LED Headlight Upgrade

[McGrew 460]

I just installed an LED light bar in the freshly painted hood of my 71 Raider.  I have not tested the lights on the tractor, as I am going to give the paint another week to cure before I handle it anymore.  I tested the light bar on my truck battery, and nearly blinded myself...  It is amazing how much light you can get from 18 watts...  Let me know what you think.  Danny

 

 

[Tractor boy 239]

Pretty good. Hope you have a resto thread about that raider?

[McGrew 460]

Tractor boy,  I have done a thousand little things to this tractor, but did no documentation.  The only major thing (at least to me) was a rebuild of the 6 speed trans.  That was pretty well documented in one of the other sections of this forum.  Danny

[The Tuul Crib 7,338]

What was the light source? Where did you get it?

[71_Bronco 1,072]

I put in some of the replacement LED bulbs into the stock housing. Made it brighter, but I'm sure it's not nearly as bright as yours.

 

Would love to know the source for that light as well, if it works.

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,498]

Well done, neat and clean.

 

Glenn

[RandyLittrell 3,894]

Looks good!! I have thought about doing that too and you did a nice job making it look factory! 

 

 

 

 

 

Randy

[McGrew 460]

Thanks guys!  I will post some pics of the lights at night once I get the hood mounted.  The light bar came from Ebay, and cost less than $11 with free shipping.  The link is here:https://www.ebay.com/itm/7-LED-Lamp-Driving-For-Offroad-SUV-4WD-Car-Boat-Truck-18W-LED-Light-Work-Bar-/142569537141

 

The seller shipped it quickly, and I have no complaints.  You might be able to use the mounting brackets that come with it , but I chose to make my own.  Danny

[ZXT 2,401]

I'm not usually a fan of LED bars on anything, but you did a clean job of installing it. LED's don't really shine a fine beam of light, they just shine light all over. That's probably a good thing for a small tractor where you are more concerned with seeing right around you rather than far in the distance like you would with a car. 

 

Let us know how it turns out!

[McGrew 460]

ZXT,  I found your comment interesting, because I was concerned that the light may be too focused...  I don’t know squat about LED’s, only what I read on the ad for the light.  It was confusing, because in one ad they called it a flood light, and in another they called it a spot light...  There are several vendors for the same light on Ebay, and they use different ads.  I figured for $11, I could not go wrong.  I rarely use the tractor at night, and the only time I needed the lights were when I was putting it away after dark.  Something I considered is replacing the Lexan cover with a frosted one, or even using the original Wheel Horse cover to disperse the light.  Will see how it works when I get it together.  Right now, the wife has other plans...  Danny

[ohiofarmer 3,352]

Not saying that your light does this, but the one i tried was pretty much useless for mowing at night. I simply could not see the difference in height of cut or uncut areas. Maybe the technology is getting better and someone can chime in with advice on what i did wrong.

 

 Excellent install and very attractive.

[ZXT 2,401]

4 hours ago, McGrew said:

ZXT,  I found your comment interesting, because I was concerned that the light may be too focused...  I don’t know squat about LED’s, only what I read on the ad for the light.  It was confusing, because in one ad they called it a flood light, and in another they called it a spot light...  There are several vendors for the same light on Ebay, and they use different ads.  I figured for $11, I could not go wrong.  I rarely use the tractor at night, and the only time I needed the lights were when I was putting it away after dark.  Something I considered is replacing the Lexan cover with a frosted one, or even using the original Wheel Horse cover to disperse the light.  Will see how it works when I get it together.  Right now, the wife has other plans...  Danny

Yep, LED's are still in their infancy and are just now getting to where they're being used for headlights on cars (within about the last 2 years on some models). You have to have the correct housing setup and reflector in order for them to work good in that application - otherwise, you can't see squat and you blind everyone coming at you. 

 

Kids like to put cheap LED replacement bulbs in their "modified" 90s trucks. If you've ever met one on the road at night, you'd know it because you'd see spots for a while. The bulbs generally aren't DOT approved because of this.

 

Did you make the plate yourself? If the setup works out for you, I'm sure there are at least a few of us who might be interested in one!

[McGrew 460]

ZXT,  Yes I have seen those LED converted trucks, and rarely are the lights pointed in the right direction.  I made the bracket myself.  The hardest part was getting the curvature correct.  I did something stupid, but it worked for me...  I put the curvature in the aluminum plate with an arbor press and some spacer blocks.  What was stupid was the guys across the street have the rollers to do it right...  They were not there, so I did it the hard way.  But it worked, and it came out good with a little tweaking.  Getting the holes in the right location was a pain since the curvature threw off the linear dimensions.  Then the angle brackets had to be milled at an angle (4 degrees) to make them parallel.  I have more time in that bracket than I care to admit...  Danny

[71_Bronco 1,072]

I found these at TSC this weekend. Looks like they are small enough to pop in the headlight area. Little more pricey though, but that price was for a pair.

[ebinmaine 70,946]

Nice looking setup.

I saved the link for future reference.

[McGrew 460]

71 Bronco,  I saw those lights too at TSC.  I think I measured them and did not think they would fit in the original headlight opening.  Either that, or I was too cheap to spend 70 bucks!  Regardless, the additional light from those 30 watts would be nice. Fortunately for me, I only need enough light to keep from running into things after dark.  I hope the lights I installed will at least be as bright or brighter than the stock bulbs...  Danny

[jeff lary 173]

good looking job bet they will work well.

[McGrew 460]

OK Folks, I tested the new lights tonight, and am a happy camper!  The headlights are 18 watts, and only draw 585 milliamperes, but the light they emit is pretty amazing.  I also upgraded the rear lamp to LED, and as you can see, it lights up my truck pretty good.  The tractor was about 15 feet from the garage door in the pics. The headlight is pointing straight forward in the pics, and I have a good bit of adjustment up and down I may try at a later time.

[Sparky-(Admin) 22,242]

Nice!

  I would definitely call that a successful upgrade 

[McGrew 460]

Thank you Sparky!  I do not remember how bright the original headlights were, as it has been over 40 years since I have seen them work on this tractor.  But when I flipped the switch on for the first time last night, I was amazed how much light those 18 watts put out.  I have no intention of working at night, but don’t need to be running into things in the dark while putting the tractor away.  I believe the new lights took care of that problem!  Danny

[ZXT 2,401]

8 hours ago, McGrew said:

Thank you Sparky!  I do not remember how bright the original headlights were, as it has been over 40 years since I have seen them work on this tractor.  But when I flipped the switch on for the first time last night, I was amazed how much light those 18 watts put out.  I have no intention of working at night, but don’t need to be running into things in the dark while putting the tractor away.  I believe the new lights took care of that problem!  Danny

The originals weren't anywhere near that bright. Definitely a major improvement!

 

I like the light pattern that bar puts out. I just ordered one and will attempt to do the same thing as you! I don't have any fancy tools so the outcome won't be nearly as pretty, but if it works..

[McGrew 460]

ZXT,  good luck with the project.  Let me know if I can help.  I would rather spend time in the machine shop than sit at my computer anytime!   Everything  I did can be done by hand, the right tools just make the job faster and easier.   Danny