Sport Headlight Conversion (lots of photos)

[GaryOwen]

Excellent explanation and pics of the sport headlight conversion. Been thinking about it for a while and finally couldn't stand it any more. Just finished installing mine. One of my old headlight assemblies had about half of the chrome flaked off - no wonder that side was much dimmer.



I did note that my 95 had three 3/8" mounting bolts instead of 10 mm bolts. Had to cut out the sheet metal too. Ran into a problem with the high beams on one side being dim. They were about half as bright as the other side. Finally realized that one of the wiring harnesses from SUV lights had the plugs marked wrong. 9007 was really a 9004 and vice versa. These lights are great! Finally some decent lights! Oo.

 

[CCiatteo]

I finally got around to installing mine tonight. Very happy with the results. I had to cut the radiator support on my 97, but no big deal. I used the SUV harness and they are a nice piece, good quality. My only complaint is that I would have like to see the battery hot leads be about a foot longer to allow more flexibility on routing the wire and mounting the relays/fuses. No big deal though.

Thanks to the OP for the pics and I took the advice on loosening the bumper so swing it down for clearance and it worked great. I recommend spraying the 3 bolts (bumper bracket/frame) on each side with some rust penetrant about a day or two before doing the install. Loosen the 3 bolts on each side and the bumper moved enough to get the old lights out and the new lights in without too much foul language.

The difference is so dramatic it should have been be a safety recall.

 

[SFPADGETT]

I joined the club and install the Sport Lights (from Cerifit, which came with standard bulbs) and the wiring harness from suvlights.com



The harness from SUV is of very good quality, however 4 of the wires were connected to the wrong terminal on the plug in relay socket. (no big problem once I emailed suv lights the picture of the wiring and John got right back to me with the needed correction).



On my 95 it took about 2 hours to do them, that including the cutting for the second bulb and installing the wiring harness. On my set, the positive leads were plenty long to reach the battery, but the negative leads need about 6" more to reach the battery (so I went to a closer ground instead of the battery)



The light output is nothing short of amazing. I installed the Sylvina Ultra bulbs and kept the standard bulbs as spares.



I highly recommend the switch to the Sport lights and the wiring harness from suvlights (we will be upgrading our other trucks in the future as the headlights need replacing)

 

[diesel DOG]

anyone run the brite box from Geno's with this set up? It makes the high and low beams be on at the same time. Thanks I am in the dark too. Wanted to add a bar and some lights on that too. Any suggestions?

 

[firefighter_2000]

There are a few

There are a few people that do have that setup you're speaking of... If you have yet to do the mod, do the mod first before you spend the money on the brite box. I did the mod and dont feel like I need the brite box. You might put do the mod and decide you like it though. Give it a try!

Craig

 

[1tuffram]

Daniel Stern advises against the brite-box. Something about the bulbs are not designed to handle the heat produced when both high and low filaments in the bulb are on at the same time and the bulb can end up exploding and damaging your headlamp assembly

 

[BarryG]

I have to say I was not impressed with the brite box. I tried it before I did the sport light upgrade. It just didnt last very long. First it quit working. The lights still worked but the functionality of it quit. I didnt take it out at that point. A while later I had a problem with no low beams then very shortly after that the ligths wouldnt shut off. Thinking it was the multifunction switch I replaced that with no change. Then I remembered the brite box. Took it out and all was well again. Wasnt long after that that I did the sport light upgrade.

 

[MRoberts]

Since I'm a knucklehead when it comes to anything electrical, I called Daniel Stern direct regarding building my own harness using his kit assemblies. After a good conversation and realizing that it was going to turn into an all day project (for me anyways) I asked him if he would build it. I can't recall the price, I believe it was about $40. more then the SUV harness and I mean ABSOLUTELY no offense, but it looks a ton better in quality.



I bought the lights from Certifit, did the install of everything and it is amazing! One of the best BOMBs ever!

 

[KB0OU]

I got the conversion lights and have the SuvLights.com wire harness on the way.

Looking forward to being able to see at night.

 

[S Ski]

Hi there just wanted to see who is Daniel Stern and how can I get in touch with him to see if might also build a harness for me as well,I would also like to have ine that is better made and made here in the good ol USA ... ... . Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

 

[seafish]

Hi there just wanted to see who is Daniel Stern and how can I get in touch with him to see if might also build a harness for me as well,I would also like to have ine that is better made and made here in the good ol USA ... ... . Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Here is a link to his website... slightly hard to bnavigate, but TONS of information about excellent and SAFE lighting.



Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

 

[S Ski]

Awesome ,thank you very much. will check it out, thanks again

 

[jwarnick]

So how are the replacement lights working a year or so later? I am thinking about doing the mod.

