John Deere HIR bulbs

[Jule]

After I smashed out both headlight housings when I hit an elk last year, I replaced them with OEM Toyota Euro spec H4/H1 housings and 65/70W H4 bulbs from Daniel Stern and relay harness similar to Slee's. The lowbeams still suck! High beams are great. Moral of the story, 80 series low beams generally suck, it is not just the US version.

I have the exact same 65/70W bulb in H4 CIBIE 5.5 x 8 housing in my 97 XJ, they are awesome! The low beams are much better and in spite of only having one bulb on high beam, they work as well as the dual bulb H4/H1 combo on the TLC.

Before I got the Euro spec lamps, I had HIR bulbs in low and high beams with stock wiring. If I had to do it over again, I would just do that. (Unless I could figure out how to run HIDs in the low beam, then run HIR bulbs in the high beams.)

I believe HIRs are the most cost effective solution by far.

Cheers!

 

[mot]

FWIW, here's some stuff that some Mud old farts have seen already about the 80's headlights 'n stuff.

Euro headlights (OEM)

DEPO lights (RHD version)

While we're at it...

80 with BMW headlights modded in.

Anyway, FWIW!

 

[Marc311]

After I smashed out both headlight housings when I hit an elk last year, I replaced them with OEM Toyota Euro spec H4/H1 housings and 65/70W H4 bulbs from Daniel Stern and relay harness similar to Slee's. The lowbeams still suck! High beams are great. Moral of the story, 80 series low beams generally suck, it is not just the US version.

I have the exact same 65/70W bulb in H4 CIBIE 5.5 x 8 housing in my 97 XJ, they are awesome! The low beams are much better and in spite of only having one bulb on high beam, they work as well as the dual bulb H4/H1 combo on the TLC.

Before I got the Euro spec lamps, I had HIR bulbs in low and high beams with stock wiring. If I had to do it over again, I would just do that. (Unless I could figure out how to run HIDs in the low beam, then run HIR bulbs in the high beams.)

I believe HIRs are the most cost effective solution by far.

Cheers!

I have to say I was pretty disappointed after installing a wiring harness and IPF bulbs. I upgraded the harness, bulbs and lamps on my 60 and the result was incredible. The improvement was nowhere as dramatic on the 80. That being said, the stock setup was terrible and the harness and bulbs at least make it acceptable.

I may still try the John Deere bulbs and see if that improves it more.

 

[bruff]

I went to order John Deere bulbs today from my local dealer and they want over $40 each. I just about messed my pants and passed on them.

 

[ShawnTRD]

9012 (HIR2)9012 (HIR2)This genuine Toshiba 9012 (HIR2) bulb can replace the 9006 and HB4 for special service use, and has 90% higher intensity at the same wattage.

7 April, 2009:

Unfortunately, this bulb has been discontinued by Toshiba, and we are diligently looking for new avenues of manufacture or supply.

 

[firetruck41]

***UPDATE 2/2010*** My original HIRs are still going strong over 3 years later.
Forum users report the JD bulbs are hard to source, several users have had good experiences with Candlepower Inc. - HIR page. They have the Toshiba bulbs for the lowest price I have seen recently (~$22), and also have the Philips HIR which specs out as having more lumens.

 

[MDarius]

BURNOUT:
Well, ours are on whenever the cruiser is on. We put on about 15,000 miles a year. My right headlight just burned out, almost 3 years to the date from installation. The pattern and brightness of one headlight is better than both headlights on my Subaru and you don't miss the one too much. I guess it's time to buy a second set...and teach my wife how to turn off the headlights in the daytime.

 

[Stone]

I called Kenny at Candlepower and asked him how many HIR2's he had left last week. He said around 150...didn't know how long that was going to last, so I ordered up 4-HIR2 and 2-HIR1 bulbs just in case they started to run low.

Now that I've had these HIR's for a couple of weeks, I can't BEAR the thought of having to go back to regular halogens!

 

[firetruck41]

***UPDATE*** 8/2010 Just had my first HIR bulb burn out two weeks ago. It was just a couple moths shy of 4 years, and probably about 30-35k miles of constant use (I leave my lights on at all times)! Considering getting the new Phillips HIR...

