Headlamp Replacement

[MRiehl]

Guys - Want to try a different headlamp, hoping Silverstars might be a little brighter. A few easy questions for you.



- Can I replace them from the engine side, or, do I need to remove the lens covers and do it from the outside?

- If it is from the outside, what size Torx do I need? Saw two earlier threads, one said T20 the other said T30.



Any tips/tricks I should know about?



Thanks for the help,

Mark

 

[p-Bar]

can't remember the size the screw is easy the other one is towards the outside you will see it. The Silverstars are a great cheap replacement , I also put them in my foglights. Buy one of those cheap kits that have all the differant torx tips and philips tips from Home Depot about 15. 00

 

[Matt400]

No torx needed. If you turn any of the torx screws you will change adjustment.

There are 3 bolts with 10mm head that hold the entire lamp in. With the hood open 2 are very visible. The 3rd is a little hard to see and you will need an extension on the socket.

It is on the bottom on the fender side. 1/4" drive works best to slip between the headlamp housing and top of bumper.

 

[CRuth]

Easy to do, but you won't see much, if any, improvement. Face it. Its a lousy design. Dodge went for looks not function and theres nothing you can do about it.

 

[Matt400]

theres nothing you can do about it.

I wouldn't go that far, A Bright Box with fog lamp control plus change the fogs to a 9005 bulb will fix things up nicely.

 

[phloop]

I wouldn't go that far, A Bright Box with fog lamp control plus change the fogs to a 9005 bulb will fix things up nicely.

A bright box is only good if you have your brights on. It doesn't help a bit if you only run with your dims on. We need an improvement in the lighting for those of us that do not run with the brights on all the time. I don't know about the rest of you, but it po's me when some bozo is coming at me with his brights on and doesn't dim them.

 

[Matt400]

it po's me when some bozo is coming at me with his brights on and doesn't dim them.

Oh. . they would dim with the bright box and 9005 fogs.

 

[WCPoe]

Some improvement

Adjust the lights up a little with the torx screw. I accidently discovered better lighting when I removed the two spacers from the rear leaf springs on my 2WD QC. Just recently added the SilverStars but can't say they were worth the cost. Position your truck about 30 or so feet away from a wall, turn the lights on and move the light beam spots up about 1 inch to start with, drive test at night and go from there. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Kurt Henzler]

when you are 30 feet from wall. where on wall should they hit. top , bottom , or middle. what is a good starting point. is it the same with the fogs.

 

[CRuth]

I won't do the foglight mod, too much real nasty fog here to give up properly working fog lights.



As for the brite box. Hopefully the increased heat isn't going to melt the plastic housing. But the real problem is how high beams are supposed to function. The point of high beams is to illuminate down the road at a greater distance when traveling at a higher rate of speed. The reason the manufacturers don't wire both low and high on at the same time is that with the increased illumination in front of the vehicle your eyes tend go where the light is, instead of looking down the road like you're supposed to.



In some circumstances having both on is still going to be advantageous, such as slow speed driving, driving on windy roads etc. I have my jeep wired so both are on when I hit the high beams, but the jeep has a maximum speed of 45mph. I don't outrun my highs.



Unfortunately, whether you like the brite box and the fog mod or not, it still doesn't do anything about the fact we get poor long distance illumination.

 

[phloop]

when you are 30 feet from wall. where on wall should they hit. top , bottom , or middle. what is a good starting point. is it the same with the fogs.

I can't remember for sure but I'm thinking somewhere around 34" from the ground to where the center of your headlight pattern should be. I'm going from memory so I'm sure I might be within 6" either way of where they should be. :-laf

 

[phloop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phloop

it po's me when some bozo is coming at me with his brights on and doesn't dim them.



Oh. . they would dim with the bright box and 9005 fogs.

Then what good is the Bright box when it is not used 90% of the time? And what makes the bozo driving the rig want to dim them in the first place? Don't get me wrong. I think the Bright box is a good idea when you are able to run with your brights on. But for the most part, the brights are not on that much. Or shouldn't be.

 

[DBond]

I haven't tried any of these, but a comment from an "automotive lighting consultant"



http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html



"For those who want the best possible performance from their headlamps and are more concerned with their ability to see rather than the appearance of their headlamps, the major bulb companies offer optimized bulbs WITHOUT the light-stealing blue coloration. Sylvania Xtravision (in the pink-and-black package); Philips High Visibility (North America); Narva RangePower are the ones to look for.

...

The Sylvania SilverStar bulbs have a very short lifetime, because the filament is selected so as to be overdriven. This is necessary because the blue filtration coating "steals" so much light that only an overdriven filament can push enough light through the filter to be legal. The Sylvania SilverStar bulbs are also priced quite high. "

 

[RJOL]

... Unfortunately, whether you like the brite box and the fog mod or not, it still doesn't do anything about the fact we get poor long distance illumination... .

The makers of Brite Box never suggested that they will improve your distant light illumination. What they do is keep the low beams on, with the option of keeping the fog lights on, when you switch to high beam. This keeps the area in front of the truck illuminated. Some of you need to go to their site and review just what this mod does:



http://www.bakerautoaccessories.com/BB.main.page.html



If you want to see if this helps your night light situation, without putting the mod in, hold your brights switch back and it momentarily keeps both sets of lights on. You won't get the advantage of the fog lights staying on, but you will see a difference.

... I don't know about the rest of you, but it po's me when some bozo is coming at me with his brights on and doesn't dim them.

Most of us don't run with the brights on "all the time. " If you haven't got the sense to turn your brights off when oncoming traffic approaches, it's not the Brite Box's fault. If you put a "million candlepower" high beam light on your truck, you will still have to dim it for oncoming traffic...

 

[DDiMarco]

I've come full circle with the 04. 5 headlight scharade. The bottom line is the headlights are terrible, the wire gage is too small and if you try to mod the headlights with new harnesses, relays etc, the lighting "computer" will recoginze the different electrical load and it just won't work. The brite box is nice but it doesn't give you a full 13. 5 volts at the headlights, period. Until someome comes up with a kit that can fool the computer and allows full alternator output at the headlights with larger gage wire, its a compromise.

 

[Matt400]

Until someome comes up with a kit that can fool the computer and allows full alternator output at the headlights with larger gage wire, its a compromise.

True, for those that still want more than a bright box with 9005's in the fogs- a separate isolated circuit with high powered lamps on a light bar will be whats needed.

 

[CRuth]

Lucky for me I added my fog lights on myself so I can have them on when I want. Was a bit pricey buying them from the dealer, but I didn't see them anywhere else at the time.

 

[WStoops]

I can't remember for sure but I'm thinking somewhere around 34" from the ground to where the center of your headlight pattern should be. I'm going from memory so I'm sure I might be within 6" either way of where they should be. :-laf

I got about 8 feet from a wall at the local grocery store and adjusted them both up about 1 1/2 inches. That helped, Silverstars helped too. Driving lights helped alot but I'd go Brite Box next time. It takes an allen wrench but have forgotten what size, maybe 3 mm. ??? I wonder if the

Brite Box will work on my new Durango?? Anybody know?

Wayne