Ralph, did you get the Autopal with the plastic reflector housing or the metal? I see that they're now making some of the models with plastic reflectors and I won't buy those. I've seen some of those in the JY all melty because someone ran big wattage bulbs and they won't stand up to that. I got the Ecode option with metal reflector, the traditional style and not the crystal ones with clear lens and faceted reflector.

I ran across my remaining Cibie H1 high beam lamp today digging in the garage attic. Lost the other to a rock years ago, can't bear to part with it although it's unlikely I'll ever buy anything that i would use it in. Never the less it still hangs around. Same with the Lucas 5x7, it's partner got killed too. I still have some small Round Cibie H1 high beams, I think the 5.75" and two pairs of Hella H4 hi/low beam 5.75" rounds. I used to hunt for these, but they're not really out ther much anymore.

If you aren't happy with the Autopal I'd try for the Hella first. They make decent headlights and still reasonably priced. The next stop would be Cibie in my book but those are another step up in price too. The Marchal are awesome but you don't see them too often anymore. BTW, they're all about the same depth, they fill the headlight bucket equally so IDK about extending depth to do projectors unless you're doing custom. If I were doing custom I would change over to a 7" round headlight and modify the headlight surround to accommodate it.



Steve

 

The AutoPals I had that melted were nylon bodied with crystal clear lenses. And it was standard Philips H4/9003 bulbs.

I'm running the Hellas now; I'm almost afraid to think of "better" *grins*

It'll be a while anyway; I've got new NightBreaker bulbs to go in to help restore brand-new functionality.

I used to drive enough that it was an every-year planned incident to swap bulbs; they do degrade over time, and I drive too much at night.

I'm also getting too old; eyesight isn't what it used to be.

RwP

 

Has anyone been able to retrofit a 4x6" LED housing? I've seen multiple examples on Cherokee's and other trucks that have a simple 4x6" housing.

 

Several have.

Why? You tired of being able to see at night?

Or do you have more money than you know what to do with?

(Hint: Cheap crap is cheap, and crap. Good LED headlights will run you easily $300+ )

RwP

 

Driving at night with a candle and a mirror would be more effective than my stock lights.
I'm looking to replace the housings and open to other solutions other than OEM. Also, stumbled upon these glass retrofitted housing than use the H4 bulb https://www.ebay.com/itm/FOUR-4x6-H4...cO2Z:rk:5:pf:0

 

I have a set of the Hella glass retrofits in my 1988, with the NightBreaker H4 bulbs.

They do the job just fine.

glenlloyd has noted some brands that might be better. Do remember, cheap crap is usually cheap crap.

The cheap LEDs don't focus, they may toss a lot of light out but not only do they increase the near-field light causing far-field blindness, they glare due to the lack of a cutoff. Until you get into BigBux. The high end units (J.W. Speaker for instance) typically aren't high/low, and are available with a heater (HINT! The LEDs don't get warm enough to melt snow and ice on the bulb. In Louisiana, I've had enough wet winter precipitation that I'd have to stop and clean my halogens off ... I'd really HATE to fight LEDs without heaters!)

One thing to remember - you need to change the bulbs every so often; I do mine yearly. (Life is defined as "The point where output reaches 75%" or some number - I forget the exact percentage - and not "When most bulbs will burn out.") I'd also HIGHLY recommend a 12ga headlight relay harness to get the current off the smaller, longer wires to and from the switch. That by itself upped my light output back on the 4666 bulbs; but then again, going from 10V to 13V logically would. (OK, 10.6 or so to 13.2 ... still, point made.)


RwP

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drys

Has anyone been able to retrofit a 4x6" LED housing? I've seen multiple examples on Cherokee's and other trucks that have a simple 4x6" housing.

Is yours a 95? If so, that is completely different then Ralph's 88.......

 

Maybe not; the 4x6 halogen was standard equipment until 1996 (didn't keep the Aero from being a "What you mean, you DIDN'T get it???" option ... like the 3.9 was an option for 1988, but according to the FSM, 95% of 1988 Dakotas got the 3.9.)

Shucks, the part list shows the 4x6 parts for a 1996; it might have been available even then!

RwP

 

I have to agree with Ralph on this. While the front end rad support did change between early and late trucks the headlight buckets for the 4x6 'sealed beams' did not change. I have looked at several different trucks from 87-93 that had the sealed beams and the difference is not at the headlight mounting. IOW the buckets and mounts from the early trucks are identical to those from the later (91-96) period, you just have to drill a small hole for the bucket hold down spring, which you would have to do anyway. In fact I got a couple bucket mounting screws / clips from a 1989 truck just so I would have spares when I go to do this install.

The final thing about this is that you will have to do custom bulb attachments. The 9004 connections are not the same as the H4/9003 so you'll have to cut and wire in the correct connection. I manage to clip H4 pigtails at the JY every so often just to have some for headlight harness construction. Just find a car with old sealed beams or any Japanese car with H4 bulbs and you'll find your connection.

And Ralph is right, there are a lot of cheap LED headlight bulbs out there, and a lot of them that just won't fit because they have elaborate cooling assemblies at the tail end of the bulb. Those things won't fit through the seal boot and even if they did it's likely they would melt it. For now I'm sticking with standard H4 bulbs, that is when I get the install done, but that's later on too, I have TB and intake work to do first!

The place I ordered my headlights from is here and this is the exact model I purchased. He also sells on Ebay but the set I bought, the page the link takes you to, is $8 more on Ebay. The only thing that's not great is the shipping, and that for me was $15.99 and it was one of the crappy shipping methods, I think it was SurePost which I do not like. I don't like any of those two-carrier eco methods they have, just too many fingers touching (or kicking) your package. Also, sometimes the tracking disappears when the package is handed off to the next carrier....

I've had Autopal before, the metal reflector and Ecode lenses and I was very happy with them. As I said before I've lost headlights to rocks and so for me if Autopal works decent then I'm ok with that.

Steve

 

The first post was and the second post was me seeking interest if it's a possible modification for my '95 as I am looking to upgrade the housings.