2020 Tacoma OEM LED Headlight Megathread

Also need to watch out for local sellers, seen plenty of replica ones that have the chrome bezel (sure sign of them being non-OEM).

 

How long does it take you to do the swap?

I have the lights from a 2023 Pro, and just received harness kit from Dave, have got to leave for work at 6 in the morning.

 

I would not swap unless you also have a time and plsce to check and adjust the aim. You need a wall in a level area you can back up 25' from, and some painters tape for non-permanent marking.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

 

First time installing them, about an hour.

Second time removing them, about 30 minutes because I knew exactly what needed to be done and how.

This thread/video by @19cement4xor was a huge help.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2020-oem-led-headlight-install.752568/

 

That's good to know. I had to take the kido to practice last night, today it has been raining.

My plan is to go to work early tomorrow morning, get it done at my shop before everybody else start to show up.

 

FWIW, I took an entire evening, 4-5h on mine. I enjoyed it, dropped the entire bumper, checked stuff out, and wound up pinching something in the bumper crash support on re-install which made my bumper gap imperfect until my recent SSO install where I noticed and fixed that.

I wouldn't say it's a challenge to do in 1h but if you're a slow and curious DIY mechanic, you might want to not be under a time pressure of less than 3h. I doubt anyone other than me would burn 4h on it. I suspect 2h start to finish with cleanup and aiming is good for the median.

I didn't aim mine until months later though for best results you want to do that. I have to do all 3 of my trucks again and it's been years.

I also just hauled horses with a Ram 5500 with only one low beam (super faint, aftermarket housing, garbage bulb for sure) and 9011 3-4 year old high beams which I think are pretty toast. That was an all night effort, my bro in law doesn't keep up with the bulb swaps as it's a royal PIA on that vehicle, have to take the enclosure out. So, I highly value good lighting but I realize many can get along with absolute crap on most highways/freeways, it's just more stressful.

 

Trick or Treat was rained out, so I decide to work on it. All done in an hour and half and I wasn't rushing. I didn't take the bumper off. The biggest issue for me was the passenger side bumper corner wouldn't release. I came back inside and watched few videos, one of them said just yank it. It was all it took.

If I were going to do it again, I would wear my welding sleeves. Lots of scratches on my arms.

 

Huge differences between these and the factory halogens.

 

Hopefully this is a semi appropriate place to ask this question, ya'll seem well versed in lights here. My 2023 OR tail light went out and I'm debating on switching to LED (I'd get Diode Dynamics) or just replacing with a normal bulb, if I just replace with a bulb, what do ya'll recommend? The brighter the better. I will replace them all so they match.

Thanks!!

 

@BLtheP has opinions and sticks with stock halogen.

@Puppypunter likes led (VLED)

im running VLED taco tails w triton reds and a VLED old school switchback reverse / turn for now.

 

I liked both LED and incandescent, but I really felt like when the sun is on them, the incandescent shine through the lenses better. So that’s why I stuck with them.

At night I liked the LED better. Just during the day I felt like they were less noticeable. The speed of LED vs incandescent didn’t bother me so I stuck with the trusty incandescents. I sure spent plenty on the LEDs, pained me to put them back in the bag.

I definitely would not go with diode dynamics bulbs, those are some of the worst I’ve seen.

 

What brand of incandescent bulbs do you like? Been over 10years since I bought non-led's for anything. If I remember correctly when I had my 1st Gen I bought Sylvania for it, but that was 10 years ago.

 

Any of them are fine. I’m pretty sure I bought a Wagner 10 pack of 7444s.

 

I'm planning on making the same upgrade (I have the exact same truck). Where did you end up getting them for the best price?

Also, did you have to do any re-wiring or did you buy a conversion harness of some kind?

I'm pretty handy and have enough tools for re-wiring, just want to know what I'm getting myself into.

 

DIY info:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/trd-oem-led-conversion-harness-diy-info.700623/

 

Larry H Miller in Lemon Grove, CA or Norm Reeves Toyota in San Diego, CA usually have decent deals. Toyota usually has a Black Friday sale...

https://autoparts.toyota.com/

edit: Buy the harness from Dave. He's got links in his post above.

 

Gotta at least encourage one guy to DIY once in a while.

I kinda halfway modded my own truck, 4 way sealed 090II connectors for high and low beam + and - feed a custom conversion harness. That way I could go back to halogen if I really wanted to with a small adapter. But I just can’t see ever doing that.

 

My halogens are sitting on boxes taking up space in the garage. I'm about to send them to the dump.

 

I don't know why, but I keep mine in a closet full of old removed truck parts so that if I ever sell the truck, I can put them back on and sell the LEDs separate...