 

[SFPADGETT]

I did mine last April, and couldnt be more pleased. I wish I had done this years before. Much safer at night (I drive into work very early each am (4:30am) so, I get alot of use each morning (about 20 minutes on side roads with no street lights, then aobut 20 minutes on the interstates). As we replace headlights in the fleet trucks, we upgrading each of the trucks to the sports headlights.

 

[firefighter_2000]

Mine are still doing great. I'd have to say it's the best money I've spent on my truck. If I bought another 2nd gen, it would be the first mod done, hands down.

 

[Tinman]

Could I get a little back ground info on this mod. I have the brite box on both my trucks. Never had a minutes problem. 06 has great lighting. 01, well stinks (even with the bright box and fogs on (aftermarket fogs on seperate relay)). So do I need the wiring harness with this mod if I have the brightbox? Why is the wiring harness needed anyway? Besides a better housing, is there any difference with the sport light mod and the stock lights? Very interested in this mod, I can't see diddle at night.

 

[KKlingbeil]

Could I get a little back ground info on this mod. I have the brite box on both my trucks. Never had a minutes problem. 06 has great lighting. 01, well stinks (even with the bright box and fogs on (aftermarket fogs on seperate relay)). So do I need the wiring harness with this mod if I have the bright? Why is the wiring harness needed anyway? Besides a better housing, is there any difference with the sport light mod and the stock lights? Very interested in this mod, I can't see diddle at night.

Basically, there are two main reasons for this mod. One, and most importantly, is adding relay and heavy gauge wire to power your headlights. In stock configuration, the wire is 18-20 gauge wire, and runs all over the place, so the combination of thin wire and long distances make a large voltage loss by the time it actually gets to the headlight bulb. What the SUV harness, or building your own using a kit like Daniel Sterns, uses the stock wiring as triggers for the relays, and adds in heavy gauge wire to power everything. By doing this you can actually get 13. 8-14. 2 volts TO the headlight.



Two, the sport housings have two bulbs per side. In the stock sport truck, only the inboard 9007 bulb is powered on in the low beam, and both inboard 9007 and outboard 9004 are powered on on high beam. With SUV lights harness, they power both bulbs on low and both on high, but NEVER both high and low beam filiment of the same bulb at the same time. This causes bulbs to explod and housings to melt, as well as blinds other drivers. The sport housing also does a better job of focusing the beam making it even better!



I just did this to my truck right before christmas, and wish I would of done it the day after I got my truck in March of 2003. . Wow its been a while! Hope that helps!!

 

[KBrennan]

I finally got around to installing mine tonight. Very happy with the results. I had to cut the radiator support on my 97, but no big deal. I used the SUV harness and they are a nice piece, good quality. My only complaint is that I would have like to see the battery hot leads be about a foot longer to allow more flexibility on routing the wire and mounting the relays/fuses. No big deal though.



Thanks to the OP for the pics and I took the advice on loosening the bumper so swing it down for clearance and it worked great. I recommend spraying the 3 bolts (bumper bracket/frame) on each side with some rust penetrant about a day or two before doing the install. Loosen the 3 bolts on each side and the bumper moved enough to get the old lights out and the new lights in without too much foul language.



The difference is so dramatic it should have been be a safety recall.

What brand Headlight did you use and are you happy with the quality and aim of the fixture? I have read some horror stories about bad aiming.

 

[KBrennan]

Daniel Stern advises against the brite-box. Something about the bulbs are not designed to handle the heat produced when both high and low filaments in the bulb are on at the same time and the bulb can end up exploding and damaging your headlamp assembly

He is also not a fan of anything but OEM Chrysler parts. Severely trashed all the aftermarket Lamp fixtures. I am now woried about doing this but ave to do something because I need to run my 6" fogs for decent light.

 

[KBrennan]

Basically, there are two main reasons for this mod. One, and most importantly, is adding relay and heavy gauge wire to power your headlights. In stock configuration, the wire is 18-20 gauge wire, and runs all over the place, so the combination of thin wire and long distances make a large voltage loss by the time it actually gets to the headlight bulb. What the SUV harness, or building your own using a kit like Daniel Sterns, uses the stock wiring as triggers for the relays, and adds in heavy gauge wire to power everything. By doing this you can actually get 13. 8-14. 2 volts TO the headlight.



Two, the sport housings have two bulbs per side. In the stock sport truck, only the inboard 9007 bulb is powered on in the low beam, and both inboard 9007 and outboard 9004 are powered on on high beam. With SUV lights harness, they power both bulbs on low and both on high, but NEVER both high and low beam filiment of the same bulb at the same time. This causes bulbs to explod and housings to melt, as well as blinds other drivers. The sport housing also does a better job of focusing the beam making it even better!



I just did this to my truck right before christmas, and wish I would of done it the day after I got my truck in March of 2003. . Wow its been a while! Hope that helps!!

How much did the low beam improve and what brand did you use. I want to do this but do not want to end up waisting 300 bucks on junk.