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2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission suvlights.com or Daniel Stern Lighting harness?

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1tuffram

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Going to do the sport light conversion on my '95 truck. Any input on which harness kit is better (customer service, quality of parts, etc)?



My understaning is the harness from suvlights.com is complete, just plug it in and your done. The kit from Daniel Stern is cheaper but only comes with the main parts needed for the conversion, leaving the purchaser responsible for purchasing the wire and what ever else is needed along with assembling all the components to make a complete harness. :confused:
 
SUV here too

Truely plug and play!

I even got mine pre wired to light up the un used low beams :) :eek: :eek: :) with the standard low beams.

(not sure if he still does this)

The extra low beams seem to burn out real fast for some strange reason. .



SFB :eek:
 
I have the SUV kit as well. It's nice if you don't have the time to assemble the kit.

I disabled the dual low beam feature for courtesy & for bulb life. The new low beams are much better than the originals anyway.
 
Thanks for the input. I was leaning toward the suvlights.com pre-made harness 1) by the time I make several trips all over town to purchase all the unsupplied parts for the other harness how much $ are you really saving? 2) most likely a whole weekend of time spent making the other harness assembly.



Unfortunately this project has now been put on the back burner. On my way to Lowes this afternoon (to price wire,etc to make the Daniel Stern harness) my passenger side front brake started making grinding sound. Now comes the task of reading all the threads dealing with the front brakes, rotors and hub assembly removal. :(
 
That sucks that the brake issue came up. I too went the SUV kit route and like it.



Bkroupa, how did you disable the inside low beam?



Ben
 
by the time I make several trips all over town to purchase all the unsupplied parts for the other harness how much $ are you really saving? 2) most likely a whole weekend of time spent making the other harness assembly.



Absolutely! ;)



I used the DS kit on my conversion as well - and it's OK as to most of what's supplied - the wire terminals on mine would NOT take solder, so ! temporarily must rely on the crimping alone - plus, the supplied terminals/sockets start having space issues at larger wire sizes, like the *10 primary wire I was using.



I'll eventually obtain proper wire ends, and re-do the job - but a properly assembled and prewired kit should be lots easier - as long as their wire size is adequate, and THEY don't rely on crimped on terminals. I've had too many eventual corrosion and poor connection issues with crimp-on types, even factory supplied types.



I'm not using the simultaneous hi/lo beam setup on mine, I've heard of heat issues that blister and discolor the reflector surface around the bulb, as well as early bulb failure - any user comments related to that other than those above?



I'd like the added illumination the dual-light setup (hi/lo) would provide, but not if there is likely to be a related damage issue.
 
Gary - K7GLD said:
... I'm not using the simultaneous hi/lo beam setup on mine, I've heard of heat issues that blister and discolor the reflector surface around the bulb, as well as early bulb failure - any user comments related to that other than those above?

I'd like the added illumination the dual-light setup (hi/lo) would provide, but not if there is likely to be a related damage issue...

My homebrew BriteBox® knockoff was installed four+ years ago at the same time I transplanted Sport lamps in my model year 2000 Ram. At that time I was burning all four low beam filaments anytime low or high beams were selected. I noticed a very slight discolored area on the reflectors at the base of the inboard (9004) bulbs. The OEM setups never burn the low beam filaments on the inboard bulbs. The popular opinion is that the lamp reflectors were not designed to have this filament lit and can't tolerate the lit 9004 low beam filaments. I disabled the inboard low beam filaments and no further problems. I noticed little difference in "seeing" with these filaments out of the equation.

My BriteBox® effect setup now has six head lamp filaments burning on high beams—370 watts vs. the 130 watts of the OEM non-Sport head lamps. The fogs-on-with-high beams modification adds another 75 watts. My PIAA 60XT's don't make much difference any more.
 
Thanks for the detailed reply Thomas - I'll probably pass on the dual filament bit. I get plenty of lighting improvement after switching to the Sport lights - but it's sorta like engine bombing - a little always calls for more! :-laf :-laf



Actually, for our eastern Oregon mountain driving - and dodging Deer, Antelope and Elk, We need all the light that's reasonably practical - without abusing oncoming drivers. I have found that the stock clear fog lights make a BIG difference in illumination combined with the low beams, possibly as effective as the high beams alone - but oncoming drivers sure don't seem to appreciate them, so usually have to shut them off for oncoming traffic, even with only the low beams activated.



I just thought the low beams combined with the high beams might do about as well for overall lighting, but without need to reach over to the light switch to control (dim) the fog lights.



As much as the Sport Lights (Depot brand) improve down-the-road illumination, they are even MORE beneficial for the greatly improved side-of-the-road lighting they provide, since that's where the furry critters are lurking, waiting to jump out just as you get close to them... :eek: :eek:



Sorry to hijack this thread from the central wiring issue - but guys, including the original poster - might benefit from reading about some peripheral wiring issues and possibilities for these lights. And if a guy plans to deviate substantially from what the stock lighting kits provide, they MIGHT be as well off to get or build a wiring setup that won't lock them into a single pre- determined wiring setup that might not deliver exactly what they want...
 
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I purchased the suvlights wiring harness. It initially did not work correctly. I called customer service and found that the wires in the suv harness were not in the correct sequence. They told me how to fix it over the phone. Kind of expensive to have quality control problems such as this.
 
Has anyone had any issues with the suvlight'ing harness? I've been having an issue of the lights coming on all by themselves. I've tried new relays, cleaning the little black electrical thing and I am still having the lights come on. I did notice some corrosion in almost every connection, so I have sprayed everything down with wd-40 and put di-electric grease on everything, and that didn't help. I don't want to drop another 140 on a new wire harness.



Ben
 
I went with Daniel Stern. The reason being that I read all the info on his site and he knew a heck of alot more then I did and he responded personally to my questions.



Being an absolute electrical idiot, I asked how long it would take to assemble his kit, he said plan on most of a day, based on my skill and knowledge level. I then asked if I could buy one pre-made, he was able to have someone do it. I paid for it, a little more then the SUV harness. WELL worth it though, the harness is top notch, based on the SUV pics, a step above theirs. And light years ahead of the one I had from Summit!



Probably the best bang for the buck mod I've done, with the Sport headlights and DS harness, my lights are 100% better then stock.



I'm sure the SUV harness is a good item, the DS is definately the "Cadillac".
 
Does anyone know how I can do away with the resistor box (little black relay looking thing) on the suvlights wiring harness? I just replaced one of these and from what I'm reading on multiple threads is that this isn't needed.



Thanks for the help,

Ben
 
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