Slee upgrade harness question (1 Viewer)

[Cattledog]

About two years ago.

Ran it three times before going back the oem harness. The firsts outing no issues, the second time out the low beams would not work without shaking the Slee connector to OEM harness point. Go over a bump and the light would go out or come back on. The third outing had a problem at the low beam relay connector, loose again. After the third outing I plugged the OEM harness back in and replaced the low beams with john deer bulbs. Very happy with the J.D. bulbs.

 

[Lugboot]

I had mine installed in January of '07. No wiring or connector issues, but I did have both relays in the headlight harness go bad within the first year. I had also installed the auxiliary harness by then so I was able to keep the headlights running by swapping relays around. (Nice to have 3 relays all the same--only had to give up the auxiliary lights until a replacement relay showed up each time) I called Slee both times and they quickly shipped me replacement relays. They also requested that I ship back my two dud relays for them to take a look at. The original relay in my auxiliary harness has been fine and the two replacement relays for the headlight harness have been fine so far. I wonder if the two original Slee headlight harness relays were funky from the factory, in my case.

A coworker and I pulled the cover off one and hooked it back into the harness to see what was going on and it appeared that it wasn't closing the circuit reliably. Just a little push and the circuit closed and the lights came on.

Overall, I've been really happy with the harnesses.

 

[Cj80cruiser]

Are there any alternatives to Slee's harness that doesn't have to be homemade?

 

[jpwelling]

I've had mine for 3 or 4 years and had problems with the drivers side occasionally losing contact on the headlight. I cleaned it up and greased it several times. It finally melted (from heat generated by poor contact) and I replaced it with a new pigtailed connector I got from some place on line. (I can go through my records if anyone wants the link). I got 2 for when the other side goes out but I haven't had a problem since.

 

[sleeoffroad]

Ok, here is some background info.

On the very first ones we sold, the pins in the connector that connects to the vehicle side was very thing and sometimes would loose contact with the vehicle side harness. This was worsened if the vehicle side connectors were already melted or the pins deformed. What helped in those cases was to use a pick and close up the vehicle side contacts.

We then replaced that connector with one that had thicker pins. This seemed to have solved that issue, however from time to time we still had relays go bad as well as the connectors to the lightbulbs go bad. This was normally a case when cheap bulbs were used that generated excessive heat, or bad contacts. The relays were not an easy to find pin pattern, so we have now changed it to be a standard 30 amp relay that can be bought anywhere.

It is possible to replace the relays with Bosch or Tyco relays, but unfortunately not at the price we sell the harnesses. However at least the user can now find a relay at any local parts store.

We do recommend that people use di-electric grease on the contacts. In Colorado we have seen the MagChloride that they spray on the roads these days play havoc with electrical connectors.

 

[debushau]

Daniel Stern Lighting resells an upgrade harness from Rallylights.com (or Susquehanna Motorsports is another name for them) that's tailored for whatever you want (I have one for a 60). It's a high quality harness with insulated and sealed connectors and name brand relays, etc. On the other hand, it costs twice what the Slee relay costs.

 

[Beowulf]

On the other hand, it costs twice what the Slee relay costs.

Not if you have to buy 2 of the cheap harnesses to get one that is well made.

-B-

 

[Juan Derher]

Slee light harness relay issue

Everything Lugboot said in post #22 has been my experience too. All I can say is that fortuneately (when driving back home in the middle of the night through an indian reservation in nowhere Arizona) when the headlights flickered off I was driving NOT my wife!!!
I installed my harness last Aug. 2007 so I haven't been running it very long, but the relays still could be from the same batch of relays in Lugboots harness. Ben at Slee was nice enough to send me replacements. What I am uncomfortable with is that he said Slee is the only source for these 4 post Shiey Joung relays.
As stated in an earlier post the newest Slee harness has a generic relay that can be replaced at most local parts stores. I think it's a 5 post relay with one pin unused.
Rather than buying a new harness I would like to use the newer common 5 post relay which would require splicing into the harness the correct connector for that particular relay. Has anyone done this???

 

[agomez]

replaced both 9006 plastic connectors to the low beams....and also the brass grounds....my problem with the harness was the plastic plugs were melting.....seems to be okay now....

 

[beachcomberspi]

2015-directions followed. Have replaced the auxiliary harness due to plastic melt. Gonna try Bosch relays tomorrow. 1500 dollars of headlight, mounting and dielectric grease equals nada.