2nd gen headlights again, really need something better (safety)

[JeepBuilder]

I bought the 2001 DRW 3500 this summer and it came with what looks like projector aftermarket headlamps. They are abysmal and a tired old maglight would probably work better than the light these put out. They are manufactured poorly and adjusted to where I can put my thumb in the gap between the light body and sheetmetal. The beam is still low and I only have a spot of light out front about 25 feet left of center. They just won't adjust to the best areas.
Where I live in the Idaho panhandle, deer, moose, bears and every other animal are so abundant my wife and I try to avoid driving at dawn and especially dusk. I have already hit one deer. I have had so many hard brake events it's crazy. Both the dodge and my wifes 4runner have great big steel bumpers on for protection against animal hits. I just got a nice hammerhead on the dodge a couple months ago.
We discovered exceptional lighting is the key to seeing them early. The wifes rig has LED add on lighting the works. That has saved us several times now with early braking.
It is time for me to fix the dodge. All the reading I have done clearly states that most all aftermarket light assemblies are just horrible. It looks like a sport conversion was the best way to go. Geno's has aftermarket sport light assemblies, and I saw the britebox add on. And I read my truck has a negative ground switching so relays might be the way to go?
So with an aftermarket bumper, will Geno's sport replacements go in? I read about trimming the back of the light bucket hole, not a big deal as I do a lot of custom metal work and have the air tools to do just about anything with sheetmetal neatly. AND with that sport bulb conversion from Geno's , do I need the britebox to go with it? or is that optional? I was thinking about calling Geno's, but thought I would ask here first.
I see rock autos lights. They did not look like anything worth buying. I did install some quality LED 3 inch square spots and floods in the new bumper. I have yet to build the relay harness to get them working. I will do that soon when I revamp the headlights. Wether I have the LED lights or not, my basic headlights really need help.
The shorter days means it is time to get this fixed. Any advice out there?

 

[Joe Mc]

Call Geno's they'll help steer you in the right direction. "And" they fully vet products before they market them so purchasing the sport aftermarket units from them versus elsewhere is best bet. Not hard to cut out area needed behind lights, just remember once you're done get some paint on that freshly cut metal. Although there are many posts explaining how to wire in your own relays and get the "all lights on with hi beams", I go for tried true, "easiest" and less time consuming methods, therefore I suggest the bright-box. Make sure when you talk with Geno's it is understood you are converting from non-sport to sport so you get the correct bright-box. Did this conversion on mine and can now actually see at night...

 

[BarryG]

The sport light upgrade as about as good as it gets for those trucks. While they will be significantly better they aren't the best lights you have ever seen but you will certainly like it better than currently or even the oem non sport lights. When I did mine I used lights from Light Depot, at the time new sport assemblies oem were in the $300 per side range and the light depots ones were in the 150 range for both sides. I thought they were ok but they were definitely not as robust as the oems but mine are still going after 250k miles so mine weren't bad at all in terms of durability. You definitely want to go the route using relays and upgraded wiring as the oem switch is a known problem for these trucks and gets beat hard by the heat generated from the undersized wiring and lack of relays. I had an aftermarket bumper on mine it was A Denver Off Road bumper that I had on so cant speak to any others. However to do the install I had to loosen it and and sort of let it drop down a bit so that I could get to 1 screw on each side. So depending on the bumper you may or may not have to drop it any. As far as cutting sheet metal the only ones that have to be cut are the pre 98's I believe (the models that were out before the sport version was an option) after the sport option was available the light buckets are all the same and will accommodate the sport headlights without any cutting. They will fit right in there no problem.

If you dig around on here you can find a parts list of what is needed or you can buy a kit with everything you need sans the headlights. Daniel Sterns website sells a kit and shows a wiring diagram as well (there are others who sell the harness such as Summit Racing and others but there were varying degrees of quality concerns
https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html
https://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html the part you need here is called RIKRAM the kit has all you need I believe. The one below it is a ready built harness. I went that route personally and I can say at least the one I got was very high quality and it was truly plug and play. Obviously you can also source your own parts locally and save money by getting the parts yourself and building it yourself.

