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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Crummy headlights - Can't see, need upgrade
I really do want to get away from the factory housings. They are old and outdated, even if I replace them with new ones.
If I am going to replace the whole assembly I may as well put the money towards some better and more effective reflector design.
I have tried several different styles of bulbs, but the improvement was only marginal.
I have never checked the voltage though, as suggested here.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/20/21 08:43am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Tearing down an RV safely
What is the purpose of taking it apart?
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BobsYourUncle
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01/20/21 06:12am |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: Crummy headlights - Can't see, need upgrade
Bob...
Upgrade to a 2020.. the Ford's headlights were pure TURD.... I love the new LED's in the new trucks ! ! ! :B
Well, due to fiscal irresponsibility in my life and a divorce, a 2020 isn't in the radar for me yet!
I too love the new LEDs in the new trucks. Awesome!
My only option is to replace mine, the entire assembly, not just a bulb upgrade.
Good tips about the voltage at the bulbs. I am going to get in there with a meter and check. I can build a relay system and hard wire to the battery.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/20/21 06:09am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Crummy headlights - Can't see, need upgrade
I would be looking on Ebay
Some of those look nice too, thanks.
I wonder if they are made from the same plastic as the aftermarket assemblies. The one I have on mine is really clouded badly.
I guess it's hard to tell what they are made of.
My one OEM headlight is still nice and clear.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/19/21 09:16pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Crummy headlights - Can't see, need upgrade
First and foremost, measure the voltage AT THE BULB!
If your GM is as bad as Fords headlights one the the best upgrades you can do is bypass the OEM wiring with a relay kit.
OEM wiring is barely up to the task, often they will use 18 ga wire to the headlights and when you add up the wire length by the time the voltage reaches the headlights the bulb is only getting about 11V!
You can buy or built your own headlight relay kit, I have made my own using $2.00 30A Bosch relays and 10 ga wire (relay kit goes under hood near battery and you can get replacement harness repair parts to make it plug and play setup.. Plug the input of the relays into one of the headlight connections and the outputs of the relays to your headlights.. connect relay kit to 12V power and ground and now you have full battery voltage.. Basically about 25% improvement in brightness.
I would recommend avoiding LED replacement bulbs in any OEM style or aftermarket housing, quality is spotty at best, some have fans that will eventually fail, some the drivers make a lot of Radio interference and worst of all, LEDs cannot fully simulate the position of the filament making getting a good pattern that doesn't blind on coming traffic difficult to impossible.
Not to mention typically those LED retrofits use LEDs in blueish color temps of 6,000K-6,500K which results in harsh shadows and depending on your eyesight may make your vision even more difficult.
Try building headlight relay kit first, if that doesn't work well, add on an aux driving lights or fog lights (that is what I did for my 97 Ford BEFORE I figured out the headlight bulbs were not getting full battery voltage), those lights were like using a candle)..
That's a great tip, thanks. I never thought about checking the voltage at the lights. I do recall looking at the size of the wiring once, thinking to myself it looked a little on the lame side.
I used to put relays, do the wiring and put aircraft landing lights on my old vehicles. Boy did those ever poke a hole into the night!
Illegal though, got busted a couple times so I stopped using them......
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BobsYourUncle
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01/19/21 09:12pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Crummy headlights - Can't see, need upgrade
Bob, I had great luck with an HID kit from The RetroFit Source. I disassembled the plastic headlight assemblies on my 2002 Grand Prix and converted them to HIDs, WOW what a difference.
You can see the projectors inside the OEM housing here:
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/y134/Burbman/20180912_125227_zpsbovvr6yb.jpg width=640
TRS sells a kit specifically for 07 GMs, and they also have plug-n-play Alpharex Pro lights.
All of these options are kinda pricey but well worth it IMO, especially if you tow at night.
Thanks for the links, Excellent site. I really like what they have to offer.
Unfortunately, mine is a 2007 Classic, different from the 2007-13..
I changed the application to reflect that and they don't have the headlights for mine. Darn!!! Lots of bulbs though, great selection.
