GrandComanche Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 I'm considering upgrading the headlights on the War Horse and stumbled onto these. I think maybe I saw these on a Comanche Facebook page awhile back. Has anyone tried these out? Are they a good purchase? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 FWIW, I’m running the Hella e-code H4 housings and bulbs in my truck (still halogen), and I love them. Very bright and still old school looking. I would also recommend adding the KSuspension headlight relay harness. That brightens the stock ones up a lot too and reduces the chance of fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75sv1 Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 I am running Cibie's on one of my XJs. I really like them. They are not available any more. Daniel Stern use to sell them. He carries some from Japan now. I also running a wiring upgrade. $$$. I have also run the Autopals with and without the wiring upgrade. 2X stock without and 4X with wiring upgrade. A bit less cutoff than the Cibbies, still good. I think I have Rampage on an XJ without wiring upgrade. The low beams are good. The high beams seem diffused. I don't have any experience with the LEDs. I think Osram makes some at about the price of what the OP listed. Osram does make regular H4 bulbs. Those are some of the higher grade bulbs. I run Flossers presently though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser54 Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 CRUISER'S MOSTLY RENIX TIPS HEADLIGHT HARNESS UPGRADE NOVEMBER 17, 2015 SALAD 63 COMMENTS EDIT It’s easy to install a supplemental headlight harness. From the factory, the voltage to the headlight bulbs travels from the battery, through connectors, inside the cabin, to the headlamp switch, and then back out to the lamps via undersized wire and more connectors. It’s not uncommon to find only 10.5 volts at the lamps. The supplemental harness is installed so that it provides battery voltage to the lamps and is just triggered by the factory wiring. The result is about 35% brighter headlamps and headlight switches that don’t melt and burn out. Ebay has the harnesses. 2 headlamp H4 with ceramic connectors is what you want. You’ll likely be warned that the harness won’t fit your Jeep. It will. Absolutely plug and play: Remove grille and headlamp bulbs. I fed my harnesses from the passenger side starting between the battery and the back of the headlamp housing, over to the driver side. Plug the driver side bulb into the new harness. Attach the new harness’s ground wire under one of the small bolts on the radiator support after scraping the paint off under it. Attach the harness to the existing harness behind the grille working toward the passenger side. Plug the new harness plug into passenger headlamp. Plug original headlamp plug into receptacle on new harness. Attach the ground for the passenger side just like you did the driver side under a radiator support bolt. Attach relays with provided bracket on the passenger side inner fender. Connect power wires to battery. Revised 1-31-2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75sv1 Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 I'm leery of the 'Import' harnesses. Many have had good good luck with them. On mine, the plugs would come out of the relays. Not good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokeyyank Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 I just did the ksuspension relay upgrade. Helped tremendously. Well built for the price. I like the original look of the headlights though. Just my 2cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser54 Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 5 hours ago, 75sv1 said: I'm leery of the 'Import' harnesses. Many have had good good luck with them. On mine, the plugs would come out of the relays. Not good. Ya know, that's all I've ever used. Dozens of them......I don't get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olddude Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 11 hours ago, 89 MJ said: FWIW, I’m running the Hella e-code H4 housings and bulbs in my truck (still halogen), and I love them. Very bright and still old school looking. I would also recommend adding the KSuspension headlight relay harness. That brightens the stock ones up a lot too and reduces the chance of fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 I used to use an eBay harness before swapping to HID’s the male headlight adapter connector always had pins coming loose. The wiring was significantly undersized as well. The amount of insulation on those wires makes them seem 14awg but the actual copper was right at 18awg. The included relays were not meant to handle the constant on duty either and had to be replaced in short order. I’d just build my own harness with some quality sealed motorcycle style relays and quality wire and connectors. I’d also do a 30/40 amp relay setup vs the 30/30 setups they normally come with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75sv1 Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 My problem was specifically the relays. I mounted them vertically. Possibly if I mounted them horizontally. I tired to zip tie them up. I tried replacement relays. The non metal or plastic ones do not ground. Daniel Stern Light does sell a parts kit. I think $80. