Morimoto XB LED Headlights for 2nd Gen Tacos!

First, welcome to the site. Second, did you read through the Ultimate Headlight Upgrade post?

The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID) | Tacoma World

The reason I ask is that @crashnburn80 specifically developed the upgrade because aftermarket options just didn't cut it. Although some things have changed since the original post, crash has kept it updated constantly and the OEM housings, aftermarket HD harness and bulbs are still by far the best way to go. And yes, that means better than LED's, HID's, projectors, fancy looking lights with DRL's that have 256 available colors, etc.

 

Yep. Morimoto is the best you’re going to get for an off the shelf solution that’s aftermarket.

The ultimate headlight upgrade is the way to go if you want raw performance.

Only other option would be a retrofit to projectors.

All other aftermarket brands are even worse than Morimoto. I’ve tried a couple and done a lot of research.

 

The Morimotos in this thread would be the next best PnP option after OEM based solutions. There are just not any good aftermarket assemblies for 2nd Gens. Very few aftermarket headlight assemblies are good at all in general. Aside from typical poor performance, even ones that do offer decent performance using projectors usually lack uplight entirely, limiting your night vision beyond the headlight cut off which is not a proper headlight design. Then there is always retrofit options, but again you'd want to use an OEM projector (not aftermarket) for the same reasons, and retros are hand made and vary in quality significantly and not something I'd generally recommend.

 

Agree to disagree. These are sick. I'm debating if I wanna retro or drop the extra 600 for these bad boys. Also thinking about color changing to the new green when I get mine painted. Can't believe I've had it 10 years, and only have 93k on it. Keeping this thing forever.

 

I wonder what the chances are that they will come out with a version 2.0 of these addressing some of the issues mentioned here. I really like the look of these and how they modernize the entire front end. That said, I’m not sure I want to spend $800+ on headlights with non-replaceable bulbs and poor illumination of things like street signs.

 

Update on the DRL's. I wired them up so.they operate using the factory turn switch on the steering column.
I followed the schematic provided by @caribe makaira (thank you for the extra help too).
Easy, worked out perfect. Just remember they won't work if the parking brake is on...

 

That Parking Brake release is a doozy...

 

Another option:

1 lime green wire is fused IGN source.

 

Can anyone tell me why there isnt a Horizontal adjuster on these? or am I just blind...
It seams mine are pointing to the Left blinding on coming traffic more than ide like to.
I do need to adjust them down a hair also. thanks for any help

 

Could this be the issue:

"Like other Morimoto headlights there are some questionable design choices. Turn the aiming screw more than 3 times and your headlights are broken. OEM headlights don’t function like that. While most are unlikely to encounter the issue a simple mechanical stop on the adjuster would solve the potential problem."

Found the above in this thread:

The Morimoto XB Hybrid 12-15 LED headlight review | Tacoma World

 

What brand is your front winch bumper?

 

Hey its a Southern Style Off road bumper

 

Still loving these lights after a year of them on the truck.

 

Nice to hear a little something a year in.
Just got mine in last week. Looking to install this weekend. Digging the 5 year warranty. Hoping they last longer with no issues.
Truck looks great man. Nicely put together.

 

I keep coming back to this posy in hopes someone addresses the issues Crash has mentioned as far as quality and output improving... I was hoping for a 2.0 version so that i could finally upgrade my 10 year old fading headlights

 

You're just not going to get 10 years out of any aftermarket headlight. Sorry.

 

I dont expect to get 10 years out of anything manufactured these days.... But I could have replaced the original headlights long ago. Was always liking the style of the Pro headlights, but when these came out last year i was hopeful they would come back with an updated version. But it seems i need to stick with the Pro lights and just upgrade the harness and bulbs

 

As you have already concluded, OEM is far better than aftermarket. OEM with the Ultimate Headlight Upgrade is even better. Trust me on that one!

 

But i like flashy LED's

 

I fully understand. I have some on my 4Runner in addition to the OEM LED headlights too. (Fog lights, turn signals, overhead warning lights.) But in headlight applications in particular, OEM - even OEM LED - is better than aftermarket.