1st Gen Aftermarket Headlights Experiences Requested

Yeah I know. The reason I put them in is to get back at some of those new lights in cars that are more bright than ever need be and as you said with a dimmer headlight you can't see with the new light glaring at you. Before I installed I marked on my garage door with the truck about 1 foot away and used the line of the old lights as a reference. I put tape up and left it there after the install and lined it up. That turned out to be a bit too high as I got flashes everywhere and I noticed my light line was in the rear view mirror of cars at a stoplight. I then lowered them down under the side mirrors of cars in front of me. Still plenty bright for me and no more flashes. That was about three inches lower than my tape line I initially put up at about 15' away. I think I used a stubby 1/4" driver and a 4.5mm socket to fit the hex bolt on the light adjust without having to remove anything for access.

Your halos look cool, I kinda wanted that type but chose the basic OEM edition https://teqcustoms.com/collections/.../products/oem-edition-headlights-01-04-tacoma. Notice they don't show the OEM with the halo lit up but it is there, I got the front and back halo. Marketing right. $530 for a pair is not bad. I wanted my truck to blend in plain sight. Wow, I had to wait 8 weeks you can get these with no wait time right now. They have expanded into Lexus...why?

There use to be an all matte Black lifted 1gen Taco down the road from me with roll bar, winch, and cage net from the roll bar to the rear. Had expanders and big knobby 34inch tires. The tailgate said, "Jeep Recovery Vehicle" I always loved that truck.

 

I like the Hex halo, I don't think they had that when I ordered mine. Its a nice look for your Taco. Can you tell me where to get your rims or the brand and dimensions? I have a white truck I think the matte black 5 spoke would look good. 6x5.5 bolt pattern I assume or 6x139.7 what size 17" looks like you have a lift. Mine came with the mountain lift pkg I think it can handle the 17" I'll double check with my tire guy.

 

They 16" wheels off a 3rd Gen 4Runner I bought from a friend.

 

I just polished my oem housings and installed the harness for the Ultimate Headlight upgrade yesterday. Hands down the best nighttime visibility I’ve had in a vehicle. I’m glad I went this route instead of trying to find a retrofit or decent quality LED/housing.

 

Can someone summarize the purpose of the wiring harness?

 

It allows you to run a higher wattage bulb in a way that 1, runs the power directly from the battery and 2, doesn’t draw that power through a harness that isn’t designed for that much electricity.

if you tried to run a 85-100 watt bulb on the oem harness you wouldn’t see the benefits of it as the harness would create too much resistance, and the harness would likely overheat as all that energy is getting turned to heat in the wires.

 

Thank you for the explanation this makes way more sense.

 

Thanks for posting. They advertise this as plug and play on their website, however, their instructions show additional wiring is required. I'll check them out.

 

There is some wiring involved for the halos to flash with the turn signal you will need to do a three way splice there from your flasher wiring just under the front bumper. If you watch the Timmy the Toolman's TEQ install you will understand, TEQ also has an instructional video, and I believe there are a set of instructions that have options depending if want flasher or just running lights to light up the halo. Depends on the halo option: RGB or just orange for flash and/or running light.

I was able to install in a couple hours, I was careful, used solder and shrink wrapped everything. But I get that it can be confusing. TEQ could do a better job explaining the install procedure in the video. I have an electronics DIY soldering background.

 

On their website they advertise it as "plug and play" which it isn't. I messaged them and they insist simply by plugging in the wiring harness, they consider it "plug and play" lol.

 

Boy I'm sure glad somebody else has this problem. I don't see how or why the DOT bozos changed the law to make those super bright lights legal.

 

You are right it is not completely plug and play. The halos need a power source. They should make a three way split for you so the wiring can simply be connected together without the need for a splice. e.g. disconnect the flasher put in a connector to the flasher 1 that will accept the original 2 and then the connector to the halo 3. It is likely hard to find a manufacturer of those old connectors on the first gen. These days you could design your own with a 3D printer but still need the male and female blades for each side. You are right, not plug and play.

 

Yeah I've been yappin' and grumbling about that crap for a decade. I finally had enough and put in a solution. Some of those new lights non-Toyota on the cars and trucks are already burning out from lack of good engineering and you are forced to buy from the dealer for thousands to replace. Especially the ones that have the fancy running lights that hug the line of the front and back corners of the vehicle. Its just another scam to get more money from you. Built in obsolescence!!!

 

1999 xtracab 4x4 and I got these from TopGear autosport. They are a complete replacement for factory assembly.
Toyota Tacoma 1997-2000 Clear Dual Halo Projector Headlights with LED | A103KFNA101 - TopGearAutosport
Not the most expensive but so far they've been great, no issues, after first year one of the bulbs died had to replace, been working for 3-4 years now with no issues. Nice and bright, and I love the low level LED's that add to the driving lights experience, great for sunset driving.
Fit: a bit tight. The site lists them now as "not for 4x4" so YMMV, but I got them in fine. They protrude just a bit out from the rest of the grille and side markers, but not so you can really see it unless you look close. looks factory in fit, though it is a bit tight against the sides of the grill. Not rubbing, just in close. For my brothers out there with OCD, I do have the lower trim piece, got a new one sitting on the desk waiting for the right day to screw it in.

 

These are reasonably priced unlike some others I've seen that require a lot of wiring harness installation. Too bad these won't fit my 2001. They look good on your truck.

 

I've experimented with LED headlights. While I was very happy with them and after reading about 1) they [aftermarket] LEDs are not legal in California if they are not offered by the dealership and 2) they only lasted 10months and 3) if not aimed properly, can be blinding to oncoming traffic.

I bought aftermarket headlight assemblies and installed the brightest halogen made and they are still yellow and dull.

What are my options for plug and play halogens???

 

Search ultimate headlight upgrade. It’s a wiring harness that provides more power and allows for the use of higher output halogen bulbs. Works great.

 

TYC headlights from Amazon suck. TYC from Rock Auto are the real deal

The TYC headlights I ordered off Amazon for my 2000 taco were total junk. I ordered TYC from Rock Auto for my 97 4runner and they were completely different. Great quality, I'd say extremely close to OEM. With those I did the ultimate upgrade with harness from Headlight Services, and Osram 90/100 bulbs. Fantastic brightness, perfect cutoff, very happy. It's been probably 2.5 years and original bulbs still going...

 

i've gratefully had the opposite experience with TEQ - i have them in my 98 4runner and just purchased a set for my 03 taco. internet reviews do seem to be hit or miss though

 

TEQ Customs are awesome IMO. The fitment is perfect, you have options for the halo connection. Do you want it to light up on the running lights or the flash circuits? Then you have the RGB control or plain yellow halo color option and the halo mount shape options.