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Headlight upgrade on the cheap

TacMac2012

Active member
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Location
Wallburg, NC
These are the ones I got off eBay. $67 shipped+ tax for 4. I wired the DRL (which also makes the center eye red) in with the low beams. Saves from running a separate wire all the way to the headlights just to make them function. The red doesn't seem too noticeable honestly, but I haven't wired up all 4 yet. It would probably be more noticeable if not used in conjunction with the low beams.

Screenshot_20221023-201932-615.png
 

Mullaney

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
Supporting Vendor
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Location
Charlotte NC
These are the ones I got off eBay. $67 shipped+ tax for 4. I wired the DRL (which also makes the center eye red) in with the low beams. Saves from running a separate wire all the way to the headlights just to make them function. The red doesn't seem too noticeable honestly, but I haven't wired up all 4 yet. It would probably be more noticeable if not used in conjunction with the low beams.

View attachment 882884
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What did you do to create the "Two Hole" lamp sockets?
My particular truck is one light on each fender...
Your picture has two on each fender.
 

TacMac2012

Active member
182
134
43
Location
Wallburg, NC
If you can, please try to support American manufacturers such as Truck-lite and JW Speaker. Rather than the PRC.
I would happily support them if the price difference wasn't so huge. A single 4x6 trucklite is $150+, that'd be $600+ in headlights for a truck that gets driven twice a year.

The Chinese ones are $75 shipped for 4. That why I made these brackets, to avoid having to spend ~$300 on the 'special', 'MTVR only' LED's made by JW speaker.

You do you, but I'd bet the unit you are using to write these messages was made in China, and likely 95% of the electronics you use everyday all came from China...
 

IridiumRed

New member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Location
NW MO, north of KC
This is veryinteresting. Going to look into these. Ill admit, im a big fan of HIDs...i really prefer those to LEDS. But, thats when u have housing made for hids... not just putting HID bulb in housing meant for halogen bulb. That just makes the visual equivalent of a flamethrower. Throws so much light everywhere. For the driver its actually pretty good sometimes (lights up EVERYTHING sometimes) For other drivers it can range from annoying to blinding.

Ill be honest, im not 100% the most... "sensitive to the needs of other drivers" when it comes to some things... ive driven some obnoxious stuff in the past (particularly loud). BUT, and this is a big BUT, i do think there is a basic "duty of care" to other drivers... and oneof those is in not having blinding headlights.

Right now i think theres basically an epidemic of terrible lighting out there. My eyes are sensitive to bright light, esp at night, and over the past several years i find myself constantly being blinded by other vehicles at night. Whether im driing average sedan (toyota camry) or 4x4 F350... its pretty bad anymore. Unfortunatelyi think 90% of the vehicles doing it are factory stock (mostly late model pickups / suvs with high up LED lights) + some drivers just using high beams all the time + some people who put in aftermarket bulbs in inappropriate housings... or run those damn BLUE bulbs....

Theres a special kind of stupid that runs those way blue bulbs. Retards. Its not even good light for them!! Bright white light gives u best visibility... go blue or yellow and usable light goes down, except -maybe- in special circumstances (i see factory fog lights are often yellow, i suspect thats not 100% coincidental).

Anyways!! Blah blah blah. I want much better headlights for my MK25. Its not street legal yet (no cab yet... will be working on that soon... right now doing long term maintenance + some repair). I just am NOT going to run headlights that blind other drivers. I HATE hypocrites. These headlights look very interesting, will definitely look into. For this price, ill prob buy and see how i like.

What im thinking about is running 4 headlight housings.... tho i might add a 3rd switch so i have 3 headlight settings. Im in small midwestern farm town, so having two low beam settings would be useful. Lots of roads outside of town where its hard to run high beams (like 2 lane blacktops), or divided roads (2 lanes each way) that dont have much separation room between lanes / no center barriers to hide lights from oncoming traffic. So be nice to have extra power on low beams... but wouldnt necessafily want / need those higher power low beams around town.

Im thinking about running this setup - 4 headlight assemblies, each w high/low. 3 different headlight selections -1. first low (for around town) running 2 headlights on low beam. 2. Highway low beams (all 4 low beams on ... and 2nd pair of headlights may be pointed slightly higher / wider... lots of hills, turns here) 3. High beams (running all 4 high beams). Yes i get pretty anal /crazy about some things...but i AM a mechanic, and i have a little shop, so playing w stuff is in my blood (im not open to the public, so not advertising for business here, have small fleet of trucks i maintain + mess around w some personal vehicles)

Anyways. This stuff is interesting. Probably buy. Will report back when/if i do (and that could be taken as a threat if you find long replies annoying!! Hahaha)
 
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