Looks great on your Grand Prix!
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BobsYourUncle
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01/19/21 09:04pm |
Tech Issues
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Crummy headlights - Can't see, need upgrade
My old 2007 GMC has never had the best headlights.
Driving from Lethbridge to Calgary last night I was really cussing them.
Old original factory headlights and I cannot see worth a darn. They are so lame that I deem them unsafe.
I have tried different bulbs in them over the years but no real joy there either. One side is a repro unit from a major collision repair in 2012. It is so yellow and dull that I can see a huge difference in the 2.
Anyhow, enough of that....
I am looking for ideas on some decent aftermarket lighting, including the headlight housings themselves. I really like the lights on the newer vehicles, they look great.
I just want to see in safety without blinding oncoming traffic.
Back in the days of my youth we would just replace the sealed beams with Cibies, Bosch or Wipacs. Can't do that today.
Anyone done a complete upgrade kit to their headlights? I'd like to go with LED, so I don't have to put in heavy duty drivers and such. I don't know a lot about them.
I gotta fix this thing, it's terrible.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/19/21 08:15pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Tire went flat in the driveay. Damage?
A strap around the center of the tire with a ratcheting clamp will seat the bead without using air.
This does work, except you gotta put some air in it to hold the beads.
I have used a ratchet strap many times putting a tire back on a rim when just air won't seat the bead.
I have also tied a piece of rope around the tire, insert a tire iron, a flex bar or similar into the rope, making a twist, and then rotate it several times to tighten the rope around the tire. Then hit it with the air chuck.
Another trick is to take the valve core out so the air gets in there faster.
It works!
I used to do all my own tire work a lot of years ago.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/16/21 10:50pm |
Towing
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RE: Social distancing
If we had a "like"button, I would click on it.
Me too! :B
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BobsYourUncle
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01/16/21 05:05pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: replacing Brake Pads
14 1/2 years and 412,924K on the odometer and it's never been changed.
Kind of makes you wonder just how important it is to flush it.
Very important! Bobs a great guy, but I would not recommend not doing it if you are doing brakes. As long as the bleeders aren’t frozen it’s an extra 15 minute job.
I just flushed the fluid on my 12 Motor home. Has 40k on it.
An engine fails you stop moving, a trans fails you stop moving. Brakes fail you can’t stop moving fast enough!!!!!
A great guy? Shucks, thanks! :B
But Dodge Guy is right on with this one.
I am at fault for not flushing my brake fluid. It IS important! I know I should have done it years ago, but somehow never got the job done.
Some of it has been changed though with a few brake jobs and I think at least one set of calipers.
Gotta wonder what the inside of the master cylinder looks like....:h
Yeah, I really need to get that done. Temperature swings here from minus 30s to plus 30s C.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/15/21 12:05pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Apocalypse almost
I didn't pull my SIM, and mine started working again by itself.
I wonder if it was some kind of network thing. But then if it was, everyone should have experienced the same thing.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/15/21 08:21am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Apocalypse almost
free, what part of Canada are you in?
I had exactly the same problem yesterday. I am in Calgary with Telus.
I was in the middle of a call to BC and the call suddenly ended. I couldn't call back for a couple minutes, managed to get through again, finished the call and then got what you described.
Emergency Calls Only.
I rebooted the phone several times to no avail.
Then it would flip in and out of service, and I got a further message on the screen, with an alert tone every time, something about No data available or similar message. This went on and off at least a couple dozen times.
After a while it cleared up and went back to normal again.
Then a strange one, last night after dinner I noticed my battery was at 53%. Ok, normal. Phone was acting strange so I rebooted it again. When it started back up, the phone got hot and the battery plummeted to 2%. What the ??....
53 to 2% in less than 10 minutes.
By the time I made it to my charger, it hit zero and shut off.
Weird...
Mine is a Samsung S7 - Android. What's yours?
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BobsYourUncle
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01/15/21 07:24am |
Technology Corner
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RE: replacing Brake Pads
Flush the fluid too.
Good idea.
Suppose I should do mine one of these days. It's been a while...