 

[IdahoDoug]

High beam? Low beam?

I've got a pair of the Toshiba low beams on the bench - lost one last week so thought I'd put a fresh pair in and put the used working one in the glovebox as a spare. For the price vs the new HIR2 ($), I couldn't see getting the new stuff - you should and let us know, heh...

DougM

 

[firetruck41]

High beam? Low beam?

I've got a pair of the Toshiba low beams on the bench - lost one last week so thought I'd put a fresh pair in and put the used working one in the glovebox as a spare. For the price vs the new HIR2 ($), I couldn't see getting the new stuff - you should and let us know, heh...

DougM

I only have the low beams, so it was a low beam bulb. With almost 4 years worth of life, I am tempted to spend the "big bucks"

Hmmm... Just checked Candlepower and there is a special, $100 for the Toshiba high beams and Phillips HIR2 low beam. I had been thinking that the Phillips bulbs were $50 each, but they are now regular priced at $36/1 or $68/2.

 

[mot]

I've just installed both low and high beams HIR's (the $100 special from Candlepower) on my Sienna and was a bit disappointed with the lowbeam performance, but was impressed with the highs.

I'm going to slap on beefier wiring harness and see if drawing juice directly from the battery would make them perform better over the weekend.

 

[terpsmandan]

I got a pair of the Toshiba high beams for the my wife's Sienna and looking forward to seeing better. If I like them, I think that I will order another set and mod the plug to fit them in the low beam.

 

[julstirn]

I have low beams and high beams waiting to be put in ill take before and after shots when i do in couple weeks

 

[psfpilot]

I got a pair of the Toshiba high beams for the my wife's Sienna and looking forward to seeing better. If I like them, I think that I will order another set and mod the plug to fit them in the low beam.

I was concerned about the increase in improperly focused glare that resulted from the JD 9012 bulb in the USDS low beam socket so I went back to the 9006 (capped) low beam bulb there. I wonder, would there would be an even greater increase in glare in oncoming drivers' eyes with uncapped high beams in the low beam sockets?

 

[edog's 80]

I just went with the 9011 and 9012 from the finemotoring website. Really good experience so far, he seems really on top of it, I will post up results.

 

[IdahoDoug]

PSF - if you had a beam disparity between left and right then something was amiss. The DS is harder to get in properly and I've had trouble a few times - is there a possibility it was askew and that's why the beam pattern on this side was not focused? I've used these for years and one of the nice features is the precise filament placement which preserves the beam pattern.

This DS issue is on my mind right now as my bro in law recently replaced a bulb on this side, did not get it seated in the socket because of the difficult access on this side. Ended up arcing the bulb and burning the connector. I still have to replace it - eeek.


DougM

 

[VFRMAN]

I've been using high beam HIR's from Finemotoring in both my low and high beam sockets in my 80 for a couple of years now. Won't ever go back to using the low beam HIR's when the high beam HIR's are just so damn good.

FWIW I never get flashed by oncoming traffic and I drive at night ALOT.

Caveat: I did do the same mod for my wife's Odyssey van for awhile and the highs-in-lows set up was almost too bright. I went back to low HIR's on that but never spent any time playing with it to see if anything was out of adjustment(if that's even possible) on the Odyssey.

 

[psfpilot]

PSF - if you had a beam disparity between left and right then something was amiss. The DS is harder to get in properly and I've had trouble a few times - is there a possibility it was askew and that's why the beam pattern on this side was not focused? I've used these for years and one of the nice features is the precise filament placement which preserves the beam pattern.

It's possible it was not properly seated. I'll give it another shot. Are you running JD 9012s or a different (automotive brand) 9012?

 

[IdahoDoug]

The original John Deere bulbs were made by Toshiba. I've used Toshibas and now have I think the Phillips in as Toshiba is no longer making them. But they're all just identical newer versions of the Toshiba. Modifying the bulb with a dremel/file/saw may impact fit and for some reason the DS is more fiddly on this as well. BTW, I've switched to using a pair of wire cutters to snip the bulb mounts to fit. It's easier on the filament than the vibrations of a file/saw. Just two snips and they're ready to install.

DougM