Headlight swapping to Civi

[Suprman]

Been running the same thing in my 1078 for some time without incident. Civ cars have the same basic bulb mount with no issues. Fording water it might be possible to get a little into the housing though. If thats a concern then the newer style trucklites work ok but not as bright as the 90w low beams. You can crimp the mil connector onto those and they are sealed.

 

[coachgeo]

seems most of the ceramic light sockets on A-Zon and FleaBay and in the local part stores are 16gauge. There is one 14gauge on A-Zon. What Gauge would be wisest for the pull of the offroad wattage bulb ? (Went with the 14gauge units myself. )


Best price for Packard male end seemed to be thru Saturn Surplus at buck-n-quarter each. They were real helpful suggesting to solder (or a very carefully whack with punch) cause a standard wire crimper seems not up to the job to crimp well enough the thicker metal these are made from. When they get here; will prebuild it all and coat ends with liquid Tape. Will then be ready in advance to swap when get to IL. Building own pigtails from new parts will allow for keeping the working headlight as a spare.

 

[coachgeo]

... I prefer the Hella 12volt 90/100 watt bulbs. . ..

did you aim these in any certain way to keep it out of eyes of on coming traffic?
Since your in CT and do get a bit of snow, any issues with these high power low beam lights when snowing?

 

[coachgeo]

Got all the parts now. Need to replace my old solder iron to whip out new pigtails. Nothing special, 99.9% can do this but will take pics if anyone gives a shiat. Do plan to pull apart the socket to add little more water proofing to inside of it using liquid electrical tape.

In the meantime........ anyone who does this..... re- AIM YOUR LIGHTS so not to blind oncoming drivers. You'de be surprised how many folks are more sensitive to bright lights than you might be. You don't want one of them driving into you head on or off the road etc.. I'de be one of them running off the road lol. Bright lights really kill my vision. Attached is PDF of one version of way to aim headlights. Not rocket science.

Anyone one think a tall truck or a offroad truck used on the Hwy too, should aim them at different height or further Port/Starbord?


http://www.jwspeaker.com/resources/instruction-sheet-aiming-high-or-driving-beam-headlights/ (PDF download) PS- Painters blue tape probably easier than chalk mentioned in PDF

 

[Suprman]

At night use a wall or garage door. The military headlights have easy adjusters.

 

[coachgeo]

Started to add the Military connectors ..... but now doubt the wires on the harness I bought from Amazon are long enough. The harness from there is only about 4" long. Nother couple weeks will be picking up truck. So how long should the whole pigtail be once completed (from back side of light to end of connectors that attach to truck) ?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Suprman]

4 inches should be fine you are still using the original headlight bucket. You can connect the 3 mil leads then plug the h4 bulb in if its too tight to get your hand in there.

 

[Keith Knight]

Sorry I missed this post, would have responded sooner. I originally posted this on the FMTV forum but they moved it to ELECTRICAL.......


http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...078-Civilian-Truck-lite-LED-Headlight-Install

 

[coachgeo]

Sorry I missed this post, would have responded sooner. I originally posted this on the FMTV forum but they moved it to ELECTRICAL.......


http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...078-Civilian-Truck-lite-LED-Headlight-Install

Much Much Thanx...... this is what am doing pretty much the same but right now going with less expensive Halgen... and cause we do get little snow and need to melt it off the lens. Looks like we got the same pigtail too.

 

[coachgeo]

4 inches should be fine you are still using the original headlight bucket. You can connect the 3 mil leads then plug the h4 bulb in if its too tight to get your hand in there.

Am assuming your basing this 4" is fine on straight bulbs that yet have NO harness on them.... just the 3 male plugs right? Just don't want to assume for your bulbs may have built into them a small pigtail already like Kieth's LED's do

 

[FloridaAKM]

I bought the replacement lens that bolt straight in the old buckets from Amazon, along the the hi-temp pigtails & bulbs. For the Deuce. it was 60/100 watt 24 v bulbs & the LMTV need 90/100 watt 12 v bulbs. The difference in driving @ night is amazing as you can see much better & further out. Don't forget to make sure both assemblies are aimed correctly! Carry on!