Old School Cool

Thanks Jim, I’ll look into that

Well, I’ve determined that both rear wheel bearings need to be replaced. They are rather noisy and I also noticed that the differential is chattering loudly. There’s also a very loud clunk and shudder when I put the truck in gear because of the slack in the rear end. I know the differential needs to be replaced and so do the bearings. There’s no since and ignoring it till it comes apart because then there will be a tow fee on top of a new rear end. I could just replace the differential but if I’m gonna get that far into it I’m gonna replace it all and just do it once. Not to mention the rear end probably has 300k to 400k miles on it. I’d have peace of mind just going ahead and doing it all at once.

There's no sense of reassurance like having a refurbished unit.
You don't need to spend Curry kind of $$$ to get there either.

You might ask around driveline places if they have just what you need, on the shelf.

A swap (with your core) is much more straight forward.
You probably want to check your U-bolts before taking the old one out and being stranded.

Exactly. I’d love to rebuild it myself but I’d always be wondering if I did it right.

I’m definitely not paying Currie prices. Are they tough and nice? Sure, but not necessary for me. I found a pretty good deal on a built third member from speedway motors. Comes with a lot of “upgrades” and premium parts at a very competitive price. Not that I necessarily need those upgrades but it’s the same price as a stock refurbished unit right now. There aren’t any driveline shops close to me unfortunately. I’d have to make a road trip out of it and borrow a buddy’s truck. I’ve been looking at third members for awhile and I’m pretty confident in this one. But we shall see.....

Setting up gear mesh is art and intuition.
If you're well versed you still need to know any little idiosyncrasies of the third member you're working on.

I was immensely fortunate to get a few lessons from Paul Campbell, as far as patterns and how much shim to use to change them, but I'm still not confident enough to want to do it myself.

I thought you would like the head light harness just by its self.
With it in place the new bulbs will also get full volts.
Cant wait to see the pictures when you get time to post them all.

Sorry cant help on the shaking but you have some good help from others.
Dave ----

Look what showed up today! Tonight I’ll finish up all of the testing. May not be able to make a big post on it tonight but I should be able to get all of the pictures.

Yippee!!!  Can't wait for the pictures and report.

And, by the way, another test you could do is to check the voltage at the headlights before & after the harness change.

While I’m waiting for it to get dark I’ll show y’all my new taillights I got and give a brief review.





These are “Coast to Coast International Body Parts” brand. I got them from Summit Racing. They are pretty affordable. They are also made in Taiwan. The overall appearance is pretty good and the overall value is pretty good. The only issue is that where they melted the two pieces of the housing together at the top there is a buildup of melted plastic. Not a big deal, you don’t see it when they’re installed but it does require you give it a little extra “persuasion” when putting them in. Or you could file the plastic down and they’d fit easy. Other than that they’re a nice piece. Good value and if they get busted it’s no big deal because they’re replaceable at an economic price. And best of all, they’re not cloudy and dull

That’s a good idea, Gary. I’ll do that too!

New taillights look good.  

I wonder how you'll like the pattern of the E-code lenses?

You're making progress Jacob!

Thanks Jim! And progress is good!

So I’ve got all the pictures taken and wow, what a difference. Going from those sealed beams to the E-codes is like putting on your glasses in the morning. So much better. More to come soon, all I have left is to measure voltage with the headlight relay harness installed!

Alright, here we go. Here’s how the testing went. I decided to retake all the pictures tonight and do it all at once to get an even playing field. This is the order of the test.

1) stock sealed beams through the decades old wiring harness

2) stock sealed beam with upgraded relay harness

3) Hella E-code/ECE H4 conversion headlights with upgraded relay harness and 60/55w bulbs

4) Hella E-code H4 conversion headlights with upgraded relay harness and 130/90w bulbs

I also measured voltage before and after the headlight harness at the headlights. I’ll go ahead and list the voltage before and after the harness.

With stock harness I measured-

13.06 volts- low beam driver side
12.76 volts- low beam passenger side

12.2 volts- high beam driver side
12 volts- high beam passenger side

With upgraded harness with relays

13.15 volts- low beam driver side
13.47 volts- low beam passenger side

13.2 volts- high beam passenger side
13 volts- high beam driver side

Notice how with the stock harness the voltage is lower on the passenger side. That’s because that headlight is the furthest away from the electrical source. The electricity has to travel from the battery into the passenger side of the cab, across the cab, to the headlight switch, out of the switch to the driver side headlight, and then furthest away to the passenger side.

Now look at the voltage with the upgraded harness. It’s lower on the driver side. Now the driver side headlight is the furthest from the electrical source because relays are next to the battery. The wiring reaches the passenger side headlight first. Passenger being closest, driver being furthest.

Just an observation I saw.

Okay, the good stuff. Are the lights any brighter? Yes. Much. Now the pictures are not the best but I think you will see a difference, especially in the beam pattern. I’m also open to taking more and different pictures to get a better representation of what the differences are. I’m not a photographer so bear with me. It’s also worth mentioning that if you see a slight difference in brightness in a picture it is exponentially brighter in real life. It’s hard to do it justice and I wish I had the equipment to put out some quality pictures.

The rise in the landscape is about 80 yards away and the trees behind are about 110 yards away. They are more visible in the high beam pictures.

I’m going to post the low beams first and then the high beams.

