Builds Work In Progress aka: Badass

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I’ve not had the pleasure, but from what I understand the light from a lot of the LEDs scatters in snow and rain much more as well, impairing your vision.

Thank you, really good tip.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Made it home easily in H4. Still got some slight shimmy from the rear but maybe I was driving too fast so was slightly fishtailing.
Apparently my chickens weren’t too pissed at me for not letting them out of the coop… I got a first of the season blue egg.
An easy 12-16”… wind really blowing it around. Some areas very deep and some not.

 

[MoaByte]

I have not ever done a heater problem before, but I'd start by getting it up to temp and take readings on the valves on your fire wall. It might be that it isn't working right. Then take readings on the other side of the firewall where your heater core is. That ought to give you a good idea of the problem. Does your rear heater still work? Overhauling the ducting, plumbing, is something looming on all of these old truck that haven't had it done yet. Mine still works great for now, however in below zero with wind there is a cold air leak under the dash.

 

[kirvesmies]

I’ve not had the pleasure, but from what I understand the light from a lot of the LEDs scatters in snow and rain much more as well, impairing your vision.

my plebeian understanding is that lens design is a very significant part of light scatter or lack thereof

 

[kirvesmies]

man, that chicken that laid that bluish egg must've been freezin' it's @$$

 

[Gretsch]

So my headlights suck, I really need to get into the LED upgrade. Can someone guide me?

Get the upgraded Koito H4 from the dealership. Comes with a harness cheap and easy. You can put LEDs in later.

So I did the Koito upgrade. Lights work great and are much improved from stock. Cheap upgrade as you get the lights and a new wiring harness for around $50. One thing I ran into with mine is that the High Beam Indicator on the dash stopped working after installing this harness that comes with the kit. Several folks have seen the same. HBI works for some and for others not using this harness. I'm told replacing the HBI light in the dash with an LED bulb makes it work again with the Koito harness. ARB makes a wiring harness that I switched to which for whatever reason makes the HBI on the dash work without swapping bulbs. Its a pricey piece though at $150. You can actually just take the Koito kit lights and run them off the factory harness as well if you want to make things easier. Not sure if it provides the same improvement in lighting as using the harness and the lights in the kit, but using just some H4's with the stock wiring seems to be an improvement. Just my experience. HTH.

 

[MoaByte]

So I did the Koito upgrade. Lights work great and are much improved from stock. Cheap upgrade as you get the lights and a new wiring harness for around $50. One thing I ran into with mine is that the High Beam Indicator on the dash stopped working after installing this harness that comes with the kit. Several folks have seen the same. HIB works for some and for others not using this harness. I'm told replacing the HIB light in the dash with an LED bulb makes it work again with the Koito harness. ARB makes a wiring harness that I switched to which for whatever reason makes the HIB on the dash work without swapping bulbs. Its a pricey piece though at $150. You can actually just take the Koito kit lights and run them off the factory harness as well if you want to make things easier. Not sure if it provides the same improvement in lighting as using the harness and the lights in the kit, but using just some H4's with the stock wiring seems to be an improvement. Just my experience. HTH.

I got my Koito kit from Matt with the LED headlights. My beast still had the factory Koito headlights and they worked like new and were great at 1987 standards. The new harness basically uses the old harness's signal to trip the new harness's relay and give direct fused full voltage to the the new headlights. I could but any 7" light fixture in and they will be optimal. I doubt I would have noticed a difference as my old Koitos we're fine. The new ones have much better fractal focus/spread. High to low beam is so different that having an indicator light on the dash hasn't been necessary .

Because the LEDs have such low draw there isn't enough resistance to light the indicator. You could either replace the indicator bulb with led or put a resistor between the new harness and the new LED headlight. The whole idea of putting in a new harness is because of the resistance in the old harness so it seems silly to put a resistor in to fix it. But it will bring the high beam indicator back on and is easy. It makes sense to me to just put an led in the indicator. There a new LED bulbs that use the wasted heat off them to circulate through the housing that supposedly can both keep the lens from frosting and improve the H4 Koitos even more. I'm looking in to it but I'm still thrilled the improvement of just having really bright and clear headlights that I'm not in a hurry. One thing about the new harness is that it is plenty long enough, kind of excessive really.

 

[Gretsch]

High to low beam is so different that having an indicator light on the dash hasn't been necessary .

Agreed, it isn't really needed to tell if the high beams are on and is really not a big issue regardless of why the HBI doesn't come on. It became one for me when I happened to fail inspection in my state because the HBI was not working on my truck after the harness upgrade. Otherwise it wouldn't have bothered me at all. I actually didn't even notice it wasn't working until this inspection guy failed the truck. After that I was forced to deal with it to make it work. Not sure if the HBI matters in your state Felicity, but just thought I would bring it up in case it saves you some time. HTH.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Ok so the lesson for this girl is… the shimmy had to of been because I was locked into 4wd. This AM I tried again on the way in but after a mile or so the highway was much more clear. Pulled over and did the little reverse trick and pushed out of 4wd. 2H was smooth sailing.

Oh and btw, my tach sticks. It wasn’t really 3k at 55mph. Always in the winter it sticks. I can tap the lens and sometimes it’ll drop back to where it should be.
OH and it was 4 degrees this AM when I started the truck… fires right up w/ a full pull of the choke. Once she’s running because of the city racer carb I do have to push the choke in halfway or it’ll bog down. Other than a few oil leaks… she’s running darn great. I still am blown away that not quite a year and a half ago her engine and drivetrain, plus brakes, etc were literally in teeny pieces!

