Sport Headlights Install Questions

[GAmes]

...I really don't see why it would be necessary. It makes that much of a difference going to the Sport light set up.

Guess you've never driven a 2nd gen at night. The close in lighting is a welcome addition to the high beams far lighting. Going to a sport light set involves cutting up my fender along with purchasing a setup that won't give me much more, if any, then I have.

 

[flexyxj]

Guess you've never driven a 2nd gen at night. The close in lighting is a welcome addition to the high beams far lighting. Going to a sport light set involves cutting up my fender along with purchasing a setup that won't give me much more, if any, then I have.

I have a 2nd Gen and have driven it many miles at night before I did the Sport headlight conversion. It is a huge improvement. I wasn't happy about having to do some cutting to make the Sport headlights fit either. I fit them and primed and painted the areas that were cut. It was worth it!

 

[GAmes]

I'm happy for you, but without a comparison test it is conjecture if the added expense and bodywork is any improvement over simply adding a wire and a diode. It is quite possible the simple addition of the relays would have made you happy, a step that we both did.

 

[MRoberts]

Pretty simple to understand that switching from a two bulb system with filtered lenses, to a four bulb system that uses clear lenses, that the four bulb is going to have better output. No test results required.

 

[GAmes]

If you say so. I have zero complaints about my results.

 

[MRoberts]

If you say so. I have zero complaints about my results.

And that is all that matters!

On my 02, it was a simple plug and play. Sport Headlight housing and Daniel Stern harness, done. I didn't have to do any cutting or priming. It turned out to be one of the best BOMB's I did out of many to that truck!

 

[GAmes]

Adding two relays, two fuses, and a diode cost me less than $25 and took very little time to accomplish. Removing the battery tray for easier access was the only real hassle.

 

[TrueTurbo]

I just installed sport headlights on my 96 ram with headlight housing from Headlight Depot, and the brite box w fog conversion kit from Geno's garage. Cutting metal for light clearance was easy, and the brite box install was simple plug and play.

Results------I wouldn't rave about it. I purchased the combo hoping for it being "the best bomb ever", but honestly, my old headlights are better. I may put them back on. Now, it may be lackluster because of the light housing not being OEM. I know OEM puts in a lot of engineering to get the reflective surfaces perfect, and aftermarket doesn't have the same level of engineering. What ever the reason, I think this mod was a dud.

 

[MRoberts]

How are your lights powered? Is it thru the Bride Box?

If you use a harness it will change the power source to being direct from the batteries. On my 02, the headlight switch controlled the on/off and the power distribution to the lights. Thats why they had so many switch failures. The wiring harness isolates the power direct from the batteries to the lights and the headlight switch becomes a simple on/off switch.

 

[TrueTurbo]

Decided to send the sport lights back to Headlights Depot but keep the Brite box. The Brite box wiring needed a minor wiring change to work with my OEM lights(non sport light). Definitely improved the light output on high beams with both low and high filaments on + fog lights.

I recommend finding OEM sport lights if you decide to do this mod. I have no experience with the OEM sport light, but assume that MOPAR puts in the engineering effort to get it right. This is the second time I have seen "aftermarket" headlight performance be a dud. My nephew bought aftermarket projector headlights for his Subaru that were sub-par also.

 

[MRoberts]

I see your in Stanwood, have you joined NW Bombers? Local group of CTD enthusiasts that can offer a lot of help. www.nwbombers.com

 

[The patriot]

I bought Depot sport lights from a fellow member probably 10+ years ago.
They were IMO Ok, just not factory quality. Beam pattern was OK, I didn't regret ever doing the conversion. IMO It was an worthy improvement. I NEVER felt it was money wasted.

Recently I stumbled on a great deal on factory light assys, without the buckets they go in.
Just the headlights with turn lights.
The headlights were able to be mounted with the factory NON sport light bucket assy with some mods. 30 seconds with a dremel fixed that problem.
The sport blinkers were NOT an easy conversion. In fact, putting sport parking lights into a NON sport bucket is IMO going to be impossible without major reconstruction. They take entirely different clips to secure them into the bucket assembly.

 

[TrueTurbo]

I'll have to check out Diesel Bombers.

The attached picture shows the different light output of an 1996 Ram OEM to the after market Sport head light. Both are hooked up to bright box with High+low beam+fog lights on. The left light is OEM (non sport config) and the right is aftermarket sport config. Wish I had an OEM Sport headlight to compare. I have no doubt the OEM sport would be fantastic.

Shout out to using Brite box! What an awesome amount of light output when all the light elements are lit up!

 

[GAmes]

I just looked up the price of the Britebox. OMG!!! Two relays, two fuse holders, a couple feet of wire and some connectors does the same job for a lot less money.

 

[TrueTurbo]

I just looked up the price of the Britebox. OMG!!! Two relays, two fuse holders, a couple feet of wire and some connectors does the same job for a lot less money. [/ATTACH]

LOL, no doubt people like you GAmes are very capable of saving lots of money, but dummies like me are willing to pay $$ for a simple plug and play product that takes little to no thinking to install.

 

[GAmes]

You had to modify your harness so I doubt you are a dummy. I just improved a little on a design that was posted in the TDR about 20 years ago. http://dodgeram.org/tech/mods/electric/headlight.htm