There's one dude on E-bay selling E-code Bosch housings. Major pricy.
I'd change mine over to a the cheaper dual headlight front setup over the quad light I have to make it easier to upgrade. I like the 4 headlight look, but the light output sucks.
CK5
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Headlights for my 89 k5?
- Thread starter down4thakrown
- Start date
I'd change mine over to a the cheaper dual headlight front setup over the quad light I have to make it easier to upgrade. I like the 4 headlight look, but the light output sucks.
MEMO43
1/2 ton status
Zoo i emailed the seller
Hopefully they have some 150mm lights for our trucks. After all its no fun being a member of a forum an sharing our trial and errors
Ill post my findings
Hopefully they have some 150mm lights for our trucks. After all its no fun being a member of a forum an sharing our trial and errors
Ill post my findings
Last edited:
The quad headlight set up looks so much better than the base/scottsdale dual headlight set up. I’d rather retrofit the ‘81-82 factory bumper with turn signal/park lamp openings in it and run LED’s in there set up as foglights.
Bumper im referring to:
http://www.lmctruck.com/features/cc/CCFBC.htm
Obviously wouldnt need that kit because wouldnt be used as parking lamps. I think it would be sweet and still give factory look, and give more light output since they never came with fogs
I like that idea, and I like the looks better as well. If I did swap the nose, I would probably go to the '86 to '88 stuff. Then there are options for headlights out there. I still wouldn't go cheap, as I don't want to be one of the ones blinding oncoming traffic, even though I don't care to meet a lot of the late model stuff at night, especially Ferds.. or ones with leveling kits and no readjustment.
jteck10
1/2 ton status
I know it’s been a while here, I’m looking to do this to my k5. Any chance you have a write up or further detail on how you did this?
What I did was install an old fashion floor dimmer switch, and then cut the blue high beam power wire at the stock dimmer switch located on the steering column. I then ran a power wire from that blue wire down to the floor dimmer switch so when I pull the light switch on on the dash the floor switch is powered. I then located the green wire that goes through the fire wall to the inside headlights, and attached that to the floor dimmer switch.
The stock dimmer switch on the steering column is still powering the outside headlights when I pull the headlight switch on the dash. I keep the high/low lever in the low beam position which powers the outside headlights. When I want the inner headlights to come on I hit the floor dimmer switch, and boom all four lights are on.
I need to create a separate circuit with its own relay for the inner headlights because the stock single 40 AMP relay that runs both the inner and outer headlights cannot handle both lights being on for very long before it wants to pop.
A lot of people talk about the relays, but there is something else going on if a 40 amp relay won't handle the headlight load. 350W is still only 75% of 40A, no headlight I'm aware of draws anywhere near the 85W I calculated that at.
Realistically there should be about 22A being drawn through 4 65W headlights.
Realistically there should be about 22A being drawn through 4 65W headlights.
I am just speaking from my own experience. For one thing I have high beam lights on both the inside and outside position. When I pull all four lights on it is bright. The one time I was out wheeling at night, and I had all four lights going after about 20-minutes the lights started to flicker, and I could hear the 40-AMP circuit breaker popping on and off. Since GM designed those lights to have only one set of headlights on at a time you would figure that was for a reason, and me modifying that design to have all four come on at once was more than GM had in mind.
Just an odd result. The point of the relay is to get rid of the marginal headlight switch wiring handling the load, so going through the stock wiring I could see the load exceeding the wiring capacity...but IIRC the high beams are 55W, that's under 20A of draw even with four of them.
You SHOULD have a significant amount of excess capacity through your relay.
I'm going to do this as well, just trying to figure out where the issue seems to be.
You SHOULD have a significant amount of excess capacity through your relay.
I'm going to do this as well, just trying to figure out where the issue seems to be.
I figured the load could be handled as well, but it did not work out that way. Maybe one of the two dimmer switches cannot handle the load. Maybe I am exceeding the amperage load capacity of one of the dimmer switches. I made darn sure the floor dimmer switch is not grounding any hot wires because they are known for that.
I just caught you said 40A breaker. Is this in the stock fuse panel?
I used the lmc 150mm lenses and some high quality led bulbs,i can finally see at night lol
jteck10
1/2 ton status
awesome thanks!
Yes, it is the stock one located in the fuse panel. I wonder if the weakness issue is in the stock dimmer switch located on the steering column because if all four lights are on at the same time then all that amperage for those four lights is running through that dimmer switch. GM designed the dimmer switch to only have two headlight on at a time, and having four headlight running amperage through that switch may be too much. The floor switch would still only be handling the two inside lights which is why I would want to make a separate circuit for the lights controlled by the floor switch so that the stock dimmer switch on the steering column is only handling the load of two headlight instead of four.
If it were I, having had my fuse panel melt, I'd get that 40A breaker out of there. 30A was the largest breaker GM ran, and if you are popping something 25% bigger than the panel was designed for, it's probably just a matter of time.
It tripping means there is a problem with the load, something will melt, and worst case, catch fire. GM didn't undersize the wires, but stock they are right on the borderline of being too small...I assume everything in that circuit is equally intolerant of additional load. As others have mentioned, that was properly sized wiring when everything was new. Now? More resistance.
Relay(s) would solve that issue. Even at 65W/bulb a 30A relay would handle all four with a significant margin.
You just really, really don't want your fuse panel to melt. Fire would be even worse, but melted fuse panel is repaired by replacing the entire wiring harness for the most part. A LOT more work than working out a relay solution.
It tripping means there is a problem with the load, something will melt, and worst case, catch fire. GM didn't undersize the wires, but stock they are right on the borderline of being too small...I assume everything in that circuit is equally intolerant of additional load. As others have mentioned, that was properly sized wiring when everything was new. Now? More resistance.
Relay(s) would solve that issue. Even at 65W/bulb a 30A relay would handle all four with a significant margin.
You just really, really don't want your fuse panel to melt. Fire would be even worse, but melted fuse panel is repaired by replacing the entire wiring harness for the most part. A LOT more work than working out a relay solution.
You right it is a 30 AMP. I am at my shop right now where I keep my truck, so I went to take a look, and it is a 30 AMP. It is more than likely the original 30 AMP circuit breaker that it came with when it was new. Until I modified my system there was never a problem. I think the issue is with my stock dimmer switch which was only designed to handle one set of lights being on at a time. Since I am using the stock dimmer switch high beam hot wire to power the floor dimmer switch this means when I put on all four lights the hot wire for the low beams and the hot wire for the high beams coming out the stock dimmer switch is providing the hot for all four lights at the same time, which is why a want to create a separate circuit for the inside lights that provides the floor switches own hot wire that goes to a relay, and then plug the floor switch into the relay, and then have a power lead going from the relay out through the firewall to the inside set of lights. Get it?
Is it just personal preference to not run them in a 4 low/4 high configuration? Obviously that would be the simple solution, but may not be what you want.
Are the column mounted dimmers wired up for "flash to pass" where if you hold the dimmer back both high and low beams are powered? (I can't recall on the floor mount if they did the same) I would agree with your assessment if so, over time something is heating up to trip the breaker, where "stock" wiring holding the dimmer lever back would have even more load than what you are doing, but its for a very short time.
Are the column mounted dimmers wired up for "flash to pass" where if you hold the dimmer back both high and low beams are powered? (I can't recall on the floor mount if they did the same) I would agree with your assessment if so, over time something is heating up to trip the breaker, where "stock" wiring holding the dimmer lever back would have even more load than what you are doing, but its for a very short time.