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

So I did the Koito upgrade. Lights work great and are much improved from stock. Cheap upgrade as you get the lights and a new wiring harness for around $50. One thing I ran into with mine is that the High Beam Indicator on the dash stopped working after installing this harness that comes with the kit. Several folks have seen the same. HBI works for some and for others not using this harness. I'm told replacing the HBI light in the dash with an LED bulb makes it work again with the Koito harness. ARB makes a wiring harness that I switched to which for whatever reason makes the HBI on the dash work without swapping bulbs. Its a pricey piece though at $150. You can actually just take the Koito kit lights and run them off the factory harness as well if you want to make things easier. Not sure if it provides the same improvement in lighting as using the harness and the lights in the kit, but using just some H4's with the stock wiring seems to be an improvement. Just my experience. HTH.

That was extremely helpful Greg, thanks for looking at my thread and adding your input. Very much appreciated.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I got my Koito kit from Matt with the LED headlights. My beast still had the factory Koito headlights and they worked like new and were great at 1987 standards. The new harness basically uses the old harness's signal to trip the new harness's relay and give direct fused full voltage to the the new headlights. I could but any 7" light fixture in and they will be optimal. I doubt I would have noticed a difference as my old Koitos we're fine. The new ones have much better fractal focus/spread. High to low beam is so different that having an indicator light on the dash hasn't been necessary .

Because the LEDs have such low draw there isn't enough resistance to light the indicator. You could either replace the indicator bulb with led or put a resistor between the new harness and the new LED headlight. The whole idea of putting in a new harness is because of the resistance in the old harness so it seems silly to put a resistor in to fix it. But it will bring the high beam indicator back on and is easy. It makes sense to me to just put an led in the indicator. There a new LED bulbs that use the wasted heat off them to circulate through the housing that supposedly can both keep the lens from frosting and improve the H4 Koitos even more. I'm looking in to it but I'm still thrilled the improvement of just having really bright and clear headlights that I'm not in a hurry. One thing about the new harness is that it is plenty long enough, kind of excessive really.

This was great to read too. You guys are all still my favorite people… other than some of my bee people and my bearded dragon people and my blacksmithing people and and…. Haha. But no, that mention about the housings frosting friggen just blew my mind.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

My bees so far are all still alive… 80% treatment free. Two I treated, tho only one really had mites the other appeared to have paralytic syndrome which is usually from mites. I gave up after 5/6 oxalis acid vaporizer treatments (done every 4-5 days and using the battery from the truck) tho because we began to get rain and my windows of when I had to do them got too spread apart. Will see what happens come spring.


Few days before the storm I opened up them all to add dry feed. This one was so thickly clustered on the top I had a hard time adding paper and feed on top. One of them managed to get a smidge of exposed skin on my wrist and stung me.

 

[MoaByte]

My bees so far are all still alive… 80% treatment free. Two I treated, tho only one really had mites the other appeared to have paralytic syndrome which is usually from mites. I gave up after 5/6 oxalis acid vaporizer treatments (done every 4-5 days and using the battery from the truck) tho because we began to get rain and my windows of when I had to do them got too spread apart. Will see what happens come spring.


Few days before the storm I opened up them all to add dry feed. This one was so thickly clustered on the top I had a hard time adding paper and feed on top. One of them managed to get a smidge of exposed skin on my wrist and stung me.

View attachment 2909647

Treating mites must be tough as they are likely more resistant to pesticides that will kill bees because of genetic selection. Im sure you know the right people to steer you through it.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Treating mites must be tough as they are likely more resistant to pesticides that will kill bees because of genetic selection. Im sure you know the right people to steer you through it.

That’s partly why I don’t want to. Mites are the biggest threat and have only been a problem since the 80’s. If people keep treating then it weakens their ability to fight them off… vicious circle. If the hive that was loaded dies off then so be it…. I don’t want those genetics in my yard. That hive was the $$ one too… supposedly most mite resistant. I won’t fall for that bs again.

 

[diesellibrarian]

Made it home easily in H4. Still got some slight shimmy from the rear but maybe I was driving too fast so was slightly fishtailing.
Apparently my chickens weren’t too pissed at me for not letting them out of the coop… I got a first of the season blue egg.
An easy 12-16”… wind really blowing it around. Some areas very deep and some not.

View attachment 2908832

Look at those Duratracs putting in work!

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Ordered the Koito headlight kit
PN 81110-60P70 from the dealer $58.

 

[4runner2FJ60]

My tach gauge sticks also, anything under 40 degrees out.

 

[MoaByte]

My tach gauge sticks also, anything under 40 degrees out.

I think I shorted my tach out. I hooked it to 12 v in. Hasn't worked since.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

I think I shorted my tach out. I hooked it to 12 v in. Hasn't worked since.

Whoops.

 

[Ian Crawford]

Ordered the Koito headlight kit
PN 81110-60P70 from the dealer $58.

I converted to the IPF 7" units with H4, they improved the lighting but now I'm wondering if the wiring/relay needs an upgrade?

At $58 I might just have to order the complete kit from Toyota.