Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) OEM Sport style Headlights

[CBrabec]

I am wanting to replace my terrible factory headlights with the Sport sytle lights. Does anyone know if an '01 Sport style lights will fit my '95? Also would I have to do any modifications (i. e. new wiring, relays etc) to make this work? I am not good with having to rewire stuff and didn't know if it would be just a direct plug in and done kind of thing? Any help would be appreciated.



Chris

 

[Bob4x4]

You will have to trim some shee tmetal behind the lamp assy for clearance and build a new harness to power up the dual lights.

 

[KB0OU]

sport lights

I put the sport lights in the 96, they are great!!!!!!!!



Get the SUV Harness, it powers up both lights in the assembly off the batteries with relays that the light switch energizes.

It is a plug in harness, and just hook up to the batteries.



This way the light switch on the dash only carries current for the relays, makes the switch last a lot longer, no burn out.



This mod is very easy to do and the lights are truely wonderful Oo.

 

[BSMcCauley]

After being anoyed that even my high beams were so dim that my truck cast a shadow from the low beams on the car following me, I did the sport light conversion on my '96 as well and, pardon the pun, the difference is night & day. Be careful to get the 2-bulb sport lights. I bought the parts and made up my own plug-in harnesses for each side, but if you're either willing to pay more and/or have trouble reading a test light, there are pre-built harnesses for this as well. As mentioned, there is some sheet metal to remove to make room for the extra bulb socket. Search the forms for directions, or PM me for my pictures & material sources.

 

[CBrabec]

Get the SUV Harness, it powers up both lights in the assembly off the batteries with relays that the light switch energizes.

It is a plug in harness, and just hook up to the batteries.



This way the light switch on the dash only carries current for the relays, makes the switch last a lot longer, no burn out.



This mod is very easy to do and the lights are truely wonderful Oo.

Where would I order this SUV harness? Also, what's the best place to order the lights from?

 

[BSMcCauley]

Here's a few links to guide you toward the material I used on my sport light conversion:

• Instructions: Dodge Ram Sport Headlight Conversion. I made a template out of cardboard over the back of the new headlights to mark out the new opening. Then I used a hole saw behind the new bulb and then cut out the triangle between the new hole and existing one with a jigsaw. Then immediately primed & painted the exposed steel.

• Pair of headlights (bulbs installed): e-Bay item # 150723937583 $150. 95 inc shipping. NOTE: the 2-bulb sport lights use one 2004 and one 2007 bulb each and although they will fit in either station or electrical socket, they are NOT interchangable on either position or electrical plug. The bulbs are physically turned different in each station to face their reflectors properly and the electrical pin-out is different between the bulbs types as well.

• Almost every kind of automotive bulb or wiring socket & adapter you can think of at reasonable prices: www.autolumination.com Tail Light Brake Light Turn Signal LED Bulbs or direct link on their site to sockets & etc to fabricate your own harnesses: Automotive Connectors I built my own harnesses because I wanted 14 & 12 awg wire instead of 16, and I also wanted the ends sodered rather than only crimped. Price comparison: If you use their pre-built pig-tails and splice them onto relay pig-tails, the total for connectors, 40A relays, & fuses will run you $70. 82 and a bit more if you want ceramic instead of plastic plugs/sockets. If you want to "roll-yer-own", the male/female pins, sockets, relays, & fuses (everything but the wire) will run you $70. 62. Including wire, split loom, and extra relay to hold low beam on with high beam will bring the parts up to about $105. As noted above the 4 female sockets required will fit any of the bulbs and the 2 male plugs required also replicate both 2004 & 2009 bulbs. You just have to be careful to wire them up right so that the relays are switching right and the individual bulb elements are coming on when they should as well as going individually to ground instead of trying to ground through the other element. I mounted the relays & fuses on the front of the battery baskets on each side with double-sided tape & secured with a plastic tie-wrap. One fuse & relay for low beam and high beam on each side, 4 each total. Only current headlight switch sees is what's going through the relay coils.

• Or if you want it pre-wired there's the SUV harness: suvlights.com (site was down for maintenance when I checked just now)

 

[9412v9824v]

one thought which i have on my 94 12 valve is an aftermarket 1 piece headlight. . i have smoked 1 piece headlights on my 94 12valve and they look nasty!!!! i bought them from a guy on craigslist but im sure he bought them from somewhere online. cost ya round 100 bucks. but they look much much better then the stockers all one piece and clean

 

[KB0OU]

Links

Thanks BSM, good write up on installation and links.



John kb0ou

 

[harrisonm3]

Is there a way to get a parts list and a schematic? I would sooner pay suvlights but there site has been down for months.

Does anyone have a phone number for suvlights?

 

[BSMcCauley]

Is there a way to get a parts list and a schematic? I would sooner pay suvlights but there site has been down for months.

I'm away from home at the moment. Think I can pull out my invoice when I get home and sketch up a schematic and pass them along. Think I've still got notes on the pin-outs for the plugs to save you having to figure that out for yourself. I'll try to gather all that up for you and PDF it back in a week or so.

