The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks halogen headlights

is there diagrams ect, for installing halogen headlights in our trucks? i need it all,where to buy harnesses, ect

All you need to do is remove the old sealed beams & replace them with new Halegens. For best results you can put relay's in the circuits. If you have 4 high beams it is highly recommended to put a relay in at least the high beam circuit.

I switched to halogen sealed beams many years ago, but I run my lights all the time I’m driving and they burn out very quickly. So I went back to standard sealed beams on the low beam bulbs, and left the halogen bulbs on the high beams. I also installed a relay system which makes everything much brighter, and will be necessary if you want more powerful headlights. Here’s a thread showing how I did mine:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=387693&highlight=headlight+relay

And post number 3 on this thread shows the installation of projection headlights:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=373928&highlight=halogen+headlight

And post #11 on this thread shows the installation of HID lights:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=368149

And here’s another thread on relays and Hella E Code lamps:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=397695&highlight=halogen+headlight

anyone one know of a way to wire all 4 lights to dual-beam lights?

I'm sure it can be done but I don't know what the highway patrol would think of it.

id like to convert my 62 gmc to run all 4 headlights..and try to use the lamps from the chevy single light setup so i have low and high beam for all 4 not just 2..my thought is to take the light sockets out of a chevy from the same year and use those..not sure bout the harness though..

keilkravec - what would be the advantage? aren't all 4 of your lights on for high beam already? would all 4 lights be on low as well as high? how about the difference in bulb size between the 2 and 4 light systems?

Bill

from what i understand its only the outside 2 lights on low and the inside 2 are high beams, the bulb size is a good question though..in all honesty its more for functionality seeing as i live out in tenn. in the valley..backroads are the norm so it helps to have extra lighting. on that note i remember seeing safari lights that were factory option and mounted on top of the bumper anyone know anything about those?

you haven't looked at how they work? on the 58/9s one pair is low beam, all 4 are on for high, I'd expect the same for the 60's .... only way to get 'extra' is add extra, like separate driving lights, or switch to halogens, no need to reinvent the wheel

Bill

Harold,

JOlly's GMC page has a great simple to understand write up.

http://www.6066gmcguy.org/HeadLights.htm

I think he wants to put low/high beams in both spots. IIRC they won't fit properly unless you change the buckets to all low/high(outer) style. You would have all four on "low" then.
Any vehicle inspections in your area? Here you would be fine, you can drive anything that rolls, no inspections whatsoever...

Good thread.

64fleetside- thats pretty much exactly what i'm wanting to do since i'm out int he woods and wanting to keep the truck Mostly original, but need extra lighting and dont want to go through the trouble of drilling in safari lights when i dont have to. And no we dont have any kind of inspections here haha i ran my 93 dakota open header for about 3 months (not the best thing for my heads) and drove enxt to many a police cruiser with nothin out of the ordinary..gotta love livin in the country!

The regulations for Tennessee motor vehicle lighting regulations can be found here, under Title 55 Motor and other vehicles, Chapter 9 Equipment – Lighting Regulations.

http://www.michie.com/tennessee/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-h.htm&cp=tncode

I don’t find anything in the code making all four headlamps operating on low beams illegal, but it might be an invitation to get pulled over by a cop who thinks you’re running high beams, or that thinks you have your high beams on and they’re too dim, and you would no doubt be flashed by other motorists that just count the number of illuminated headlights.

The technical problem in accomplishing this is that 4 headlight systems don’t work like two headlight systems. In a two headlight system each bulb contains a low and high beam filament. When the low beam filament is on, the high beam filament is off. When the high beam filament is on, the low beam goes out.

In a four headlight system, the high beam lamps produce all of the high beam light output (35,000 candlepower in a non-halogen bulb).

http://www.napaonline.com/Search/Detail.aspx?A=LMA5001_0278278328&An=599001+101960+50030+2030093

It is true the low beam bulbs have two filaments, but the brighter filament is what produces the low beam output (11,000 candlepower in a non-halogen bulb). The low beam lamps do not produce high beam output when switched to high beams.

http://www.napaonline.com/Search/Detail.aspx?A=LMA4000_0278280245&An=599001+101960+50030+2030093

On a four headlight system, when the high beam circuit is switched on, the brighter filament in the low beam lamps goes out just like in a two headlamp system. But rather than have the low beam lamps go dark, a dimmer filament is illuminated and acts like a marker light. This is why “headlight brighteners” work. When the high beams are switched on, these devices keep the low beams at full power, providing both distance and close up lighting on both 2 and 4 headlight systems.

http://www.ronfrancis.com/prodinfo.asp?number=BJ-2

Replacing the high beam headlights in a four lamp system with two more dual filament low beam lamps, will give you four low beam lamps. There will no longer be high beam light output available. When the high beam circuit is switched on, all four bulbs will switch to the dim filaments providing four nicely glowing marker lights.

so in short its hardly possible without major re-wiring and fabrication?

The short answer is it isn't practical. Sorry, it sounds like an intriguing idea, but the technology doesn't work right.

Wiring would be very simple. The low beam headlights already have a low and high beam circuit. All that would be needed is the addition of two more wires running from the high beam circuit from the low beam lamps to the new dual filament high beam lamps.

But the only way I know of to get true low/high beam headlamps would be to switch all four bulbs to 7" lamps designed for a two headlamp vehicle. That would probably look pretty goofy, and would require fabrication of new mounts for the larger bulbs and modification to the grille.

that was my thought for using something like the chevy lamps to achieve that effect and i knew wiring wouldnt be that much trouble..my only trouble spot is finding t-3 lamps that work like that in the size i need.

Something you might consider instead of rewiring the lights would be to use some of the nower style hi outmup lighting, like the Silverstars from Silvania or possibly an hid style bulb. I'm running Slverstars in both of my trucks (single lamps) and also run in wooded areas similar to what you have. I almost never need to use the high beams.