BeboMonk

Does anyone have good suggestions for cool looking headlights to replace the stock ones? I bought some from kbcarstuff.com and they were not bright at all.

BeboMonk

Btw I have a Cherokee.

peep

I've been very happy with Sylvania Silverstar white lite quality. Very unhappy that I have to replace them 2 - 3 times per year (60000 km per year) for $35 each should last longer. After 3 years of replacing I opted to switch. Recently swithced to sylvania x-tra vision, light is still very good and $13 each, will see how long they last. If I need the extra light I can switch on the auxilliary bars.

cruiser54

The reason the lights aren't bright is the Cherokee's headlight wiring sucks. And, if you go adding brighter lamps without upgrading the harness, you're gonna be frying headlight switches.

xjsnake did a real good comprehensive write-up here:


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...

cactus_jack

I went with the Autopal housings on eBay. Made my own harness with 10ga wire. Couldn't be happier with it

cruiser54

Works great, takes the load off your switch, and doesn't blind oncoming traffic. Got the same thing here.

Boost Happy

I have the autopal e-codes


With hi/low H4 HID 4300k

With a great none blinding cut off

BeboMonk

I was looking for more of halogen lights. Or bright blue lights. Nothing to blind anyone. Just to light up the road

cruiser54

Then review post # 4 and read post # 10.

Aljay

Just did the harness also bought the hella vision plus housings but have not installed them yet. I paid 25.32 for my putco harness from amazon , 46.75 a piece for the hellas from Amazon as well. I had one issue with the harness install the big 10 gauge power wire for the high beams came out of the relay connector I had no high beams that is the only glitch. I added 3 ft. of 10 gau. wire to run from the battery to the drivers side, also added an inline fuse holder .
I have my fog light relays pulled as their are 2 red 16 gauge wires on the back of the plug on the drivers side. I want to fix it so my lights work as they did stock.
I will say this just the harness is a truly amazing improvement. I will be doing the housing swap and bulbs tommorow.
Cruiser 54s write ups made me get off dead center and finally do this instead of grumble about driving by braile.

Just reading above link looks like I need to add another inline fuse to my set up !

Power73

trucklite leds they're expensive tho

HouseVVares

Thanks for pulling all the info together. Good post and timely for me. Between the fact that the PO apparently followed gravel trucks all the time, and that it gets dark now around 3:30, I need to upgrade my XJs lights. Couple of questions I could use some feedback on.

For the E-codes, anyone have some feedback on which bulbs to consider in terms or wattage? Is 55/60 that standard? I was considering the 55/100 to help more when bombing along the back roads... I guess any feedback on how much of a difference the 55, 60, 80, 100s make? I realize state law might come in to this some, but I'm really asking for trail use.

Also; the turn signals on the front are all broken up. I liked the look of white lens I have seen on alot of builds. My jeep is black, and I saw some smoked / tinted oneson eBay, I was thinking it might look good. Anyone have any thoughts on these? I have not seen them offhand in too many of the build threads...

Thanks.

cruiser54

55/60s will be fine. That said, I have 90/100s in my Autopals and they work fine. I wouldn't have used them but I had them left over from my sports car days.