Replacement Headlights, Tell me what to buy!!!

[BK8LST]

I just replaced mine for something brighter. I bought from Rock Auto for under $50 including delivery. The replacement was easy after watching a YouTube showing how. I did have to slightly modify the plastic pegs that get inserted and then held in place by the vertical sliders. You'll need to aim the new ones after installation.

[campIV]

Originally Posted by nyyankees588

I had the same non-rectangular setup that you have, with the same crappy OEM headlights. I replaced them with of set of the drop-in 5"x7" LED headlights off of amazon (link). Pulled the plastic rectangular housings off of a van in the junkyard. Cost less than $100 and took <2hrs to do the swap. Super straightforward, just need to crimp a few wires.

High and low beams work wayyyy better than stock. I'm super they aren't as good as the other pricier options mentioned here, but for <$100, they did the trick for me.

Thank you for this! I have the same headlights as your old ones. I bought replacement housings and new halogen bulbs but still not happy. I’ve noticed far more options for the rectangular bulbs but wasn’t sure how to retrofit them. The Vantage lights look amazing, but I can’t see spending that much on headlights.

[Flipperfla]

Just replaced my high and low beam bulbs with LEDs. Wow, what a huge difference. After reading many reviews I went with Sealight on Amazon. These do not have fans like most. 2 yr. warranty so I gave them a shot. Took about 20 minutes to change them out. 200% difference. Night driving is a whole new experience. Check with your state laws if they are legal. Florida.....anything goes!

[Tnew]

HID bulbs are sweet and all but I didn't know anything about them when I upgraded. If your running around doing short trips at night, turning the engine and lights off, then jumping back in and turning the lights on, sometimes your hid bulbs will not come back on right away. The bulbs need to cool down. Can take 5 minutes which is annoying but not a deal breaker whatsoever. Just throwing that info out there.

[pjpvi]

Like many others I did the junkyard swap to rectangular LED lights a couple months ago. Can't believe it took me 15 years to get around to the change. My lights now actually put out light!

[SteelheadJones]

Originally Posted by Flipperfla

Just replaced my high and low beam bulbs with LEDs. Wow, what a huge difference. After reading many reviews I went with Sealight on Amazon. These do not have fans like most. 2 yr. warranty so I gave them a shot. Took about 20 minutes to change them out. 200% difference. Night driving is a whole new experience. Check with your state laws if they are legal. Florida.....anything goes!

I went to the Sealight store on Amazon. If I understand correctly you bought LED bulbs and put them into your existing headlight fixtures?

Which model did you choose and why?

[posplayr]

I don't have any good pictures at the moment (can take a quick shot in the morning; done). But these three items really helped my night driving. All in all, this is a pretty cheap set of upgrades and is almost too much light!

The road signs in AZ are highly reflective and they really bounce back a lot of light. So it is a compromise between lighting up the road without too much glare from the reflective signs.

The off-road lights are wired through the hi-beam (with an enable switch on the dash) and are mounted inside of the grill. I use these to light the immediate area in front and to the sides of the vehicle. As said, before your eyes tend to adjust to the highly reflective stuff and so natural tumbleweeds and coyotes do not show up very well even if right in front of you. These little (non DOT) lights help with that. Of course, they are generally off unless out in the boon dpoks.

BTW I had a wire to my multi-switch burn-up that was tied to the headlamps. So I have now wired all of the LED and driving lights through relays. Overkill for LEDs but I wanted to not tempt fate any further with driving light loads through the multi-function switch (see pic one relay for low beams, high beams and DRL. The other box is an ebay wireless receiver for my HF 5K badlands winch).

So it is all low-key. I did not want some 54" light bar across the top of the cab LOL.

One thing to watch out for when buying aftermarket headlight units. The first expensive replacement unit I bought did not have a parabolic back reflector. It was faceted (flat spots). This creates distortions and patterns in the light beam that can not be adjusted out. The Autozensation reflectors (the mirror part inside of the housing) are fully mirrors and a continuous curve. It produces a much more even light beam.

The reason this is important is that the beams do not shoot straight off from the end of the bulb. It reflects out the sides and hits the rear reflector to create a broad beam. With the facets, you get holes in the light. This doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out, but apparently, some of these headlamp manufacturers still can't figure out basic ray tracing.



HIKARI Ultra 9007 HB5 LED Bulbs Conversion Kit, Prime Zes Chips, 6K Halogen Replacement Cool White Fog Light IP68

https://www.amazon.com/HIKARI-Ultra-.../dp/B07D7SWKBN


Autozensation Ford E150 E250 E350 E450 -

https://www.amazon.com/-/es/gp/produ...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Nilight 40001S-B Bar Super Slim 2PCS 7 Inch 30W Spot Driving Fog 3600LM Single Row Off Road led Lights for Jeep-2 Style Mounting Brackets, 2 Years War

https://www.amazon.com/-/es/gp/produ...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[posplayr]

FYI I probably wired the HI/LO beams with two relays something like this. Then it made sense to add the third relay when I added the off-road lights. Apparently, the HI and LO are both on together which would necessitate the double relay.

__ttps://wiringdiagramall.blogspot.com/2019/10/wiring-diagram-headlamp-relay.html__

[JWA]

Originally Posted by posplayr

HIKARI Ultra 9007 HB5 LED Bulbs Conversion Kit, Prime Zes Chips, 6K Halogen Replacement Cool White Fog Light IP68

https://www.amazon.com/HIKARI-Ultra-.../dp/B07D7SWKBN


Autozensation Ford E150 E250 E350 E450 -

https://www.amazon.com/-/es/gp/produ...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sorry to pop in uninvited but you used your linked items together, the cases accept the LED bulbs?

[posplayr]

Originally Posted by JWA

Sorry to pop in uninvited but you used your linked items together, the cases accept the LED bulbs?

Yes, the lined items are all installed. I would say it is quite bright for road use and if you do off-roading just supplement with a larger DRL light. I'm using the subtle 2x15W=30W in the grille.

The combination has a decent cutoff although not as good as a Mercedes-Benz cutoff LOL.


A warning for all these types of cheap off-road lights; they need to be sealed. I taped off the interior area of the plastic lens and applied clear silicone sealant to the perimeter.