 

[JeepBuilder]

I appreciate the replies. On Monday I will call Geno's and get going on a good upgrade. And do the daniel stern relays. It will be nice to feel comfortable driving the truck at night again. I seem to be chronically short of time. So I think getting a plug and play set up is in the cards. I guess I can no longer keep telling my wife what a great deal the truck was. Good headlights are super important. Most of my older Jeeps have E code H4 lights with very precise light distribution. I think I got spoiled with those. I will post up the results on the upgrade. Again thank you for the feedback.

 

[EricViviano]

Sport headlights with the all lights on mod work well. A nice bumper with light pockets and 4 3" LED cubes is amazing. I like 2 spot beams and 2 flood beams, one of each on each side. My fav 2nd gen bumper:

https://hardcoreoffroadpa.com/dodge-ram-2nd-gen-2500-3500-front-bumper/

 

[ed9824v]

right now I have one 24 in led light bar point down a lot for lighting and it is working good and have not had on coming traffic flash me, polished the originals but would like to to get something new. do not drive it much and especially at night.

 

[JeepBuilder]

I just got one heck of a long and detailed reply from Daniel Stern. I trust what he said. I have ordered the 99-01 Dodge Ram 1500 sport headlights from Dorman from summit. Plus the philips 9004 and 9007 Xtreme vision bulbs. The best combination of aftermarket parts to be had. He said avoid trying to keep both bulbs on with high beams, as it overheats everything including the proper sized wiring. I am getting his relay kit and will build it using my marine tinned wire. That is all I use anymore on my restorations and repairs. I do have a hammerhead bumper with two cube spots and floods. Those will get a relay system of their own and my push pull switch is on my stick shifter. It used to be a jake brake switch and the Jake was removed before I bought the truck. The switch is there and ready to be put to use. The new headlights and supplemental LED bumper lights should light the way. I still have a couple LED 20 inch light bars but suspect I will be fine with what I am doing.
Can't wait to see the difference!! I will post up.

 

[BigPapa]

Anybody running a light bar on the road when meeting oncoming traffic or following someone needs to have their vehicle confiscated. I have no problem if you want to run one that you can turn off QUICKLY when meeting someone. They are blinding to oncoming traffic and just as bad when you have one behind you. These LED replacement headlights that just splash light everywhere are just as bad.

I don’t understand why LEO’s don’t enforce the laws on this more.

 

[GAmes]

I met one of the morons with an offroad light bar in downtown Portland, OR awhile back. Some dumazz kid. The street lights were sufficient to drive with headlights off.

 

[EricViviano]

https://ceautoelectricsupply.com/pr...-conversion-relay-kit-trucks-with-fog-lights/

I would seriously doubt your going to overheat that.

 

[JeepBuilder]

I don't like brights in my face either. Having good lighting is for seeing a jet black moose standing in the road is more than important. They are dumb. Their brain is the size of a walnut. They are tall and have come into a passenger compartment killing people several times in recent years. Good lighting is important. Supplemental extra lighting is even better. I am a considerate driver and only use them when no one is around. I live in a remote place and that happens frequently. Having a switch on the stick shift that your finger tips touch as you drive means a quick response. Some cars have factory headlights that are literally painful to look towards now. I don't feel bad about wanting to see, having extra lights, and I do use them in a considerate manner.

And I moved out of Oregon 5 years ago for several good reasons. I never should have stayed as long as I did. I'll stop there....

Nice kit CE sells. It is the bulbs that also overheat. Daniel Sterns has a good explanation of why and I get it. He is someone who studies manufacturing parameters and tries to stay inside them. I might push it sometimes. The kit is nice and looks well built. But I would never pay what they are asking for what they offer there. With todays online suppliers, you could build the same thing for probably half and still use tinned marine wire. And I have all the correct crimpers.
So far my headlight changes, new sport light buckets, bulbs, and a relay kit is just under 400.00 I am pretty sure they will work better than what I have.
Just waiting for it all to get here...

 

[fox1]

I have an '02. The headlights from the factory were terrible. I put in some brighter bulbs and that helped. For the lonesome dark trails, I added a pair of Light Force 240's with a foot switch. But the one change that helped most, for the majority of night driving, was the switch to LED bulbs. I wasn't a believer...until I installed and turned them on. I don't get flashed, so they don't blind others. And I can finally see with my simple headlights. FWIW here's a link: Amazon product ASIN B078W64NTT Your opinion and your results may vary.

