The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

I finally got around to getting this mod done. But I only have one side installed with new headlight assembly. Has anyone tried aligning their lights during the day or is it more advisable to wait until the sunset? So far I closed my garage door on the hood of the truck (nicely protected) to try and make it darker haha.

 

With doing one at a time, you should be able to get it pretty close in the garage with your truck sitting mostly outside and just having the lights off. You just need to be able to make out the cut off line so you can align the new headlight cut off to the old one.

 

Thank you I’m going to give it another try tomorrow.

 

Another view of my setup on a clear night. You can see how distinct the cutoff is by the trees on the right side of the road. I think the camera is exaggerating the light a bit, but you get the idea.

 

Looks familiar:
https://adventuretaco.com/out-with-...dfyt1ZtS-zZu9_VbQhU74bR3fd8Gcd-CUB1UeX1MyjYMQ

 

who uses hi-beams in falling snow? (unless you'er playing Star Wars Light Speed)

 

LOL, I had the same thought. Especially with high color temp LEDs.

 

Hahaha I mean, who wouldn’t want to feel like Han Solo?

Got my harness today and man. The quality on this thing is just incredible. Bar none. Not to mention how well that man knows how to package. My ocd gauge was filled just opening the box! Can’t wait to get it in!

 

Tacoma's do not come equipped with an L3 navigation autopilot.

 

they do come equipped with "Jesus take the wheel"

 

Does anyone know if this mod works on a first gen Toyota Tundra?

 

Yep. Any halogen headlight can benefit from better focused bulbs and better feed voltage.

Given the vintage of the vehicle, you'll want to see if you have a positive switched or (more likely) negative switched headlight circuit, when looking for a relay circuit to build. If you want to build your own, Daniel Stern offers parts/kits and complete harnesses, as well as the diagram you'd need to reference to build your own for a neg.switched harness. But I'd bet that headlightharnesses harness would work (have the length of cables) as well.

 

It does work but as @Toy_Runner points out you need to confirm if you are ground switched or conventional/power switched with the test procedure in the original post. I believe the 1st Gen Tundras are ground switched.

 

Works good on my 05 now that I figured out the high beam wonkyness

regular and access cab up to 06 are ground switched. Double cabs I can’t confirm anything

 

So, hunting around for some oem headlights that don’t absolute break the bank but perform like they should. I’m kind of confused on what the sport package on headlights means. Is the housing blacked out? Smoked lenses?

Found a capa set on eBay that seems to be legit for a decent price but can’t honestly tell what is what 100% from the pictures.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CAPA-Drive...81C-TO2502181C/393108837043?fits=Model:Tacoma

Thoughts?

 

If you’re not going oem, then capa lights are your next best bet. From what I can tell from your link, those are not blacked out. It looks like the photo angle and lighting are making them look like that. To my knowledge only the trd pro lamps are blacked out. I’m not sure the blacked out lens is an option for the 05-11’s but I could be wrong. I have a 12 sport but the lights are not blacked out.

Another option is to look for a used set of oem.

 

I picked up the OEM housing black out from Stevinson West in Golden.
They have pretty good online prices.
185 a piece
A bit of a drive for you, if you in the springs, but probably cheaper than shipping. Maybe see if a dealership will price match..

 

^^^Looks like they have free shipping orders over 75$ right now ^^^^

 

Total aside and a tribute to @crashnburn80.

Now that I have done this mod to the Tacoma with the Headlight Services harness I can say that in the vintage Euro sports car community, this has been a long standard upgrade. Twenty years ago when switching my '68 German air-cooled car from sealed beam headlights units to Bosch Euro H4's, I installed this exact style upgraded wiring harness - home made. The issue is that all the voltage in these vintage cars is routed through the headlight switch and after 50 years the switch degrades and fails and from the factory this circuit is unfused, resulting in a big meltdown.

With the H4 upgrade and heaver gauge wiring harness, a new fused power supply running through dual relays, the old headlight switch and stock wiring is only triggering the relays. Way back then I saw the same increase in brightness with the upgraded harness with H4's as we see today on the Tacomas. BTW, H4's were first installed on Euro cars about 1972. I can't wait to install a pair of Phillips +200 in the 50 year old car. Thanks TW.

 

It's time that I get some pro headlights. Are the links in the OP for the 12-15 still the best? (~$200 each)