• RME Gear & Apparel

CJ head light upgrades?

Jinx

Jinx

when in doubt, upgrade!
Location
So Jordan, Utah
So I am looking at Thanksgiving coming up and thinking, "might be a good time to work on the scrambler's headlights..."

Anyone have suggestions? 1981 CJ-8

I would like to stay with the classic stock mounted position but after that everything is a possibility...

Lets discuss. :)

Thanks in advance.
 
Jay5.9L

Jay5.9L

...I just filled the cup.
Location
Riverton
I have a pair of round eyes conversion lights. Pretty decent but nothing amazing using the standard bulb.
 
jeepin4x4james

jeepin4x4james

WAAAAA
Location
Bluffdale, UT
When I was researching I found that the Cibie (?) brand was highly praised but a bit pricey ($50ish per housing, bulbs extra) I then found some references to the Hella E-Code housing that said they were just as good and much less expensive... I found them with H4 100/60 bulbs on Amazon for around $40ea. Night and day (pun!) difference from stock... even after I flopped and only had 1 headlight it was brighter than stock. After replacing my grille I decided to try some knock-off LED's... haven't had enough night driving yet to compare directly to the Hella's... but price wise the Hella's win so far.

And they fit in the stock sealed beam location without any issues.
 
Jinx

Jinx

when in doubt, upgrade!
Location
So Jordan, Utah
jeepin4x4james said:
When I was researching I found that the Cibie (?) brand was highly praised but a bit pricey ($50ish per housing, bulbs extra) I then found some references to the Hella E-Code housing that said they were just as good and much less expensive... I found them with H4 100/60 bulbs on Amazon for around $40ea. Night and day (pun!) difference from stock... even after I flopped and only had 1 headlight it was brighter than stock. After replacing my grille I decided to try some knock-off LED's... haven't had enough night driving yet to compare directly to the Hella's... but price wise the Hella's win so far.

And they fit in the stock sealed beam location without any issues.
Click to expand...


Smalll tweaks to stock wiring? or do I need to be a electrician. :)
 
Jay5.9L

Jay5.9L

...I just filled the cup.
Location
Riverton
My round eyes were plug and play but the stock metal buckets had to be trimmed to clear the new light rubber back side thingy. Mine are glas while the never ones (if they are still even in business) went to plastic.
 
cruiseroutfit

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
I've got the IPF and Sylvainia housings here, both allow you to use an H4 bulb. You can run a 55/60w on the stock harness but you'll get waaaaay better light going with an upgrade harness that pulls power right from the battery rather than through the switch. With that you can run 185/190w bulbs :eek:
 
Jinx

Jinx

when in doubt, upgrade!
Location
So Jordan, Utah
cruiseroutfit said:
I've got the IPF and Sylvainia housings here, both allow you to use an H4 bulb. You can run a 55/60w on the stock harness but you'll get waaaaay better light going with an upgrade harness that pulls power right from the battery rather than through the switch. With that you can run 185/190w bulbs :eek:
Click to expand...

Ooo, ooo, this sounds good and I get to buy it from a local friend.

Send me some info, my harness is probably stock 1981 anyways. :)
 
DaveB

DaveB

Long Jeep Fan
Location
Holladay, Utah
cruiseroutfit said:
I've got the IPF and Sylvainia housings here, both allow you to use an H4 bulb. You can run a 55/60w on the stock harness but you'll get waaaaay better light going with an upgrade harness that pulls power right from the battery rather than through the switch. With that you can run 185/190w bulbs :eek:
Click to expand...

I may need to look into that too, I have the Hellas in my Scrambler and they were better than stock but still not as bright as I would like.
 
Jinx

Jinx

when in doubt, upgrade!
Location
So Jordan, Utah
Ok, just to follow up.

I had a buddy suggest we actually test what was going on with my current system before I blindly start replacing stuff...

Anyways with the help of meter and someone who can actually use it we started chasing things down.

After about 25-30 minutes we cleaned some dust out of 30+ year old switches and connections and such and now I have headlights, and turn signals!

Granted, I am a little embarrassed that it was a maintenance issue that caused me to drive out holding a flashlight to see, I am happy to have lights again.

Later on I will probably look into Kurt's suggestion. That really seems like the way to go, but it will probably be before Easter.

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions...
 
neagtea

neagtea

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
farmington
I have the hella replacements. Was thinking switching bulbs to a led or Hid, also sorry about the hijack but does any one know of a replacement for the marker lights?
 
thenag

thenag

Registered User
Location
Kearns
I did a H4 conversion kit on our cherokee. The existing lamps were fairly old and had grinder rust specs in them. Here's a picture of the difference. super easy to install, seems like a good upgrade. I did not do the extra relay or anything, my kit came with bulbs and claimed to be DOT approved.
IMG_20161106_175744.jpg
new light on left, old on right

IMG_20161106_180224.jpg
picture of lights...
 
Jinx

Jinx

when in doubt, upgrade!
Location
So Jordan, Utah
thenag said:
I did a H4 conversion kit on our cherokee. The existing lamps were fairly old and had grinder rust specs in them. Here's a picture of the difference. super easy to install, seems like a good upgrade. I did not do the extra relay or anything, my kit came with bulbs and claimed to be DOT approved.
View attachment 107344
new light on left, old on right

View attachment 107345
picture of lights...
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing, that is a BIG difference!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top