Extra driving lights.

[wobbly]

I find the headlights on the Prado not bright enough, so am intending to add some extra lights at the front.

The issue isnt the brightness per se - I intend to use 55w lamps - I think its because the truck has not only the Ironman lift, taller tyres, but also a bodylift - the overall effect is to raise the headlights which is dispersing the light.

A few questions.....

Is there a simple way of dipping the headlights slightly?

Any recomendations for driving lamps at a reasonable cost - KC would be great but maybe a tad pricey.

Also - I've seen some brackets being made by a forum member, but cant find the thread, can anyone help?

I intend to fit the lamps on top of the bumper as normal, and I want to add a lamp to the rear as well to illuminate the back, hopefully add a camera as well as I find the visibility somewhat awkward, there are some small cars I cannot actually see if they pull up immediately to the rear!

Pete

 

[chadr]

I find the light output more than adequate but then I do not have a SL and/or BL yet

However, can you not simply "lower" the lights via the switch you know - the thumbwheel on the right hand lower dash panel?

EDIT : Some of the "Nightbreakers" or similar higher output bulbs (still 55w IIRC) may also help?

 

[sae70]

However can you not simply "lower" the lights via the switch you know the thumbwheel one near on the right hand lower dash panel?

My first thought as well

Actually I lie it wasn't my first thought My first thought was 'this man needs a set of Philips Vision Plus head lamp bulbs' http://www.lighting.philips.com/in_en/c ... ng&lang=en I've been running a set of these for years now and always go back to them as anything else I've tried just is not a patch on them really Maybe with a set of these and just adjusting the angle of your head lights reflector down will solve your lighting woes

The other thing that I've done is fit a pair of Ring 55watt Micro Cruise lights http://www.ringautomotive.co.uk/product ... ?prod=1067 on top of the ends of the front of my chassis rails, just to illuminate the first 3 to 20 feet in front of my truck while I'm driving off road as there is a darker patch in this area that the headlights don't spill very much light onto.

I've also fitted a pair of the same lights into my mirrors

.................and I want to add a lamp to the rear as well to illuminate the back...........

Now this is interesting as I've been pondering improving the light output from Fierys reversing light for some time now and at first was trying to track down a higher wattage direct replacement lamp for the existing near side only reversing light fitted into the body cluster as I would rather not have an additional work light fitted to the rear of the truck, but alas no joy I then came upon the idea of fitting a stop and tail lamp into the reversing light and joining the two filaments together giving 26watts in place of 21watts I then thought that it would also be a good idea to fit another one into the empty reversing light lens in light cluster on the drivers side thus giving me an additional 26watts of lighting while reversing 52watts in total Are you still with me

While I was searching for higher wattage direct replacement lamps I stumbled over the fact that Philips make a Vision Plus fast response stop & tail lamp that proposes to be 20% brighter for the same wattage 21/5w, so in my mind giving 31watts when both filaments are illuminated.

http://www.lighting.philips.com/in_en/c ... ng&lang=en

http://www.lighting.philips.com/in_en/c ... ng&lang=en

The only other component part that I required to carry out this modification was a couple of new lamp holders and this is where the story becomes a little dark as the one I bought would normally be found fitted to a LandRover

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PHILIPS-P21W- ... 2403wt_936

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bulb-Holder-F ... 2430wt_936

I've not yet had a chance to carry out this modification as yet but I'll let you know how it pans out when I have

 

[wobbly]

My truck doesnt have either the headlight adjuster button, or the cluster brightness, there are 4 blanked off holes there instead. I guess that there must be a manual adjustment screw at the lights, but I'm not going to fiddle with them.

Those ring lights look good, I will take a look at them.

Maybe the replacement bulbs as well.

I guess that the difflock switch that is also shown in the photo is for trucks fitted with a rear diff lock? Mine is a JDM Prado, so doesnt have that either....

Cheers

Pete

 

[sae70]

Ah....that's a shame Why not fit the Philips VP lamps then get along to your local MOT test station & ask them to adjust your lights & set them up using the beam pattern thing that they have and never seem to use

 

[wobbly]

Steven

I reckon I'm finding the same thing, its the area in front that appears dim, def made worse by the raise.

The chassis end has a hole on the vertical face - did you attach them to that, or to the flat horizontal top/bottom of the rail?

The prado appears to have the wiring for fog lights already in place, they werent put back on after the bodylift, so hopefully wont be too much in the way of wiring, got a mate with a Landy who can help, if he's not fixing his 90 again....

I use the prado for 4x4 response, and want as much light as possible, and christmas is on its way....

Pete

 

[Charlie]

I find the headlights on the Prado not bright enough, so am intending to add some extra lights at the front.

The issue isnt the brightness per se - I intend to use 55w lamps - I think its because the truck has not only the Ironman lift, taller tyres, but also a bodylift - the overall effect is to raise the headlights which is dispersing the light.

A few questions.....

Is there a simple way of dipping the headlights slightly?

Any recomendations for driving lamps at a reasonable cost - KC would be great but maybe a tad pricey.

Also - I've seen some brackets being made by a forum member, but cant find the thread, can anyone help?

I intend to fit the lamps on top of the bumper as normal, and I want to add a lamp to the rear as well to illuminate the back, hopefully add a camera as well as I find the visibility somewhat awkward, there are some small cars I cannot actually see if they pull up immediately to the rear!

Pete

240mm Lightforce, not cheap but good .

 

[wobbly]

Steven

Do you know which lamp type fits the Colorado/Prado ie H1,H7 etc.

Will take a look at the lightforce models, thanks.

Pete

 

[fridayman]

Steven

Do you know which lamp type fits the Colorado/Prado ie H1,H7 etc.

Will take a look at the lightforce models, thanks.

Pete

H4

 

[Chris]

Yep, you don't have a rear locker. But you do have a limited slip rear diff, which last time we checked it still had some life in it.

As far as lights are concerned, I would just park against a wall or garage door and use a cross head screwdriver to alter the angle of the lights. It really doesn't get much easier than that. It's a screw - how hard can that be? Count the turns and the direction, then do the same to the other side.

Chris

 

[sae70]

did you attach them to that, or to the flat horizontal top/bottom of the rail?

As its a bit tight in there I just welded the bracket for the Micro-Cruise light straight onto the top of the chassis rail Just a little tack at first to allow me to straighten it up and get happy with the position then Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz-Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-Bzz-Bz

Chris is bang on with regards to adjusting the head light unit angle yourself, even my headlights with the fancy lecy adjustment have the long screw for setting the angle correctly when the switch is in the '0' position It really is very easy and you can't go wrong if your not happy with the result so long as you counted how many turns you made and in what direction you can always go back to what you had

 

[wobbly]

Thanks, might take them down a bit and see if it helps, but now have two things for my xmas list...

I was wrong about the hole on the end of the chassis leg, it is in fact on a crossmember which runs across the inside of the grille, a few inches above the chassis leg. Should be easy enough to make up a small bracket.

The back end does need some thought, I may well go for a low level roof bar and add some amber strobes and white work lamps - bit concerned that if the rear door is open the lights are blocked to traffic approaching from that direction, or maybe a roofrack is the answer, plenty of mounting options then, for the lights, amber lights and radio aerials.

Pete

 

[wobbly]

Replaced the headlight bulbs with the Philips +60% bulbs, fantastic result - can now see whats in front of me!

Bulbs I took out were also 55w but had blue glass, new ones were clear.

Microcruise lights next!

Pete