Double Dingo's 1991 Jeep Cherokee

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

DoubleDingo

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Posts
11,322
Reaction score
17,363
Location
Right where I am
First Name
Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350
Have a pot of boiled water to soften the hose. It's very difficult to get on otherwise. You can use a heat gun but hot water works best I think
Thank you. And using that method I won't have to remove the entire line.
 

DoubleDingo

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Posts
11,322
Reaction score
17,363
Location
Right where I am
First Name
Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350
I decided to swap in the Hellas I bought a while back. The 20 year old Sylvania sealed beams worked just fine, I just wanted to have improved visibility at night. I don't have an after photo yet, but I did need to make a store run at dusk and it got dark enough to use the headlights. A huge improvement! I do need to readjust, I thought I had it set, but it was still daylight when I adjusted them against the block wall next door. They're aimed good, just need to be adjusted down some. Now, when people have their high beams on, I can turn on mine to get them to switch to low beams. Did it twice last night and it was 5 minutes of driving with them at that point.

One thing I didn't expect, and this is the first time it's happened on one of my vehicles, and again, the sealed beams worked great with the headlight relay harness, but they both separated.

You must be registered for see images attach
 
Last edited:

SirRobyn0

Full Access Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2019
Posts
6,755
Reaction score
11,406
Location
In the woods in Western Washington
First Name
Rob
Truck Year
1984
Truck Model
C20
Engine Size
305
That's interesting on the separation. If your anything like me where you night vision isn't as good as it once was those Hellas will spoil you and the lights on your other vehicles will seem subpar.
 

bucket

Super Moderator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Aug 3, 2010
Posts
30,591
Reaction score
28,784
Location
Usually not in Ohio
First Name
Andy
Truck Year
'77, '78, '79, '84, '88
Truck Model
K5 thru K30
Engine Size
350-454
I've had a few headlights do that when I remove them. I have no idea why, but I find it very interesting when it happens and I'll tend to hang on to one of them for a while. If left visible in the garage somewhere, it works as a conversation piece, lol.
 

DoubleDingo

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Posts
11,322
Reaction score
17,363
Location
Right where I am
First Name
Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350
That's interesting on the separation. If your anything like me where you night vision isn't as good as it once was those Hellas will spoil you and the lights on your other vehicles will seem subpar.
It was nice for the first 5 minutes. Will get to try them out tonight after work and then do the readjustment before going home.
 

DoubleDingo

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Posts
11,322
Reaction score
17,363
Location
Right where I am
First Name
Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350
I've had a few headlights do that when I remove them. I have no idea why, but I find it very interesting when it happens and I'll tend to hang on to one of them for a while. If left visible in the garage somewhere, it works as a conversation piece, lol.
I tossed them, was going to keep them for the fun of it. I did keep the old Wagner that I had as a spare, though.
 

DoubleDingo

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Posts
11,322
Reaction score
17,363
Location
Right where I am
First Name
Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350
Finally got around to installing the headlight relay kit from Jeep Cables. Not completely plug and play, had to extend the grounds for each light, but what a difference.

Low Beam
You must be registered for see images attach



High Beam
You must be registered for see images attach


These are the old sealed beams, not the Hellas. And the front end wasn't buttoned up, so they are pointing down.

I didn't install the hellas because I didn't want to go down the rabbit hole of them not working properly, or needing an adapter. I don't think they need an adapter, but I had a bunch of electrical connections to clean and put some ox gard on.

Been fighting electrical demons on this thing. Still not right, but at least got speedometer working again. That actually turned out to be a faulty vss. Seems you can't get one that'll last more than 3 weeks to 3 months anymore. Tired of changing them out or fiddling with electrical only to find out it was another bad vss. I have accurate speedometer for the time being and the transmission is happy again, too.
Quoting this post to show the difference between the sealed beams and Hellas.

Low Beams......
You must be registered for see images attach


High Beams...
You must be registered for see images attach


It is much better driving at night now.
 

SirRobyn0

Full Access Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2019
Posts
6,755
Reaction score
11,406
Location
In the woods in Western Washington
First Name
Rob
Truck Year
1984
Truck Model
C20
Engine Size
305
It's really quite the difference isn't it. Are you running the hella bulbs that came with the buckets, or Sylvanias?

As a little did you know question, the last vehicle to roll out of the factory with sealed beam headlights was the 2017 express van with the commercial package, but the other more common submodels came with the replaceable bulb type even many years prior. Just one of those funky oddities.
 

DoubleDingo

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Posts
11,322
Reaction score
17,363
Location
Right where I am
First Name
Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350
It's really quite the difference isn't it. Are you running the hella bulbs that came with the buckets, or Sylvanias?

As a little did you know question, the last vehicle to roll out of the factory with sealed beam headlights was the 2017 express van with the commercial package, but the other more common submodels came with the replaceable bulb type even many years prior. Just one of those funky oddities.
Running the bulbs that came with the buckets. No reason to swap them out until they fail.

That is some neat useless trivia on the sealed beams.
 

DoubleDingo

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Posts
11,322
Reaction score
17,363
Location
Right where I am
First Name
Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350
I really like sealed beams. Classically bright!
I actually liked the old sealed beams running on the headlight relays, they were bright enough for me if I was driving alone on a back road. But driving in traffic, and having tons of things to see in front and on the sides of the road, the extra illumination was needed. It is insane the increased amount of vehicles, bicyclists, pedestrians(homeless), etc that are out all day every day. When it gets dark, it is overwhelming
 

squaredeal91

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2023
Posts
2,584
Reaction score
4,697
Location
Cave junction Oregon
First Name
Greg bush
Truck Year
1991 SB
Truck Model
K30
Engine Size
5.9 Cummins 12 valve
But don't get me wrong. I'm mainly into glass headlights in general. On big yellow I have Hellas. But one side has a sealed beam till I can get a set of good bulbs. I want them bright. Not blue lol
 

DoubleDingo

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Posts
11,322
Reaction score
17,363
Location
Right where I am
First Name
Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350
But don't get me wrong. I'm mainly into glass headlights in general. On big yellow I have Hellas. But one side has a sealed beam till I can get a set of good bulbs. I want them bright. Not blue lol
Blue sucks! The Sylvania's I have as replacements are supposed to have a yellowish tint, these Hella bulbs are white.
 

HotWheelsBurban

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2023
Posts
2,487
Reaction score
5,926
Location
Houston, Texas
First Name
Carol
Truck Year
1990
Truck Model
R2500 Suburban
Engine Size
350
It's really quite the difference isn't it. Are you running the hella bulbs that came with the buckets, or Sylvanias?

As a little did you know question, the last vehicle to roll out of the factory with sealed beam headlights was the 2017 express van with the commercial package, but the other more common submodels came with the replaceable bulb type even many years prior. Just one of those funky oddities.
And the first vehicle in the US to have composite headlights, after everything had had sealed beams since the 1940s...was the '84 Lincoln Mark V, introduced in early 1983. I remember seeing them at the annual new car show in Houston.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
44,392
Posts
956,352
Members
36,684
Latest member
tfederle
Top