KZJ78 headlight upgrade

[Lomoski]

Hey gang, as the title suggests I'm looking at replacing my sealed beam headlights on my 95 KZJ78. Would love to upgrade to LED OR HID but don't want to break the bank. Suggestions or anyone have real world experience with some different setups?

Cheers

 

[jmylie]

I went to NAPA and purchased some halogen headlights. I think they were about $130 for both vs. $300 each for LED's.

An improvement over the old ones.

 

[Lomoski]

I went to NAPA and purchased some halogen headlights. I think they were about $130 for both vs. $300 each for LED's.

An improvement over the old ones.

I've been using the Sylvania halogen sealed beams and am not super impressed with the light quality. I spend a lot of time driving in the mountains at night and think I want to try a led or hid setup. Which halogen sealed beams were you using from napa?

Cheers

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

You could buy some H4 housings (should be around $100 I think...) and put in some LED bulbs. My LJ78 came with H4 housing from Japan....I thought they were OEM, but maybe not. I put in some Ebay LED bulbs and have been pretty happy. Only problem with the LED bulbs is they don't get hot enough to melt snow from the housing. So you'd have to run halogen H4's for the winter. They'd still be a big improvement over the sealed beams though.

 

[Lomoski]

You could buy some H4 housings (should be around $100 I think...) and put in some LED bulbs. My LJ78 came with H4 housing from Japan....I thought they were OEM, but maybe not. I put in some Ebay LED bulbs and have been pretty happy. Only problem with the LED bulbs is they don't get hot enough to melt snow from the housing. So you'd have to run halogen H4's for the winter. They'd still be a big improvement over the sealed beams though.

Good to know. I would like to go down that route I think, I could oup hid bulbs in that way as well. I've upgraded bulbs to hid before. I'll have to try to find some housings. Seems like my sealed beams are magnets for rocks. I've out rock holes in four sets since the start of the winter and they sure are a pain to change!

Thanks Nick,

Marc

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

These are the sort of LED lamps I've had good success with. Try to buy ones without fans. And the ones that have rows of four Philips Lumiled chips are excellent. The leds are placed in the same spot as the filament in the regular H4:

6500K 8000LM Fanless Philips LED Headlight Kit High/Low Beam Bulbs H4 9003 HB2 | eBay

 

[Lomoski]

These are the sort of LED lamps I've had good success with. Try to buy ones without fans. And the ones that have rows of four Philips Lumiled chips are excellent. The leds are placed in the same spot as the filament in the regular H4:

6500K 8000LM Fanless Philips LED Headlight Kit High/Low Beam Bulbs H4 9003 HB2 | eBay

That's great! Thanks for the link. Are the housings polycarbonate or glass? Not sure why but the gravel from the roads here has been hell on my lights.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

That's great! Thanks for the link. Are the housings polycarbonate or glass? Not sure why but the gravel from the roads here has been hell on my lights.

Mine are glass. I wonder if you can still buy these. I remember my parents had them on their 4runner when I was a kid.

 

[Lomoski]

Mine are glass. I wonder if you can still buy these. I remember my parents had them on their 4runner when I was a kid.

Oh yeah! We used to have those on our station wagon as well. I'll be googling. Ugly as sin, but these headlights are such a pain to replace! Pretty much have to disassemble the whole grill. Not ideal in winter.

 

[Lenny33]

Doesn’t solve your headlight choice, but couldn’t you just put a clear bra on them?
When I have had clear bras put on, when they cover the lights too, it works

 

[JimmyPrado]

Trucklites. Polycarbonate. Spendy Work great.

 

[jmylie]

NAPA 27009 NAPA Lighting by Trucklite:

These are not a "sealed" beam as the bulb is replaceable. Compared to my old headlight, an improvement.

I like the idea of replacing the bulb with an LED bulb. I'll have to look into that.

 

[Lomoski]

NAPA 27009 NAPA Lighting by Trucklite:

View attachment 1868442
These are not a "sealed" beam as the bulb is replaceable. Compared to my old headlight, an improvement.



I like the idea of replacing the bulb with an LED bulb. I'll have to look into that.

Awesome! I'll pick some up and give them a try. Are they polycarbonate or glass? I'm going to order some LED bulbs for then for sure. I'll let you know how that goes.

Thanks!

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

NAPA 27009 NAPA Lighting by Trucklite:

View attachment 1868442
These are not a "sealed" beam as the bulb is replaceable. Compared to my old headlight, an improvement.

I like the idea of replacing the bulb with an LED bulb. I'll have to look into that.

Those look great! What sort of bulb do they take?

The Japanese H4 ones in my LJ are good, but the vertical cut-off pattern faces the wrong way (as it's RHD). Been meaning to eventually replace them....

 

[Lomoski]

Unfortunately it looks like that part number only exists in the American NAPA system. I'll have to do some searching to see if I can find something like that in Canada. They sure look great though!

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

I double checked to see if the H4 style were factory installed in the LJ78 and KJZJ78, and it appears that they are. I'm confused why some of you guys don't have them. Could be the original Japanese owners tossed them when it came time to change bulbs.? Image from Megazip. Part number for 81110S is 90981-04027. Pricey of course. Between the rubber boot and glass housing is the H4 bulb.

 

[Lomoski]

I double checked to see if the H4 style were factory installed in the LJ78 and KJZJ78, and it appears that they are. I'm confused why some of you guys don't have them. Could be the original Japanese owners tossed them when it came time to change bulbs.? Image from Megazip. Part number for 81110S is 90981-04027. Pricey of course.

I believe mine were removed during the initial import inspection because they face "the wrong way" so I think the original owner had them replaced with sealed beams to pass the inspection. Do yours bias to the left?

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

I believe mine were removed during the initial import inspection because they face "the wrong way" so I think the original owner had them replaced with sealed beams to pass the inspection. Do yours bias to the left?

Yes they do, just slightly. Never had anyone flash me though.

 

[Lomoski]

Wish the original owner had kept them and given them to me! I think I'll have to order something off eBay or Amazon. Doesn't seem to have a replacement for Canadian napa.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

These look decent...

PAIR H4 Headlights 5"x7" 200mm Rectangular Sealed Beam Conversion Kit E-Code | eBay