, they wouldn't even drill down anymore. It was like my drill bit was just polishing the metal of the screw. After a few days of work and two broken drill bits...

I eventually tried some beefier channellocks on the thread side of the screw, turning counterclockwise, and that FINALLY worked!!!!

 

[SirBeef]

INSTALLATION PT5
So once I was able to get all the halogen headlights out, it was easy to drop in the new Dapper led headlights and mount the housing back on.

I re-used all the old screws I could, but for the ones I stripped I ran to home depot and picked 8 of these guys. They are slightly longer, but fit perfectly. I think they were like $1.50 a package.

So now that I had all the new headlights secured in their housings, I was ready to install them in the cruiser

 

[SirBeef]

INSTALLATION PT6
The next step was to plug in the 3-pin adapter/splitter that Dapper provided. This adapter plugs into the low beam 3-pin. The high beam 3-pin is no longer used.

Once the adapter is plugged in, you can re-mount the new lights and plug in the 3-pin plugs into the new adapter.

Just remember to put the spring back on each light and slide the screws into the correct slot of the headlight housing

 

[SirBeef]

INSTALLATION PT7
Finally, everything gets screwed back in and you're good to go!

Here are some After photos at night. Keep in mind my phone camera's night mode is trying to equal out the brightness of everything, but in reality these lights are STUPID bright on low beams, and even brighter on high beams. Like Indiana Jones Arc of the Covenant bright.

Hopefully this was helpful to anybody considering upgrading. Dapper Lighting truly was a a plug and play installation. Can't recommend them enough. Just remember what I said about getting those awful screws out lol.

If you have any questions about anything let me know and i'll try my best to answer.

 

[BurntToast]

Nicely done, when I get to my lights i want the same, both on, high and low. Looks excellent

 

[Jamieson22]

Nice write-up, thanks!

I am in middle of this job as well, was waiting on replacement hardware form Toyota. If anyone else looking this should be what you need for the lights + bezels/grille. Top two items are for the headlight bezel/grille and lower 3 three are for the headlights. That 9th grommet is for the single screw in the grille (plan to reuse that screw).

P/N​	Quantity​	Price Each​	Description​
9354084016​	8	$ 0.87​	SCREW, TAPPING
9018904069​	9	$ 0.82​	GROMMET, SCREW
8112114320​	4	$ 3.25​	SPRING, HEADLAMP TENSION
8113128050​	8	$ 3.91​	SCREW, HEADLAMP ADJUSTING
8113612571​	16	$ 0.99​	Headlight Mounting Screw

 

[Jdog]

Very nice! With the included wiring, does your high beam indicator on the dash still light up?

 

[Michael Hanson]

Does anyone know where the high beam indicator light is grounded to the FJ-60 body? Also where does the ground wire for dimmer switch go?

 

[toy_tek]

Agree those look good… but at 3x the price of the Tor-fab, I went with the latter. Installed them Saturday, happy w the result.

Glad we have options for those outdated dim stockers.

 

[suzuguru]

Wow! I never knew LED lights were so expensive. They're definitely nice, though.

 

[dapperlighting]

Hey guys! Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for the nice write up! This kit came out really nicely and fits the FJ nicely.

I just wanted to mention that all of our kits are hand built, use glass lenses, include a 5 year warranty, and built in Las Vegas, NV. Unlike most headlights on the market (99% made in China and rebranded in the USA), we build every kit to the customers specifications and for their particular application. Nothing is "off the shelf."

Feel free to reach out and ask any questions. We're happy to help or help point in the right direction.

 

[SirBeef]

Hey guys! Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for the nice write up! This kit came out really nicely and fits the FJ nicely.

I just wanted to mention that all of our kits are hand built, use glass lenses, include a 5 year warranty, and built in Las Vegas, NV. Unlike most headlights on the market (99% made in China and rebranded in the USA), we build every kit to the customers specifications and for their particular application. Nothing is "off the shelf."

Feel free to reach out and ask any questions. We're happy to help or help point in the right direction.

Appreciate you guys @dapperlighting. I'm currently working with Mark to figure out a little high/low pin swap, but he's been very helpful.

 

[SirBeef]

Very nice! With the included wiring, does your high beam indicator on the dash still light up?

It does indeed my friend

 

[dapperlighting]

Appreciate you guys @dapperlighting. I'm currently working with Mark to figure out a little high/low pin swap, but he's been very helpful.

Sounds good! Not sure if this is the same issue but we're aware of high beam light issue on positive ground vehicles. It's on our knock out list for this year to either include a module or revise our PCU chip set. We'll email about it when a fix is released.

 

[JohnCapoccia]

Sounds good! Not sure if this is the same issue but we're aware of high beam light issue on positive ground vehicles. It's on our knock out list for this year to either include a module or revise our PCU chip set. We'll email about it when a fix is released.

I’m very interested, but I’m confused. Do the hi beams work or not? What is the issue?

 

[SirBeef]

I’m very interested, but I’m confused. Do the hi beams work or not? What is the issue?

The high beams and low beams work, they are just wired backward at the moment. So to run your low beams you need the brights on, and to run your brights you need to kick it into low beams. My plan is to re-pin the plugs (which should be super easy to do) and then I'll be back to normal.

If you have any questions at all, and are considering these lights, call Dapper and talk to Mark. I'm still super happy with the lights, even with the backwards setup at the moment.

 

[SteveH]

How's the pattern and the cutoff? I assume these don't blind on-comers?