These headlights are for anyone who wants additional light output from their Jeep.
The factory sealed beam headlights leave a lot to be desired and there aren't a lot of
upgrades that are sealed beams.
So a lot of people like to go to this style design.
This is going to be a reflector housing with an H4 bulb inside of it that will plug directly
into your factory wiring harness.
So this light is very easy to install, and you're going to get a lot more light output
from it.
These headlights are available individually or as a pair.
Of course, with headlights, you are going to want two, but if you do break one on the
trail or on the road, and you just need to replace one, it is nice that KC offers these
individually so you can get a replacement.
Today we're going to talk through the installation of this headlight kit, which is a very simple
one-out-of-three-wrench installation.
There's going to be no wiring necessary to get these installed in your Jeep and the whole
process shouldn't take you more than an hour to complete.
But we'll talk more about the install in just a second.
Additionally, when it is time to change out that bulb, it's very simple to just change
the small H4 bulb in the back.
You have a lot of different H4 light bulb options and you can reuse this housing over
and over again.
This is going to be a less expensive upgrade than going to a LED projector housing.
However, you're still going to get a lot of light output and you have a lot of ability
to customize this setup by swapping in different types of bulbs.
Right off the bat, it's important to note that this is a DOT stamped light, so you can
run this on the road.
There are some lights out there that do not have that DOT stamp, that do throw light,
scatter it in a lot of different directions and are more of an off-road light.
This is a headlight that you can run on the street.
The lens on this light is completely clear so all of the optics, all of the reflection
is going to happen from the multi-surface reflectors that are in the actual housing
and not on the lens itself.
This is a Lexan lens.
It's a hardened polycarbonate lens, so it is going to resist breaking and scratching.
And this does come with a 55-watt/60-watt bulb.
So that's 55 watts on the low beam that puts out around 1100 lumens and 60 watts on the
high beam, putting out closer to 1600 lumens.
Now, with a reflector like this, your low beam is going to be dimmer than the high beam.
Of course, you're not going to be changing your beam pattern.
You're simply going to get more light when you flick the high beams on, but it is going
to be a similar beam pattern to your low beam.
These lights are sealed with a rubber boot on the backside that keeps moisture out of
the headlight housing itself.
These do have a small KC logo on the inside of the reflector housing that is glow-in-the-dark,
which some of you are going to like, some of you aren't going to like it.
It's just sort of one of those things that they add in here.
It sets KC a little bit apart from some of the other brands.
But one of the nice things about this setup and most of the other headlights that are
built specifically for the TJ is that they will go right in place of those factory sealed
beam lights, and they will plug directly into your factory harness, making the install very
simple.
As I said, this is a very simple one-out-of-three-wrench installation.
It's going to take you less than an hour with your traditional hand tools because there
is no wiring involved in this install.
To get these bolted up, all you need to do is remove the headlight retention ring from
your Jeep, which is done by removing a couple of Torx head screws.
Once that retention ring is removed, you can simply disconnect it from the wiring harness,
plug in your new headlight and set it into the headlight bucket.
There are a couple of different indexing points so that you'll have to turn the headlight
to get it to click into place.
Again, very simple process, and then you just replace that headlight retention ring with
all of the factory screws.
Now, anytime you're changing your headlight, I always recommend that you aim the light.
And there are a couple of different guides on the internet on how to do that.
Your TJ does give you both vertical and horizontal adjustment of each one of the headlights.
One way of doing this is just to park the Jeep a distance away from the wall, mark where
the beam is on the wall with some tape, change out your headlights, and then adjust the new
ones so that they hit in the same spot.
If you've changed your ride height or you've added weight to the front or the back of your
Jeep, and you want to do a full aiming, not just match what you currently have, but make
sure that you're getting the optimal outputting pattern from your new lights, you can certainly
do that.
Start from scratch with one of those online guides that I mentioned.
Again, no wiring, very easy plug and play install.
Anyone can do this in under an hour.
These headlights are going to come in at a little bit more expensive than just replacing
your sealed beam headlight with an upgrade.
However, you are going to get a lot more light output and a better beam pattern from this
than you're going to get from even the best sealed beam light that I've seen.
So, I definitely think that this is worth more money.
And for $55 for one and right around double that for the set that comes with both headlights,
I think that this is a really good deal.
You're going to be able to reuse these headlight buckets for a good long time.
Even after these bulbs burn out, you can simply replace them with your favorite H4 bulb.
And as I said before, I think you're getting a lot of light output for the price.
You can certainly go out there and buy a $1,000 pair of headlights, and are they going to
have more light output and a crisper beam pattern?
Yes.
But for what you pay for these, I think you're getting a lot of value.
So that's my review of the KC Hilites 7-inch H4 headlights, fitting all 1997-2006 TJs that
you can find right here at extremeterrain.com.