I finally added on my Hella FF50 Driving lights. I put them behind the grille insert. The only complaint I have is they bounce a little while driving. Just another project though for another day.

Headlights Only:


FF50s Only:


Both:


Tell me what you think.

 

they look hella bright ....do you have a pic of them behind the grill?

 

No I just ran outside a minute ago and took a pic, but I will take some tomorrow when it is sunny.

 

pretty cool. that puts out more light than i would expect from behind the grill. i'd also like to see a pic during the day

 

Looks great! How small are they? I just picked up some KC Hilites that I am trying to decide where to mount... It won't fit behind my grill for sure though...

 

Looks real nice. A daytime picture would be great.

 

yeah that does look cool, do you have a pic of these in daylight? i just bought some hella 4000s i hope they will fit on my factory brush guard.

 

We need daylight pics. Looks real good though.

 

Here they are in the Daytime:

 

ah very stealth, nice. the wire nuts kind of scare me though. i would invest in some solder and some heat shrink tubing.

 

One of my friends has wire nuts on his and they seem to work fine, but I was skeptical too. Where do I find that tubing?

 

go to napa

 

Very nice. Do you have any pics of the mounting brackets and where you mounted them to?

 

The Hellas look great. Couple of questions since I'm thinking
that driving lights might solve my headlight problem...:
- why did you choose the FF50s over the FF75s?
- how much is the improvement in the lighted area of the road?
actually, that's what I'd really like to see: before/after pics
of the road!

thanks
jackson

 

tx,

good stealth look, but your bouncing is caused by your mount location. it appears you mounted your lights on the grill plastic itself. you need something more stable if you want to stop that bouncing, but i am not sure if there is such a place behind the grill. personally, i would fab a mount and bolt it to something rigid.

also like others have said, solder your connections. here is my writeup on soldering http://www.4runners.org/articles/solder101

soldering stuff, heat shrink tubing, etc, go to any radio schmuck

bob

 

jackson,

just as an alternative, take a look at my writeup on hella 500 driving lights. They are inexpensive and you won't have to worry about the bouncing/mounting issues in this thread. its probably the most popular driving light option out there.

bob

 

Jackson,

I chose the FF50s mainly because of their shape. I was not sure how the light output would be from behind the grille so I figured that they may end up in front of the grille. I photoshopped the lights on the bumper and decided I liked the way the 50s loked better. I am happy with the way the lights light up the road. I need to adjust the lights to make the beam a little higher and they would be perfect. I suggest looking on ebay when you do buy your lights. I got mine for $35.

Bob,

I did mount them on the plastic. It is weird though because only one lights bounces just a hair. I probably end up making a bracket to mount the to something back there. I dont know if you are familiar with these, but I used "Corrosive Proof" wire screws. They have a sealant inside of them that you push the wires into. Let me know if you have had any experience with these.


-Matt

 

Wire nuts (weather tight or not) are not intended for automotive applications - eventually they will vibrate and come unscrewed. T-taps, crimp connectors, or solder are your only real options (I would go with solder).

 

I've got 4 hella 500's on my bumper and I'm thinking of putting them elsewhere. Nice looking TX. While your at NAPA pick up 8 or so feet of split wire loom, it'll look super clean and your wires wont chafe on anything.

 

I had to do aquick job while at home because I dont all the tools I needed while at school. I will get the tubing and plan to solder them soon. I mainly just wanted to mount them and make sure they worked.