Headlights

[RBBailey]

One of my headlights burned out, and when I took a look at replacing the bulb, I realized that the lamps are the old school sealed type.

So I need to switch to the 7” lamps with H4 bulbs. Questions:

Can I replace the lamps by going in from the front, or do I need to take the wings off?

Will I need to update the wiring connection? Is there a harness built that makes quick work of converting?

 

[rocky]

You got me thinking that this would be a great moment to add a relay to the HL circuit, if you don't have one already

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Trim comes off...three small screws for the metal retaining ring...that comes off with a twist & leaves the two aimimg screws in place...and the sealed beam unit comes out. No need to remove anything else. Re-assembly is the reverse as they say.
Yes, if installing anything other than LED (lo-current) lamps, you should consider revising the circuits to use relays so the light switch only sees lo-current.

 

[RBBailey]

Yes. Plan is to use LED. Going to try just some bulbs first, then switch to full lamp kit if those are unacceptable.

But does the 1988 wiring harness fit H4 bulb plug? If not, what we my options?

 

[DefendersNW]

But does the 1988 wiring harness fit H4 bulb plug? If not, what we my options?

Yes

 

[Landy_Andy]

Before you buy LED H4’s make sure there will be enough space in the headlamp bucket for the cooling fins on the back of them, some are quite large. Also, bear in mind there won’t be any air movement so they may get quite hot. Just a thought...

 

[RBBailey]

I can’t imagine how there would not be enough room behind. I’ll document it so people know how well they work. Not sure when I’ll get to it though

 

[BarryO]

Trim comes off...three small screws for the metal retaining ring...that comes off with a twist & leaves the two aimimg screws in place...and the sealed beam unit comes out. No need to remove anything else. Re-assembly is the reverse as they say.

Things may have changed in different model years, but on mine (97 NAS), after you remove the marker and indicator lights and the bezel, you just remove one screw in the lower right side of the retaining ring, and then twist the ring clockwise and it comes out. Undo three screws to remove the retaining ring from the headlamp. Transfer the ring to the new lamp and do the reverse to re-install.

 

[Red90]

If buying H4 LED bulbs, do research first. There are vast differences. Some are decent. Most are horrible.

What housings are you going to use?

 

[RBBailey]

I'm pulling the stuff out tomorrow of the truck tomorrow. I have a set of Hella lamps that I'll use, and I ordered some of the cheap LED bulbs from Amazon. Seems that people actually like them, and I know for a fact that at least three Defender owners have them in place. My concern is the color temp, adjustable beam, and just that they won't bust with the jolts and bounces of the Rover. But I'll give them a try.

 

[Napalm00]

I run cheap wipac h4 housings they are 100x better than sealed beams . With standard Phillips bulbs

 

[blueboy]

[

I run cheap wipac h4 housings they are 100x better than sealed beams . With standard Phillips bulbs

Same on my RRC and agree much better than sealed beams.

 

[BarryO]

If buying H4 LED bulbs, do research first. There are vast differences. Some are decent. Most are horrible.

What housings are you going to use?

yep.

 

[Red90]

Is it not this forum where there is a 3000 page discussion on LED headlight bulbs?

 

[BarryO]

Is it not this forum where there is a 3000 page discussion on LED headlight bulbs?

Where?

Sometimes with 2 forums, it'd hard to keep track

 

[NPT90]

Is it not this forum where there is a 3000 page discussion on LED headlight bulbs?

Yep hahaha, we need to sticky this stuff for sure…

LED Headlight Thread

Covered basically all the available options and included some empirical analysis on the advantages and disadvantages of various setups, I summarized in this post

 

[RBBailey]

Yeah. I started this specifically about swapping headlights/lamps/wiring.

 

[NPT90]

Yeah. I started this specifically about swapping headlights/lamps/wiring.

That thread covers basically every available option (still relevant I believe) in terms of LED/LED Replacement/Halogen/Housings/Relays and compares all beam patterns and color patterns IIRC. Definitely worth the read before you take the leap for LED retrofit bulbs, the information is pretty informative.