CK5
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New or old skool...
- Thread starter 79jenny
- Start date
all I'll say is I DESPISE the individual LED headlights... goofy looking... there are some better ones that have more of a look like the originals when off... someone will post a link to some.. guy on FB's Squarebody Nation makes some cool headlights..
but I do run just about everything else in LED, including the mallard..
keep in mind, if you run all LED, you'll need to add a resistor to the system...
but I do run just about everything else in LED, including the mallard..
keep in mind, if you run all LED, you'll need to add a resistor to the system...
I struggled riding the line between traditional look and modern light output with mine.
So much so I changed my setup from the 4 headlight system for a ‘91 to the base model 2 headlight setup for a ‘91. Mainly so I could get more commonly sized light housings than the 4 little lights.
I dislike the multi-element led lights as they just don’t look right on an older truck. So I picked up a pair of housings that still could use a halogen H4 bulb but used a three sided Led H4 assembly instead. Mine have projector elements inside to help focus and keep the glare to a minimum which is totally possible on most H4 housings.
They work pretty good. They aren’t JW Speaker lights but I didn’t spend $500 on them either.
So much so I changed my setup from the 4 headlight system for a ‘91 to the base model 2 headlight setup for a ‘91. Mainly so I could get more commonly sized light housings than the 4 little lights.
I dislike the multi-element led lights as they just don’t look right on an older truck. So I picked up a pair of housings that still could use a halogen H4 bulb but used a three sided Led H4 assembly instead. Mine have projector elements inside to help focus and keep the glare to a minimum which is totally possible on most H4 housings.
They work pretty good. They aren’t JW Speaker lights but I didn’t spend $500 on them either.
Me = old school
My experience with LEDs has not been good, I had two different sets of two different brands on my jeeps and both had a complete failure in one lamp. At $14 a piece and the ability to carry a spare with me I stick to halogen.
My GF had a set of LEDs on her renegade and they are way better than stock and she has had zero issues….so maybe I just had bad luck…..
My GF had a set of LEDs on her renegade and they are way better than stock and she has had zero issues….so maybe I just had bad luck…..
Ill be doing LED on my largely stock looking build. Agree the bunch of individual LEDs in housing looks out of place on squares. Modern headlights are hit or miss on these.
Halogen round eyes...
I would recommend anybody staying with halogens to give them all the power you can.
Meaning buy the relay kit. Stock wiring for headlights sucks on these trucks. All the power goes from the battery to inside the truck to the switch and dimmer and back out to the lights. Factor in old wiring and I bet you barely have 12v at the headlight sockets with the engine running and the alternator putting out 14.5v. 2.5v or more is huge when it comes to light output.
I did this on my old ‘75 with 7” round composite light housings running H4 bulbs. With the relays installed it was showing 14.2v at the lights when the alternator was putting out 14.5v. Put it to you this way with it on low beam my lights were brighter than a similar truck with stock wiring and sealed beams on high.
Thanks to Jeep tj and jk’s using 7” round bulbs there are a ton of choices on better composite housings to use a insanely common H4 bulb. Pretty easy to find something you like and go from there. But keep in mind the H4 will not be as bright if you don’t give it enough power.
LMC has a decent relay kit that works and isn’t horribly expensive. If you like wiring stuff up you can do it yourself with a couple of relays and inline fuses and an afternoon of your time.
Meaning buy the relay kit. Stock wiring for headlights sucks on these trucks. All the power goes from the battery to inside the truck to the switch and dimmer and back out to the lights. Factor in old wiring and I bet you barely have 12v at the headlight sockets with the engine running and the alternator putting out 14.5v. 2.5v or more is huge when it comes to light output.
I did this on my old ‘75 with 7” round composite light housings running H4 bulbs. With the relays installed it was showing 14.2v at the lights when the alternator was putting out 14.5v. Put it to you this way with it on low beam my lights were brighter than a similar truck with stock wiring and sealed beams on high.
