Hello,

I need to find a plug and play solution to replace the headlights on my 1987 4wd Pickup. I think the lamps I have are most likely stock / original. I saw some folks recommend the Trucklites but I don't know if I can afford them. Are there any other replacements that might be fairly easy to install and might be a little less expensive? I watched a few videos on how to remove the retaining clip and the front grille to install. Any thoughts are appreciated! I think my headlights could use an upgrade...

Thanks in advance.

 

I implore you to not join the legions of a$$holes who blind the gods instead of lighting the road with their non-legit LEDs/HIDs.

1) Essential is to fix the convoluted path the power takes to the bulbs by rewiring (like I did) or using an H4 conversion harness (approx $40 online).
2) Then either:Note on Auto-Pal housing. I did this before my truck-lites and they were an improvement over the stock. However, the spread and the halogens to go in them were still not good as Truck-lites.

 

RAD is right. First thing and for most the best upgrade is the relay harness. Hella E-codes or Vision Plus are going to be the best H4 upgrade for halogen. Autopal would be next but the glass is thinner and the fit is sub par. Trucklites would be your best bet for LED but are 4x as expensive.
What the Hella Vision Plus look like on my Tacoma with an H4 Relay Harness from LowRangeOffRoad
http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/h4-he...iy-h4hlrh.html

I got the Hella Headlights from SummitRacing for $90. They are local here so I didn't have to pay shipping. ECE versions are offroad use only but they also make a DOT version sold individually.
https://www.summitracing.com/int/par...7811/overview/

Quadratec has both versions plus free shipping.
https://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_6011.htm
https://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_02.htm

 

That's nice spread and brightness! What bulb do you use?

jb9,
Just search the Summit Racing site for the DOT-compliant one.

 

This is definitely helpful. I definitely did enough research to understand how the DOT non-compliant lights are not a good idea. I have been blinded a ton as you can imagine with my stock incandescent headlights. I need to get this resolved for sure. So there's H4, LED and both of these bulb mechanisms will require the harness upgrade? Is the harness upgrade difficult? I saw the Trucklites referred to as true "plug and play" but I'm open to doing the harness relay if it's not too complex.

So with the relay harness (~40 bucks), should I be able to find some options for 100 bucks?

Thanks in advance. Lots of helpful folks here.

 

H4 harness is essential for either LED or conversion housing with brighter halogen bulbs but more so for the latter. It will help extend the life of headlight dimmer-combo switch; See my thread and also 4crawler's.
Yes, Truck-lites are truly plug and play. I already had them IN my truck and was waiing for a good time to install. Coincidentally, one of my headlight bulb blew so I removed and replaced at the first parking lot I passed. It helped that I had earlier replaced the stupid hidden fasteners that I hate with a passion on my grille (write-upS on getting rid of stupid hidden fasteners on my build thread).
​​​See 4crawler's site for schematic to make your own H4 harness, OR buy one. I opted to re-wire mine, using only ONE relay (write-up also on my thread).

 

I used part # 27009 from NAPA I think they were $50 each but an awesome upgrade. Uses a 9003 bulb and is a direct plug in. Way brighter. sorry I don't have a pic of them at night

 

It's just a regular 60/55W Hella bulb that came with the lights.

Both HELLA H4 and Trucklites are only plug and play if you are currently wired for H4. You can make your stock harness H4 for Halogen bulbs by swapping the pins like below but it probably won't work for any LED headlights.

Caution! Disconnect your battery before you attempt this.
compare to standard H4



Installing a harness is simple. A good harness will have two in-line fuses for low and high beam and will home-run the ground back to the battery -, but the harness below just attaches to any nearby local ground via a bolt/screw.

 

My Trucklites plugged and played at the parking lot. No switching the pins. Switching the pins may be necessary for mediocre LED conversions that are polarity sensitive. Truck-lites are not:
1) According to its tech support rep by email, it can be switched - positive, AND
2) According to my actual install, can be switched-ground.

 

That's good. At least you get what you pay for. A proper plug and play upgrade.

 

How would that work? It looks like you're reversing the pins to the low beam (that would work, though not with a polarized LED). But when high-beams are switched on, it looks like this just runs the two bulb filaments in series: two filaments, but 1/2 the current, so way-too-dim.

 

This is just to run an H4 halogen with the stock harness.