1) stock sealed beams through the decades old wiring harness



2) stock sealed beam with upgraded relay harness



3) Hella E-code/ECE H4 conversion headlights with upgraded relay harness and 60/55w bulbs



4) Hella E-code H4 conversion headlights with upgraded relay harness and 130/90w bulbs



There is a definite difference in the brightness between the stock harness and the upgraded harness. Much brighter.

The next biggest difference is the beam pattern of the E-codes vs the sealed beam. The E-codes have a much wider throw and a “wink” to the right to light up road signs. The E-codes are brighter on low beam as well.

As for the high wattage Hella bulbs, they are brighter than the standard 60/55w bulbs that come with the E-codes. But this is expected. 150% brighter like the box says? Maybe not, but still brighter.

Here are the pictures for the high beams.

1)stock sealed beams with stock harness



2) stock sealed beam with upgraded relay harness



3) Hella E-code/ECE H4 conversion headlights with upgraded relay harness and 60/55w bulbs



4) Hella E-code H4 conversion headlights with upgraded relay harness and 130/90w bulbs



Once again the upgraded harness is brighter on the high beams. But the light is not very focused, just brighter and a little more reach.

Now the E-codes are much more focused, brighter, and clearer. I can’t state that enough. More reach and more clarity.

The high wattage bulbs do make a difference in my opinion, but once again, maybe not 150% brighter but brighter.

Final Thoughts

At the very least, unless you never use your headlights, get the “upgraded” or “heavy duty” harness. It’s $40 or less, it’s worth it.

If you want to see even better go with the E-codes and the upgraded harness. It brings the headlights into this century. The light is so much clearer and focused. Very much like you would see in a high quality headlight in a new vehicle. If you drive a lot in the early morning or at night the E-codes are worth it. I really like the beam pattern with these headlights. I’ll try to get a better picture of it

If that’s not enough then get some high wattage bulbs that Hella has. It makes a difference and I like them.

I’m going to continue to try and get some better pictures for you guys so that y’all can really see the difference. Maybe some video too? Hopefully this is sufficient for the time being and I’m open to other suggestions about better testing and other things y’all would like to see. I come to this forum with a lot of questions and if I can help out any I want to return the favor

That is helpful and interesting.

How much were the bulbs?

I don’t drive at night or early morning much, of course winter changes that a bit. I am tired of being blinded and not seeing much though. I think I could drive with my high beams on all the time and nobody would notice.

Thanks for your comparison and review Jacob!
This will be a great reference for anybody contemplating these upgrades in the future.  

The only thing more that I might want to see is the stock vs E-code against a flat like the side of a building to better show the pattern.
I know what the difference is, but some may not understand how dramatic it is.

Of course, I have 1st gen plastic headlamps and couldn't do much more than the relays.
I think the overwattage bulbs would probably melt the sockets out of them.

Well done, Jacob!!!!  

While I can see differences between the pictures, I'm with you - the camera does NOT capture what we see with our eyes.  I proved that to myself in my Instrument Lighting & Paint Testing thread where the camera said the incandescent bulbs with the blue filters essentially weren't visible but they certainly were.

So, I'll rely on your statements, and the bit about the E-Codes bringing the lights into this century hit home with me.  I'll be going E-Code headlights before the trip this summer, even though I do not plan to drive in the dark.

And now for the voltage change.  You saw roughly a 10% change in supply voltage with the harness.  But that means MUCH more than 10% more light.  The Lamptech website has the chart below, which shows that 10% more voltage gives almost 40% more lumens, which is the measure of light output.

Well done!

Dane- Thanks! So the headlights themselves are about $95. The high wattage bulbs were about $7 but the headlights come with standard wattage bulbs. The upgraded harness was about $40. I sourced all of it from the SummitRacing.

Much like you I was tired of not being able to see clearly and if I had driven with my high beams on I doubt anyone would have even noticed.

Jim- I hope it does help some people! I’ll definitely take a picture of the beam pattern so people can see what the pattern actually looks like. As for the high wattage beams melting your plastics housings, I believe it. I stood up against the headlights and they will warm you up! Have you seen the Aussie headlight swaps for the bricknose trucks? It allows you to run the 7x5 headlights. Here’s a pic for you, I like them



Gary- Thank you! I really wish there was a way that I could relay how much brighter they are through the pictures, I’m gonna keep playing with the camera. I think you’ll be happy with the E-codes. They are so much better. As far as the voltage goes, it surprised me that it was such a small difference but the actual output was so much higher, but that makes sense now

I have seen the Aussie headlamps, but obviously they do me no good.

Heat (lack of) is a major reason I don't want to experiment with LED's.
My headlamps get iced over easy enough in snow and sleet.
I do spray some silicone on them, just like my shovel and snowthrower chute.
It helps!

Jacob84 wrote

Jim- I hope it does help some people! I’ll definitely take a picture of the beam pattern so people can see what the pattern actually looks like. As for the high wattage beams melting your plastics housings, I believe it. I stood up against the headlights and they will warm you up! Have you seen the Aussie headlight swaps for the bricknose trucks? It allows you to run the 7x5 headlights. Here’s a pic for you, I like them

https://cpaddict.com/bricknose-australian-headlight-conversion-kit/

Jacob, thanks for posting this up. My headlights were horrible up until I made the harness change. I also replaced the switch as well. Those two things alone really enhanced my headlight issues.

Thanks for posting the review well done
Dave ----