Improving headlight options.

[theangrychicken]

Hello!

I've been working my way through various gremlins/projects and slowly preparing for some bigger trips that I'd like to do within the next year or so. I've been working/exploring the West Coast USA and sorting things out with the truck. It's 1993, MB 917 AF.

I've really been wanting to improve the road lighting. I don't drive often at dark, but when needed, I'd like to do to it safely. My rig had several shorts in the headlights from harness connections to within the fuse box. I think I've finally got that sorted out and in doing so, noted my headlights have various broken parts that effect adjustability and how secure they are mounted. There is also a lot of corrosion on the mounting hardware.

I wanted to consider options out there and get some feedback from the group.

1. Swap out new/used OEM headlights and use modern LED bulbs.
2. Retrofit new/used headlights with HIDs (I had this done on another older 90s car I have and love the improvements.
3. I'm wondering if there are bolt on options that I could be considering to modernize/improve the lighting?

Any ideas on where I could potentially secure used headlight assemblies?

Thanks in advance!

 

[REF]

….and this is for what vehicle?
Besides any improvement/replacement of oem headlights, are you running any auxiliary lights?
Baja designs makes a great light, they have a driving combo and fog option lenses that are interchangeable, I’d consider doing a set of both to supplement headlights.


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[theangrychicken]

Sorry, I edited the post to include the year and model. There are auxiliary lights fitted currently. But the OEM units need to be replaced.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Sorry, I edited the post to include the year and model. There are auxiliary lights fitted currently. But the OEM units need to be replaced.

I have been working on this for a bit, trying not to spend an rather large sum of money getting better/safe lighting (if you follow the link below, 2,600 euros). I have tried higher intensity halogens, but I think they produced too much heat and burned out soon. Now I am onto LED bulbs. They have lasted and produce more light but the beam pattern is not great. The biggest hurdle is the mounting bracket in the bumper that allows adjustment. Any replacement would need this. A 3D printed headlight bucket (or an adapter) that allowed adjustment and using a more standard/modern headlight (like one from an older Jeep) would be great. Plenty of headlight options for those.

I just cut in some LED driving lights in the bumper, I put them in the spot that is molded to cutout for the factory Hella ones (our truck did not come with those). Have yet to try them at night as I just finished the wiring yesterday.

I would suggest signing up for the German LN2 forum, they really know these LN2's inside and out and have likely worked out most issues we will all come up with. They are also very patient with converting from English to German, I let my browser do the translation from German. Here is a thread about headlights, there is another in the thread with a link you can also follow.

LN2 Headlight Thread

 

[MogsAndDogs]

I ended up on LED bulbs as well. I found an H4 that fits in perfectly in the housing. Not sure if yours is the same as the Unimog U1300 of the same era.

Unfortunately though, LED bulbs are not legal in the US or Europe yet for headlights. I believe you can use them everywhere else.

Can you share a photo of your headlight?

 

[LRNAD90]

What is the headlight type, is just a standard round 7", or?

 

[Neil]

I put in 90000 lumen LED bulbs.

They go directly into the H4 fitting, takes 5 minutes to fit and very bright

Neil

 

[VerMonsterRV]

What is the headlight type, is just a standard round 7", or?

No, they are roughly 5"x8" rectangular.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

I put in 90000 lumen LED bulbs.

They go directly into the H4 fitting, takes 5 minutes to fit and very bright

Neil

Which bulbs did you get? I ended with some LED ones, which are way better than the original ones, but yours sound brighter.

 

[theangrychicken]

I put in 90000 lumen LED bulbs.

They go directly into the H4 fitting, takes 5 minutes to fit and very bright

Neil

My issue is the housing that holds the H4 bulbs are loose due to the hardware failing. So since I’m looking at repairing/replacing the housing, I wanted to look at other options as well.


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[theangrychicken]

Which bulbs did you get? I ended with some LED ones, which are way better than the original ones, but yours sound brighter.

The other issue besides getting a high quality bulb is clearance. You want to make sure you get a shallow option that so your dust covers clear. Or be prepared to cut them and add something like a grommet.


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[theangrychicken]

Can you share a photo of your headlight?

I'll try to take some pics tomorrow during daylight.
My headlights are from hella, I'm not sure if they are factory or a replacement for the factory lights (I'm the 3rd owner). My current set up accepts a standard h4 halogen bulb. I used to have an older VW van and replaced the factory bulbs with a similar hella set up that accepted a single light bulb vs the old school glass units. So I'm wondering if this was done as an upgrade in the past.

My primary issue now is that my left side housing is loose and I've found some bits and pieces of plastic inside. So I'm assuming some of the mounting hardware has become brittle and failed. I've not been able track down replacement parts for the bulb housing for months. A big reason why I was wondering if where "bolt in" options for modernized lighting. I've not been impressed with LEDs in the past. The color and brightness was good, but the first LEDS that came out did not have a great throw and compromised the amount of distance they illuminated when compared to halogens. But maybe they have improved over the years as they now come on some vehicles from the factory.

 

[theangrychicken]

Here are some pics of the front and from the back. I believe that cylinder assembly helps hold the housing in place and the switch on the panel helps adjust the beam angle (not working).

I’ve had to do some McGyvering to get a descent beam on the road. But I’d like to come up with a legit solution. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the headlight assembly is an universal part.


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[VerMonsterRV]

Here are some pics of the front and from the back. I believe that cylinder assembly helps hold the housing in place and the switch on the panel helps adjust the beam angle (not working).

I’ve had to do some McGyvering to get a descent beam on the road. But I’d like to come up with a legit solution. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the headlight assembly is an universal part.


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Our truck is a bit more basic, we do not have a beam adjustment (or maybe I just don't know how to use it). Our dash switch is only a 3 position switch. I am guessing the first picture is the mechanism that changes your headlight position. Ours are just adjusted for high/low beams and are fixed. If you don't mind losing the adjustability, here is and example of one on Ebay, https://www.ebay.com/itm/115268070081.

Another possibility is that the housings are the same between motorized adjustable and non. the difference being that a manual adjustment just goes in the same hole, something like this https://woxparts.com/en/car-parts/mercedes-benz/A0008260371. It's hard to find a good picture of it. Here is some on ebay.de .

 

[aknightinak]

Now that you've done all that work, did you up the wire gauge when you chased out the shorts? I didn't even get into replacing wires but used a plug and play harness from Painless that took up the driver-side socket and replaced both output sockets while upgrading the run to them with 10 ga wire. It made a notable difference in the brightness of the same bulb, even before I added a pair of the spendy Sylvanias.

Check out Daniel Stern Lighting if you haven't. He's been held in pretty high regard as long as I've been reading these forums and may be able to help put something together.