These headlights are dim as hell and would like to replace stock with crystal clear composite lenses and an hid kit. Don't see well at night anyway but the poor lights just make it way worse. The problem is I can't find any aftermarket lenses for the truck other than stoch replacement. So if anyone knows where I can locate these that would be great.

 

good luck finding aftermarket headlights, much less aftermarket anything for the 92-96 dakota's unless it's custom made. I also would not put HID's in the stock housings as you will most likely blind everyone coming at you and theres already enough of those idiots on the road.

Anyways there are 2 routes that you can go with.

1) Get the front end for a pre-91 dakota with the 4x6 buckets. not sure how much has to swap over as i have not done this nor do i want to. there are a few threads that ive found on here and other forums from people who have done this, i personally didnt want to change the front end of my truck so i chose the next option

2) build yourself a light bar for the front or use a roll bar on the bed rails or in the box and grab 2 or more off road lights and wire them up to a switch and relay.

I'm currently in the process of making a light bar for the front of my dakota that will hold 4 7" lights with HID's. Yes theyre gonna be bright.

HID's may be brighter but unless you have them in the right type of housing they wont do you much good.

 

I will check in to the older fron end and see what it will take. Thanks for the tips. Still I wonder why there aren't any aftermarket stuff made.

 

I have a question about the front grills.

I understand that this is the pre-91 grill/light setup


And this is the Post-91 setup


But I was at the wreckers the other day and saw this.


To me it looks to be something that could just be bolted onto the post-91. I could be wrong as I did not have a long time to look but the grill and the markers look very similar.
I bring this up because I know that you can get crystal clear lenses that would work with the HID lights for the sealed beam style

 

Like i said, it's possible. i don't remember how much you had to switch over but do a search and im sure you'll find a few posts about this

 

IIRC some 91's came with the sealed beam headlights like you have pictured

 

You got the dates correct on the pictures. But see my notes below.

In this picture the grill is the Aero version as in Aerodynamic. Maybe 98% have this style.



The last one is factory 91-up it is called Non-Aero as in Non-Aerodynamic. Maybe 2% have it. Ugly in my opinion. If I were you wanting HID with a good housing, I would find a housing with similar size to ours and make it work and make it look good.

 

the prob isn't the houseing it's the lack of a projector and pattern on the lenses. i have hid's in my *33 watt* and they aren't blinding to others. they have some glare but because i keep them aimed down a tad they don't blind oncoming traffic as bad.
now to fix this you could find someone to make you clear non patterned lenses and replace the lenses on your assy's with them.
an idea i'm toying with it cutting a hole in the lenses and setting a sealed projector in the assembly through the hole and painting the rest of the lens black then finishing it by frenching (rescessed with trim) the projectors. would fix the problem completly and im thinking look cool as hell to.

any thoughts?

 

sorry to the 92-96 guys but i like the 87-90 and most 91 grills. try an old trick from the early 80's. i blacked out the grill and headlights on my 73 Gremlin. i used smoked plexiglas on the headlights. i then installed 55 watt driving lights under the bumper (same as the headlights) and adjusted them according to vehicle regulations, what got me burned was i didn't have the brights hooked up to them.
get an air dam of a 89 sport like mine, drop in two 55 watt driving lights. hook up the brights and dims, black out your grill and your set.
if you think about it your driving lights are still going to be higher than someone's headlights that lowers there truck.
ooohhh i just put lowered and truck in the same sentence.
ok after further thought you are not going to be able to get a piece of smoke plexiglas over the headlights because of the shape, how about the tint you can put on windows. once you disconnect the power to the headlights and route it through the driving lights your set

 

How does anyone feel about a diesel in a dokota with a 5 speed behind it?