Headlight Beam Level Control Retrofit 2007-2009 Tundra (probably Sequoia too) (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy9A]

I had googled this subject a few times in the past and always came up with some forums where people talked about adding the adjustable beam headlights into their 2007-2009 Tundra.
Nobody ever ultimately went through with it and I would always forget about the issue... Until I would get every a****** on the road turning their high beams on and leaving them on at night when towing. I would flash my high beams saying "hey douche bag here are the brights, so what you're seeing clearly were my low beams all along". Nope, they just leave them on. Even with air bags in the rear to level out the truck when towing I would never have the headlight beams where they needed to be. Always way down in front of the truck or up in the trees.

Then last summer a tree fell on a friends 2010 Tundra smashing the cab pretty good and totaling it. So I swapped out my headlight assemblies with his and grabbed the necessary parts to make it all work. When the parts were free, there is no worry of wasting a couple hundred dollars on something that might ultimately not work out.


This should be the same or very similar for all 2007-2009 Tundras (mine is 2009). The diagram is the same for all 2009 trim levels and motor options as far as I can tell. This should also work on a Sequoia since most aftermarket Tundra headlamp assembles also say they fit a Sequoia.

For the swap you need to grab:
-The headlight assemblies with the motors on the back
-Make sure to get the wiring pigtail on each motor with at least a few inches of wiring to work with
-The roller switch on the dash to control the headlight beams
-Make sure to grab the pigtail from the roller switch with enough wiring to work with
-You'll need some lengths of wire to connect all this from the switch in the cab and over to the headlight motors. I just used 16ga wiring from a few spools I had lying around.

I also used zip ties and some plastic split wiring loom I had lying around from other projects. Amazon sells 100' rolls for pretty cheap

You also need whatever method you choose of making weatherproof connections of these wires under the hood. I prefer the heat shrink butt connectors.
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[Jeremy9A]

I won't get too far into the process of removing the headlights. Basically you unclip the plastic filler piece under the headlights to access the bottom bolt(s) and the top ones are easily accessed from under the hood. check youtube for a video.

I compared the back of the headlight assemblies because I was always curious if you could just buy the motors and add them on. Not likely. They look to be different moldings all together.

The connectors are all the same for the lights themselves. So if you aren't going to get the the wiring modifications for a while you can just install the new housing assemblies and drive for now. Thats what I did since I swapped these from truck to truck at a friends house.

A few more pics of the backs:

 

[Jeremy9A]

For the beam adjusting roller switch thing- Just pop it out of the dash. Its just tension clips holding this in place and you should have a blank spot in your dash to install this to the left of the steering column- as long as you didn't go adding a bunch of useless light bars and dumb s*** to use up all those spots.

 

[Jeremy9A]

And for the most difficult part which is easy enough if you understand some basic wiring diagrams.

I ran the two control wires from the switch out to the headlamp motors and T'd them in as shown in the diagram. You can also see in the diagram that one of the motor wires tees in and gets power from the right low beam headlight wire. Not sure why, but ok.

I hope this diagram can help someone and just ignore my scribblings that no longer even make sense to me.

I don't have pictures of the connections I made and was not planning on doing a write up at the time. This is more of a post just letting people know that it can be done. You won't have to worry about wasting money on parts that won't work out.

 

[Jeremy9A]

For the headlamp motor grounds I just ran the wires from the headlamp motors to existing grounds nearby.

Then I routed the control wires from the motors into the cab and to the switch.

 

[Jeremy9A]

And finally where the wiring enters the cab. I slathered some liquid electric tape over the new grommet hole later.

Yes there is some surface rust under the hood...... Welcome to illinois.

 

[Jeremy9A]

Finally ready to go and much easier to see at night. Adjustable beams and clear headlights!