Thanks to Jeep tj and jk’s using 7” round bulbs there are a ton of choices on better composite housings to use a insanely common H4 bulb. Pretty easy to find something you like and go from there. But keep in mind the H4 will not be as bright if you don’t give it enough power.
LMC has a decent relay kit that works and isn’t horribly expensive. If you like wiring stuff up you can do it yourself with a couple of relays and inline fuses and an afternoon of your time.
I definitely like the look of old school glass headlights on squares. Those LED lights with all the bulbs look like they are straight from AutoZone. I found these lights from Holley which check all the boxes for me but I can't swallow the pricetag: https://www.holley.com/products/exterior/lighting/headlight/round_headlights/parts/LFRB135
I have a combination. I was given the KC Daylighters but I may be swapping them out for something brighter and still halogen. All signal lights, fog lights and door lights are LED. Headlights are also LED but are modular and can be changed from the back. I did this so I could keep my skull lens covers and not have to change them out every 6 months. I have brought this thing back from the dead twice and I was not going to give up my lens covers.
I also don't like the look of the LED'S with multiple diodes showing. But I have also seen that they don't have great beam control and spread light all over and waste it.
If you go LED, don't skimp.
If you stay halogen, get a set of Hella Vision plus housings AND do as @ZooMad75 said. Install relays and wire it properly. I could feel the difference in my headlight switch, too. It runs cooler.
The Hella housings are very good.
If you go LED, don't skimp.
If you stay halogen, get a set of Hella Vision plus housings AND do as @ZooMad75 said. Install relays and wire it properly. I could feel the difference in my headlight switch, too. It runs cooler.
The Hella housings are very good.
Few things look as awful as an obvious LED head light in these trucks.
Martin
Martin
These Holley's are sweet but they are pretty pricey... maybe if it was for a pair any other Co out there like these bit at a cheaper price?
The Fugly Duckling has Sylvania Halogens. I was surprised when I picked it up in the dark. I could see going down the road. Looked at them the next morning to see what they were. And the only wired correctly on this truck. Fused 10 gauge feed to relays for each light. Now the wiring install? It was replaced 2 days ago.
I watched a few videos today. The Holley's definitely get good marks from testing, and they look stock enough that they aren't out of place in my opinion.
Unfortunately it looks like all the quality LED headlights out there are relatively expensive. The cost is hard for me to swallow for an old rig, but at the same time, having driven modern cars, and realizing what my eyes were ok with at 20 is not the same approaching 50, there is definitely some safety aspect creeping into the mix now. It's nice to be able to see well at night, and any way you slice it the quality LED headlights are far better than the stock style.
For low hour usage maybe there are cheaper alternatives (like HID? Dunno) that also provide much better lighting, but for a vehicle that gets driven a lot, I think the better LED headlights would be a good investment. Just hard to justify ~$700 for a set of four.
The Holley's are made by Morimoto, but they are just as pricey there.
Edit: FWIW, many of the cheap LED headlights tested are more dim than the stock halogens! And if they arent, the beam pattern is so bad they are still worse than stock. I've noticed with LED lights for other applications that they generally do a terrible job illuminating for driving, even though looking at the lights on, they appear to be super bright. It apparently takes actual engineering to make good LED headlights, and the cost still really hasn't decreased massively.
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These are what I put in two of my trucks. Much better than regular sealed beams.
https://www.jegs.com/i/Hella/288/002395301/10002/-1
https://www.jegs.com/i/Hella/288/002395301/10002/-1
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I agree. I bought a relay kit off amazon for Toyota pickup and found it fit the Blazer fine. The original wiring goes through the switch in the dash, it's nice to bypass it and give the headlights power straight from the battery.
If you want better light output then hid retrofit. Wouldn't fit the old look of the Blazer but neither do led plugnplay housings. At least the retrofit gives light output.
For headlights I usually run sylvania halogens and definitely a wiring kit (huge difference in both the 72 and 77). Now for off-road lights I go LED
My buddy's dad had a vw shop when I was in highschool- his buddy's all raced off road. he said, "if you can use German glass, that's what you use."
