Running Driving lights as Headlights???

[fabjunkie]

Looks like I'll be okay legal wise for the state, but I'm wondering who has replaced their headlights with aftermarket driving lights??? I'm tired of playing with the adjusters that break or strip out. Not to mention the stock headlights are as bright as my mother in law. I know there is a relay mod but I can't see **** when they are pointed at the ground 5 feet in front of the truck. Thinking of getting a couple sets of 6"x4" H3 bulbed driving lights and doing a custom mounting set up. Run 55w lights for low beam and 100w for high beams. Who's done it and have you had issues with the popo on it?

 

[jekquistk5]

Since I dont have headlight bezels anymore on my buggy thingy I plan on running snowplow lights like these

 

[dremu]

I would first look at rewiring and/or the relay thing. It's cheap, it's simple, and the voltage drop gets WORSE with higher output bulbs. On stock bulbs, I see like 9.5-10V at the bulb, which means you're losing like a quarter of the energy in the wiring! Said another way, fixing the wiring could net you a 25% improvement in brightness.

Do that on top of putting in better bulbs/lights and you're golden, IMO.

As for the legality, I've hung all manner of lights on my vehicles over the years and never been stopped or hassled for them. The law in CA is vague, at best. In practice it boils down to the usual "don't do anything stupid". You can drive a truck with non-DOT-marked bulbs, just don't drive up behind the cop and blind him.

-- A

 

[fabjunkie]

Brightness is #2 on the list of why to do it. Keeping the damn things pointed in front of the truck is #1. The brighter lights is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned. With brand new adjusters, the screw on the adjuster just strips right out or "pops" out and doesn't hold the light.

Thinking about these.

 

[Fordum]

Brightness is #2 on the list of why to do it. Keeping the damn things pointed in front of the truck is #1. The brighter lights is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned. With brand new adjusters, the screw on the adjuster just strips right out or "pops" out and doesn't hold the light.

Thinking about these.

Thats strange. We talking about the truck in your sig?
I have worked on more Fords than GMs, and this might be common without my knowing it, but I can't remember when I had one of those adjusters strip out.

Is there anything that could be putting them in a bind? I suppose you could replace the little plastic pieces with some steel threadrivets.

They would hold.

 

[fabjunkie]

Yeah the '88, stacked lights. I thought about some nutserts or something along those lines. The spring on the bucket just pulls too much and the adjusters won't stay put. I'm going to try some more when it warms up a bit. Otherwise I think I'm going the other route. I plan on rewiring this whole pig anyway, so I'll just plan this into it.

 

[Avery4jc]

Brightness is #2 on the list of why to do it. Keeping the damn things pointed in front of the truck is #1. The brighter lights is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned. With brand new adjusters, the screw on the adjuster just strips right out or "pops" out and doesn't hold the light.

Thinking about these.

I FEEL YOUR PAIN! The headlights on my rig are the biggest joke ever. I can't keep them adjusted to save my life so I usually end up flipping on my 55w fluted lens Procomp lights since they're legal and I just pull my headlight switch to the first click so my marker lights come on.
I've thought about gutting the factory headlights and running something aftermarket for a while. Let us know what you end up doing.

 

[4xcrazy]

Had that issue with my old dually, brand new adjusters, still stripped out, the bolt was long enough though where I found a nut that threaded on the back side to hole it in place, adjust the headlights with that nut instead. Worked great.