 

[JeepBuilder]

Very interesting bulbs there. It is amazing what is getting made these days for LED lighting. And how little power they draw for the output. I have a good sized pile of new parts sitting in the shop. New Dorman sport light assemblies, bulbs, and a Daniel Sterns relay and parts kit. I want to take a before picture on my road here then do an after picture in the same spot for comparision. If they need more improvement after that I may check out the Katana's. I did not know they made those. I will be posting the work for sure. I could not find much searching earlier. So showing what happens will be good to do. I have been buried in a motor rebuild for an old bulldozer. Found out today the darn block is cracked in 4 places. Big yellow Junk anchor now... Plus 5 degrees here the last couple nights. I don't like driving it without a couple hours on the block heater. The new headlight parts are in my way on purpose.. heh heh... It won't be long.

 

[Joe Mc]

But the one change that helped most, for the majority of night driving, was the switch to LED bulbs. I wasn't a believer...until I installed and turned them on. I don't get flashed, so they don't blind others. And I can finally see with my simple headlights. FWIW here's a link: Amazon product ASIN B078W64NTT Your opinion and your results may vary.

fox1 - question - were these KATANA's "plug and play" or did you have to do any modifications? Tell me they fit right in where the old bulbs were...??? and, how are they adjustable 360 degrees??? Obviously I looked at the link, videos and write-up, but???

 

[JeepBuilder]

Hopefully Joe will get his answer there... I finally got a chance to look under the hood yesterday. I have been trying to get a motor replaced in a 450C dozer. Block was cracked in 4 places... I have not had a lot of extra time this last week. I had some questions. I just answered them by re-reading sterns email. I have a bit of wiring from a HID system to remove. Lots of unused clutter.
I took some before pictures of projector beam distribution. On high beam the ditches go dark. I will post everything with pictures as promised when I get done here. And since I am waiting for a new block to show up, maybe I can do this today.

 

[JeepBuilder]

I am trying to find this in the manual. No luck so far. I thought I read here that my 01 24 valve 3500 drw truck has a negative switched headlight circuit. Is this true? So according to sterns website I should have a positive and a negative circuit coming from the headlight switch? Typical relays take the signal from the old headlight low and high wires for switching the relay on. I want to make sure I am hooking up everything correctly.

FYI this is from his website and I am wondering if this applies to my truck.

Ground-Switched Systems

Many Japanese vehicles, as well as some others, use a "ground-switched" headlamp circuit: the headlamp and beam selector switches make or break the ground leg of the headlamp circuit, rather than the feed leg. On these systems, make sure to use both the negative and positive existing headlamp wires to trigger the relays. It is tempting to run the existing headlamp feed wire to relay terminal 86 (trigger feed) and simply find a convenient ground for relay terminal 85 (trigger ground). However, this will not work with ground-switched systems. Run the vehicle's existing feed wire to terminal 86, and run the vehicle's existing ground wire to terminal85.

But what are we going to do now we've used our one and only ground wire on the 85 terminal of the low beam relay, but we still have to install the high beam relay? Go to the other side of the car and you have another ground wire! Remember, the relay trigger circuits can be as long as you like, because they take insignificant power. So you can extend the vehicle's existing headlamp wires to your relay mounting location. It is fine to use this method regardless of whether you have a ground-switched system or not, so go ahead and use it if you're not sure.

*************

I just don't want to let the smoke out.

 

[BigPapa]

Here's the description of the Headlight System.

 

[BigPapa]

And, here's the diagram.

 

[JeepBuilder]

Thanks for posting that Scott. I appreciate it. I have never done anything with this type of switching system before. I understand it better now.
So it looks like I am still hooking up the additional relays in a conventional manner. 12 volts battery positive to terminal 30, and a solid ground for the high draw side, and using the old bulb wiring to trigger the relays. This should remove the higher draw from the existing headlight circuit as intended correct? I was thinking the new add on relays needed to be hooked up the same as the existing relays. I'm having one of those days. I am tired and having to think about this more than normal. Anybody correct me if I am wrong. Again, thanks Scott for posting. This is a great site.

 

[BigPapa]

So it looks like I am still hooking up the additional relays in a conventional manner.

Yes.