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My halogens in my XJ aren't bright enough anymore, so i need some new headlights. I was thinking of going with LEDs this time around. I need something within the 100-250$ range for both headlights, and it needs to be DOT approved. I don't want to blind people with lights that shine everywhere.
Any help would be appreciated. Also if I don't really have any experience with wiring, so if theres additional steps besides just plug and play, i would like some explanation. Thank you!
Have you considered trying the headlight harness upgrade?
Not really, I was actually thinking of going down the H4 conversion route. What makes the harness upgrade better? If it seems simple enough (no wire splicing, soldering) i might try it if the results are good.
Have you considered trying the headlight harness upgrade?
This makes more sense than just doing the H4s.
The headlight switch has to carry the massive load of the headlights. That is why they melt down constantly.
SO your going to put a even higher load on that poor switch and wiring?
Not a good recipe if you want to keep the wires from melting too.
I Hella H4s on my Wagoneer, and did the relay mod first. The relay mod alone made the craptastic sealed beams almost usable.
I can't comment on LED's because I have no experience with them. I know people love Trucklites but they're pricey. Doing a harness upgrade is much more bang for the buck. Even just the harness by itself (without changing the bulbs/housings) will be a significant upgrade. Can't go wrong for $40.
Here my response to a headlight thread from two days ago. It should be enough to get you started:
I can't comment on LED's because I have no experience with them. I know people love Trucklites but they're pricey. Doing a harness upgrade is much more bang for the buck. Even just the harness by itself (without changing the bulbs/housings) will be a significant upgrade. Can't go wrong for $40.
Here my response to a headlight thread from two days ago. It should be enough to get you started:
I looked into Trucklites and they're not a viable option. They're garbage in snow. I'll definitely look into the harness upgrade along with the H4 conversion.How easy is it to do on a 97-01'? I looked up some videos and it requires taking out the entire grille assembly and you gotta squeeze the wires through some place.
I looked into Trucklites and they're not a viable option. They're garbage in snow. I'll definitely look into the harness upgrade along with the H4 conversion.How easy is it to do on a 97-01'? I looked up some videos and it requires taking out the entire grille assembly and you gotta squeeze the wires through some place.
Ya, that is about it. Very straight forward and would be a good learner project.
Some parts of it that may be more difficult for a beginner are attaching the ground wires and mounting the relays.
The ground wires need to be mounted to the body on bare metal. The wires come with ring terminals on the end which allow you to remove a bolt somewhere, sand the paint off, and reattach the bolt with the ring terminal around it. I attached mine to some bolts on the upper radiator support. However, after a few years I have decided I do not like the wires being there because the connections are starting to corrode a bit and I would like my headlight circuits to be more robust. The best thing to do would be to extend the wires (splice, solder and heat shrink) and run them directly to the battery negative terminal.
As far as the relays go, mine have been free floating behind my battery since install. Again, sub-ideal.It would be better to hard-mount them the sheet metal behind the battery using sheet metal screws. Drill holes, paint new holes to cover the bare metal, and screw the relays in.
Attention to detail is important with wiring to ensure a clean and stout install. Years ago I did some half-*** wiring and have been going back through a bunch of it and redoing it. Wish I would've done it right the first time. Run the wiring inside conduit. Make it look factory and you'll never have to think about it again.
I'm actually planning to add my high beam, low beam, and fog light circuits to the empty slots in my fuse/relay box but that is much more involved than just installing the harness.
Super easy. I've installed about 9 of them. 35% brighter lamps with just the harness.
It’s an easy to install supplemental headlight harness.
From the factory, the voltage to the headlight bulbs travels from the battery, through connectors, inside the cabin, to the headlamp switch, and then back out to the lamps via undersized wire and more connectors. It’s not uncommon to find only 10.5 volts at the lamps.
The supplemental harness is installed so that it provides battery voltage to the lamps and is just triggered by the factory wiring. The result is about 35% brighter headlamps and headlight switches that don’t melt and burn out.
Remove grille and headlamp bulbs. I fed my harnesses from the passenger side starting between the battery and the back of the headlamp housing, over to the driver side.
Plug the driver side bulb into the new harness.
Attach the new harness’s ground wire under one of the small bolts on the radiator support after scraping the paint off under it.
Attach the harness to the existing harness behind the grille working toward the passenger side.
Plug the new harness plug into passenger headlamp.
Plug original headlamp plug into receptacle on new harness.
Attach the ground for the passenger side just like you did the driver side under a radiator support bolt.
Attach relays with provided bracket on the passenger side inner fender.
Welp guys, today I got the Putco harness in, and got it installed! Install took about 4 hours, mainly because some screws were rusted shut, my dad and i lost parts/tools in the engine bay, and there were some snags along the way. But i tested them in my driveway at night, and i do notice a clear difference. When these halogens die out, then i will put in some nice H4 conversion kits. Thank you guys for all the support!
Funny thing. On the way home from this morning ( I drove the truck today.) I was thinking how nice it would be to have lights on my jeep like my truck. Last year I installed ***** with projectors and high beams are HIDs. A lot of stuff in that install. So I am glad I checked in after work this morning. I guess this will be my next project. Thanks for the info.
Update. Just ordered the harness from e trailer. Nice price. We need bright lights where we live. As soon as you get off the main road it is deer city. You may count 20, 30, 40, or more dear in the 3 miles to our house. And one night \ morning I seen these glowing orbs i knew it was not a deer due to color. Had to slam on breaks, a few black cows were on a early morning stroll. Talk about pucker. Thanks again.
Ya, that is about it. Very straight forward and would be a good learner project.
Some parts of it that may be more difficult for a beginner are attaching the ground wires and mounting the relays.
The ground wires need to be mounted to the body on bare metal. The wires come with ring terminals on the end which allow you to remove a bolt somewhere, sand the paint off, and reattach the bolt with the ring terminal around it. I attached mine to some bolts on the upper radiator support. However, after a few years I have decided I do not like the wires being there because the connections are starting to corrode a bit and I would like my headlight circuits to be more robust. The best thing to do would be to extend the wires (splice, solder and heat shrink) and run them directly to the battery negative terminal.
As far as the relays go, mine have been free floating behind my battery since install. Again, sub-ideal.It would be better to hard-mount them the sheet metal behind the battery using sheet metal screws. Drill holes, paint new holes to cover the bare metal, and screw the relays in.
Attention to detail is important with wiring to ensure a clean and stout install. Years ago I did some half-*** wiring and have been going back through a bunch of it and redoing it. Wish I would've done it right the first time. Run the wiring inside conduit. Make it look factory and you'll never have to think about it again.
I'm actually planning to add my high beam, low beam, and fog light circuits to the empty slots in my fuse/relay box but that is much more involved than just installing the harness.
God, Every time I lift my hood and see my free floating relays I wince a little. The only real issue I had after installing the harness was the high beams didn't turn off until I pulled the relay on my fog lights. I'm going to have to dig into that issue next.
08-15-2018, 08:27 PM
Need some help with headlights...