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75sv1 Posted December 9, 2021 Share Posted December 9, 2021 I also have a Hella and a Carrillo head lights in my MB 240D. Both are good. I hear Bosch make a good H4 headlight too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewinghokie Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 On 12/8/2021 at 7:28 AM, 89 MJ said: FWIW, I’m running the Hella e-code H4 housings and bulbs in my truck (still halogen), and I love them. Very bright and still old school looking. I would also recommend adding the KSuspension headlight relay harness. That brightens the stock ones up a lot too and reduces the chance of fire. Just put the same housings in and they are a world of difference. Love them so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser54 Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Hellas are great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billabob Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 Another vote from me for the Hella H4 housings. I did my headlight work all at once and never had a stock setup to compare to but I'm very satisfied with how it came out. Hella housing, Jeepcables relay harness, and Hella 100w H4s: I've had LEDs on other vehicles I've owned and have a strong preference towards the H4s. They don't kill the looks of our old trucks like those alien eyed housings do and they don't reflect light off of rain. Much more functional IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 I've gone the Cibie H4 route before on a 7" round on another classic car I have. I run amazon LED H4 bulbs and absolutely love the result. Please remember to correctly align your lights once you install what ever you choose. As a person that daily drives mostly low sports cars, I can tell you that many people with modified headlights, don't have them adjusted correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hudy Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 I also use the Hella H4 ECode housings with high wattage bulbs on a harness. We do have LED sealed beam replacements on the trucks at work which are from JW Speaker. They are very impressive, and also very expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser54 Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 In case I haven't mentioned this in this thread. On one of the XJ forums we had a member that used a lumen meter at work. He went to the trouble of measuring stock headlamp lumen output before and after the aftermarket headlamp harness installation. A 35% improvement!! Harness only!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zomeizter Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 9 hours ago, cruiser54 said: In case I haven't mentioned this in this thread. On one of the XJ forums we had a member that used a lumen meter at work. He went to the trouble of measuring stock headlamp lumen output before and after the aftermarket headlamp harness installation. A 35% improvement!! Harness only!! I can back this, I planned on upgrading the stock halogen headlights but installed some relays to power the lamps beforehand. Well, I gave this a test through some back woods and I could see the difference this made, never got replacement head lights... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser54 Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 1 hour ago, zomeizter said: I can back this, I planned on upgrading the stock halogen headlights but installed some relays to power the lamps beforehand. Well, I gave this a test through some back woods and I could see the difference this made, never got replacement head lights... Exactly how it went down with my wife's 88 XJ.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandComanche Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 Thanks for all the responses! This is going to be more involved than I thought! Haha. Along with the headlights I'm looking to add fog lights and spotters on the roll bar. I found these fog light replacements on Carparts.com Any thoughts? Worth a purchase? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knever3 Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 I bought Hella 450's personally, they come with a great harness with hood mounted relay and can be used with your factory switch in the dash. In my build it's on page 8. I have the Hella E-codes with the Hella relay harness. I had the Putco one and the relays died shortly after. They are very small and they got water in them (my fault). Susquehana Motorsports is where I got all my lighting through, wonderful company. If you have questions call them, they specialize in lighting and are so polite!!! Their website is actually rallylights. https://www.rallylights.com/ https://www.amazon.com/HELLA-005860601-450-FOG-CLEAR/dp/B01M35SXUC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
75sv1 Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 Also, for Fog lights, I think you can still find the Marchalls on E-Bay for reasonable price. I remember them being for Ford Mustangs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted February 24, 2022 Share Posted February 24, 2022 You might want to double check your local regulations before mounting fog lights on the roll bar, at least if you intend to use them as such. Generally speaking fog lights are required to be below the level of the headlights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandComanche Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 Yea, I was going to put spot lights on the roll bar, fog lights on the bumper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHMJXJ Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 Someone in the community posted an LED lamp they put in their truck that looked like a sealed beam, but I can't find the forum. Not of the Hella variety. If this rings familiar to you, please post a link! Like a dope, I didn't save the location or description. I'm sure it was within the past year and I've read through every headlight forum on here. I suspect it may have been posted in one of the "member projects" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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