cruiser54

Way brighter lights and your switch shouldn't burn out.

Slimgoaty

yes your harness is holding you back. Stick a meter in the plug and you'll find your only getting probably about 10.5Volts with your jeep off and around 12.50 with it on. With the harness your going to get full voltage. You will see a huge increase in the brightness, unfortunatly I can't promise that those projectors will help put the light where you want it.

ZINGGG

Awesome thanks a lot guys, it'll hopefully be here soon. And I'll try and avoid driving at nighttime so I don't have to turn em on

Gee oh Dee

I'm trying to do my research foe upgrading my 87's headlights.

Could some of you post up what you've gone with, maybe even a link if there is a sight?

dukie564

My current setup:

crystal cut Ebay housings
Phillips X-Treme power +80 bulbs (h4)
eAutoworks h4/9003 HD harness

Gee oh Dee

Not exactly the setup I had in my mind. How do those compare to the others the folks are upgrading to...at least in your opinion?



Here is the write upon had planned on following...if possible:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f58/7x...-build-112158/

Slimgoaty

Try to stay away from anything that says crystal or diamond cut. They don't have as good as a light pattern, I have the diamond autopal housings and they are garbage, get the autopal e-spec housing, 25$ +shipping on ebay. Much better pattern and cutoff. I will be able to post up proof this weekend. I have had the crappy ebay crystal ones too and they are all garbage. I bought a harness off a guy on jeepforum but you can get them cheaper then what I paid. Im also running PIAA intense white 60/55 bulbs. Light output is amazing, but light pattern is worse then stock with diamond cut housings. My whole setup was about 150$ but compared to my buddies stock xj side by side his seems like they arnt even on.

dukie564

dunno I've had those particular ones for years and they have a fantastic light pattern and output. I didn't go for the bottom of the barrel housings though...

Hit or miss i guess with those housings.

Gee oh Dee

From my understand, which is limited in this area, your setup isn't a projector setup.

Would that harness work with the write up I posted?

Or could you point me in the direction of some way to educate myself a bit more so I don't come off like a moron here?

xjsnake

Upgraded headlights the legal (ish) way...

1) Get a new headlight harness.

You can make your own http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoHeadlightLoom.htm

Or you can buy one: http://www.eautoworks.com/Putco-H4--...s-PRD7540.aspx

The eautoworks harnesses used to be quite cheap until everyone on this forum started recommending them and the price was raised accordingly.

You can pick them up for $29.99 here http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/csd/full.aspx?Page=48 part number 36-3580. It says it fits a chevy blazer but it's the same as the eautoworks harness and I'm running the LMC harness in my XJ.

There are other more expensive options for pre-made harnesses but I'm not super familiar with those.

2) Upgrade to H4 housings

There are two types of regulations pertaining to headlight housings. There are DOT approved housings which are legal in the US and there are Ecode lights which are European housings and aren't legal in the US although many people use them as they are considered superior housings due to the light pattern.

DOT
Rampage http://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_501.htm
IPF http://www.quadratec.com/products/97017_1600.htm
Delta http://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_121.htm
Hella http://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_02.htm

Ecode
Autopals (look on ebay for Autopal 200mm H4 housing)
Hella http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=744
Cibie http://www.clearcorners.com/products/cibie/

Personally I won't buy housings that have plastic lenses, I much prefer glass but your mileage may vary.

3) Get good bulbs

Some of the above housings come with bulbs included with them. I tend not to recommend bulbs as the choices are extremely vast and everyone has their own preferences as to color and wattage.

4) Aim your headlights properly!

I can't say enough how much improperly aimed headlights annoy me on the road plus you are wasting all that time and effort to upgrade the lighting if you don't aim the light where it does the most good... http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=78017

5) On HID Lights

I do not recommend HID's for use in XJ's... People will show links to cheap HID kits and "Projectors" off of ebay and other sites which will give you a lot of light and will also throw a lot of light in all directions making you very visible to police and possibly blinding other drivers.


Read http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html for a well written description of the problems with HID kits.

When using HID's you need a true projector housing. I'm sure people will chime in and say they run HID's and ebay housings and have had no problems but I'm describing the legal (ish) way.

If you want to go down the road of HID's, take a look at what true projector housings cost http://www.kbcarstuff.com/6054-200mm...-p/xd-6054.htm
http://www.brightheadlights.com/hid-upcoming.htm
or you can buy the projectors and retrofit them into existing housings if you are so inclined: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f58/he...9/#post1391556

There are a myriad of options available to consumers with the limiting factor being cost. One can spend under $100 and have significantly upgraded their lighting or they can spend $1000 and upgrade their lighting more. It's all in how much money you want to spend.

For those wanting to do some of these upgrades but not necessarily all I would do them in the following order:
1) Headlight Harness (major improvement even with sealed beams)
2) Housings and Associated Bulbs
3) Hid and Projectors (Cost prohibitive to do correctly)

Disclaimer: Always check your local and state laws as some places have more stringent lighting laws than others... I am in no way associated with any of the above companies and none of what I say should be taken as the absolute truth or only way to do things. Flame on...

CPLSeraphim

Yeah, XJSnake, I'd say that about covers it... Nice info with multiple links. Looks good and thorough, and your opinion is what make here, well, here. So good job. Love the "light" up.

Synyster

Here is my writeup with pics.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/my-h4-upgrade-114440/

dukie564

bottom line - glass lenses, and DOT/Ecode housings (or SOME sort of compliance standard for the cut/performance).

This was a huge impact when selecting my housings. Yes mine are diamond cut, but they're good diamond cut and say DOT with a number right on the lens.

sycoglitch

Hey dukie how you like those bulbs.

I'm running my hella ecodes with hella +50 and a LMC hd harness. Has a great cutoff, covers road side to side. When I'm driving on the thruway(which is unlit) my headlights shine all lanes and the light throws a good 4 car lengths down. I never get high beamed and my lights are never inside the car infront of me. The cutoff is tight

dukie564

Love them. I was between either those or some Osram +90s.

I ran Sylvania Silverstar Ultra bulbs before these and they weren't anywhere close to as bright.