I'm wanting to get brighter & wider headlights. If I can get the job done with sealed beam then I will. Is it really worth it to get a new harness conversion kit?

 

Yes! I made my own harness and installed it w/ the factory style sealed beams and wow what a difference. I did recently upgrade to a Sylvania lamp and still got an even better increase in light... much whiter.

 

I'm just gonna get an HID kit for mine and upgrade the harness. Not too expensive and it makes a world of difference (from what i've heard). I live out in the middle of nowhere, I need the extra light. haha. A friend of mine (and a memebr) did the HID swap on his and he loves it.

 

Another thing to do is get a set of fog lights and wire them up. I have a cheap-o set but boy do they light up the sides of the road good. The things are about the size of a half dollar coin but can light up almost an entire acre of open grass with no problem. I'm looking to upgrade to get even more light too. They work good, but I'd like a little extra vision and more light to cut through rain and fog.

 

The easiest seems to be a Sylvania Silverlight sealed beam. But if a conversion is drastically better, I'll go with that.

 

I went with the Rampage h4 msr headlights, they are a night and day difference from the stockers, and at only about 80 bucks, I couldn't be happier. One of the best mods hands down imo.

 

Upgrade your harness, either buy one or make your own, there is lots of information here on how to (you can also see the difference it makes by browsing through some threads with pics). I just did the harness and the difference is enough that I'm not gonna bother with changing housings and bulbs.

 

Originally Posted by xjsnake https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/headlights-151196/index2/ - post2069179https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/headlights-151196/index2/ - post2069179
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/hea...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)


For installation of the harness and housings see this excellent write up: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/my-h4-upgrade-114440/

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...

 

if you get a set of auto pals you will be just as happy they are plug and play and brighter without a harness... now if you add the harrness on top of that is it is even brighter... plus the auto pals cost less then the sylvania silverstars hope that helps

 

I would say do the DIY harness first, as the factory wiring & switch are marginal at best.

 

X2

I made my own harness with autopal housings with hella bulbs and I absolutely love them

 

This^^. Harness first, then autopals.

 

This will be my spring project along with a lift of course

 

Another vote for ^^

I installed a pair of headlight relays and the improvement was enough that I didn't feel I needed to upgrade the lamps.

 

X30007494 for the harness.

But if you do it, why not upgrade the bulbs? Stock sealed ones suck