(Ping me if I get distracted on something else and forget... . )

 

[JVanDelinder]

I just recently ordered the suv light harness there site was down for maintenance when I ordered mine I e-mailed them and they gave me a phone number to call (626)967-3139 then I used paypal to pay for the harness. I only recieved 1 harness won't I need 2 for the sport light conversion?

 

[BSMcCauley]

I just recently ordered the suv light harness ... I only recieved 1 harness won't I need 2 for the sport light conversion?

You will need one harness for each side (totally 2 for the truck). The harness will convert signal from the single factory plug on each side into output to each of two bulbs in each of the sportlights. Each harness will be externally powered 'cause the factory wiring & headlight switch cannot handle the power demand of 4 headlight bulbs.

 

[BSMcCauley]

harrisonm3: I'm attempting to attach a hand-sketched schematic and a few illustrations of my Sportlight conversion; however, file size limitiations here are forcing me to compress them quite a bit. Let me know if you'd like me to e-mail full-sized files. Note that I'm simply passing on for information what I did on my truck and not taking any responsibility for what anyone else may try to do with it.



Also, my 15-yr old is looking for ways to earn spending money, so if anyone's still looking for "plug-n-play" wiring harnesses and not in a big hurry, let me know and we can try to agree on a price for a pair built as described in the attachments and tested on my truck before shipping out.

 

[JVanDelinder]

I might be interested in a wiring harness from you. I got 1 harness from suv lights and now I can't get ahold of them on the phone through e-mail and there site is still down for maintenance. Could you pm me a price on a harness? Thanks

 

[BSMcCauley]

I got 1 harness from suv lights and now I can't get ahold of them on the phone through e-mail and there site is still down for maintenance.

While waiting for a 2nd harness to use on the other side, you could go ahead and install the 2-bulb sportlights (on one side at least) and use the harness you've got on one side and snap the factory plug onto the 9004 bulb (toward the center of the truck) on the other side in the meantime. You'd be kind of like Johnny Cash's Cadillac (“pull out the switch and all 3 of ‘em come on!”:-laf), but would be way better than the single-bulb factory lights with clouded over lenses...

 

[BSMcCauley]

Read this discussion through to the end. Might not be a good idea to run both high beam and low beam filaments simultaneously. Apparently there’s a risk of exploding bulbs (although I’ve ran my single 9004 bulb continuously high + low for extended periods of time in the original headlight fixtures with no problem).



https://www.turbodieselregister.com...6-sport-headlight-conversion-lots-photos.html

 

[Bob4x4]

Read this discussion through to the end. Might not be a good idea to run both high beam and low beam filaments simultaneously. Apparently there’s a risk of exploding bulbs (although I’ve ran my single 9004 bulb continuously high + low for extended periods of time in the original headlight fixtures with no problem).



https://www.turbodieselregister.com...6-sport-headlight-conversion-lots-photos.html

I have run both low beam filaments in mine with the sport lights-no bulb issues. I did make my own harnesses though. Since it is illegal to run 4 low beams I designed the harness so I can simply remove a fuse on each side to go back to the single low beam set up when the need arises. I am using the oem h/lamp housings no chineese junk on my truck :-laf,that I know of

 

[BSMcCauley]

... Since it is illegal to run 4 low beams ...

Are you sure that's true? New vehicles from the factory (obviously 50-state DOT approved) are available with fog lights that operate at the same time as low beam = total 4+ bulbs on simultaneously. My understanding is that the legal limit is wattage (which is why wallyworld & your local parts store sell only the 65w/45w 9004 bulbs and 65w/55w 9007 bulbs. You'll notice that anything at either of those places in excess of those wattages is labeled "for offroad use only".



However, your point is well taken that the reflector behind the bulb pair toward the center of the vehicle (9004 bulb in the sportlights) is focused more for high-beam driving lights and would be more obnoxious to oncoming drivers if also illuminated on low beams. I wouldn't be surprised if there were any legalities involved that it was this aiming/projection that would be the concern rather than the number of bulb elements that were energized. (And on those grounds, I'm going to make a small revision to my wiring harnesses to take the 9004 low beam element off the low beam circuit and add it to the high beam circuit. )



Thanks for bringing this up.

 

[Bob4x4]

Are you sure that's true? New vehicles from the factory (obviously 50-state DOT approved) are available with fog lights that operate at the same time as low beam = total 4+ bulbs on simultaneously. My understanding is that the legal limit is wattage (which is why wallyworld & your local parts store sell only the 65w/45w 9004 bulbs and 65w/55w 9007 bulbs. You'll notice that anything at either of those places in excess of those wattages is labeled "for offroad use only".



However, your point is well taken that the reflector behind the bulb pair toward the center of the vehicle (9004 bulb in the sportlights) is focused more for high-beam driving lights and would be more obnoxious to oncoming drivers if also illuminated on low beams. I wouldn't be surprised if there were any legalities involved that it was this aiming/projection that would be the concern rather than the number of bulb elements that were energized. (And on those grounds, I'm going to make a small revision to my wiring harnesses to take the 9004 low beam element off the low beam circuit and add it to the high beam circuit. )



Thanks for bringing this up.

fogs are not low beams

 

[Bob4x4]

On many of my previous trucks I used the old style foot dimmer switch to control my less than legal lighting for hiway driving so that I could switch them off quickly when the need arose.