A long while. Hmmmm. Never, actually.
14 1/2 years and 412,924K on the odometer and it's never been changed.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/15/21 07:08am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: replacing Brake Pads
I'd suggest looking at sintered pads.
They may cost a bit more but they are designed for a more aggressive braking, and withstand more heat.
Good for towing through the mountains and even for panic stops.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/14/21 07:49am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Using a Cellular Tablet?
I have a Samsung Tablet and always take it camping rather than lugging my laptop around.
It does not have cellular, but I just use my phone for a hotspot as others have mentioned.
If you get a tablet with cell, it is the same thing as having another phone line. You will have to pay monthly for it.
I weighed the options when I bought my Samsung Tab3. The extra monthly charge was a deterrent.
I have occasionally run over my data limit, but the additional cost of that is far less than a monthly fee for cell service in a tablet.
I am happy with my decision, it works very well. Hotspot is built in to most of todays smart phones. No need at all for any extra hardware.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/12/21 12:24pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Tire went flat in the driveay. Damage?
Not if you didn't move it while flat.
Jack it up, remove wheel and get it fixed.
You will be 100% ok
(Was it a 10 ply tire? Your sig.)
:B
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BobsYourUncle
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01/11/21 07:08am |
Towing
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RE: Chock RV on snow/ice. NEED HELP!!!
The last TT I had with a hitch wheel was my 63 Shasta 16'.
That same old Shasta did not have the tongue weight that today's units do. I could literally pick up the front of the trailer with one hand and use my other hand to push it around. I did it all the time.
When it was on the wheel, it was a breeze to position it, as long as the wheel was not on dirt or grass.
I never see any modern day TTs with a wheel. All of them have the jack only and go on blocks of some sort.
Today's TTs have a much heavier tongue weight and will crush a standard hitch wheel, unless you have one with extreme weight capacity. The challenge is that in order to steer it, the wheel is usually offset, putting the load on the side rather than directly above the wheel. They may make them, I've never seen one.
My Tango has something like 850 pounds tongue weight. Good luck putting a wheel under that and try moving it around. Not happening.
I had a converted landscape trailer that I built a mobile solarium showroom display with. I had a 3 point electric dolly to move it in and out of homeshow venues. It struggled, but worked good only on level concrete.
I once put a hitch wheel under it and tried moving it. The hitch wheel failed and collapsed. Tongue weight was maybe 250 - 300 pounds.
Running a hitch jack directly into ice will work well if done properly. When I chock my wheels, I always put my truck in neutral, take my foot off the brake pedal for a moment, and let the trailer load up against the chocks before disconnecting. There should be no issue with bending the jack if the chocks are done solidly prior to unhitching.
I personally would not want a wheel under my hitch. Manoever it into position and leave it there.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/10/21 11:32am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Chock RV on snow/ice. NEED HELP!!!
I've overnighted many times in snow and ice, but have always found level ground and left my TT hooked up.
Chocking on ice is not easy, as the risk of sliding is high.
I carry a truck full of hardware wherever I go so my inclination would be to get one of my many blocks of wood I carry, along with some 4 or 5 inch decking screws and screw blocks of 2X8 or 2X6 into the ground against the tires. Assuming you are not on pavement. A few screws through the blocks into the ground and it's not going anywhere. Do both sides. You could screw your chocks to the blocks if needed.
In addition to that, if it will reach, crank your hitch jack down without using a block. The pipe will dig into the ice and provide an anchor point.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/09/21 08:09am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Something I've not seen before.
And people want to use FB instead of a regular forum. Thanks, but no thanks.
Did you know that there is an upcoming merger of 3 of the social media platforms?
Yeah, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are all joining to become one.
They're going to call the new company YouTwitFace!
:B:B
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BobsYourUncle
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01/07/21 10:00pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Something I've not seen before.
I'm wondering how he managed to right the trailer. Picture shows no people, emergency vehicles or anything around it.
Logic would dictate that if a wrecker was there for the task that they would have towed it away.
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BobsYourUncle
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01/07/21 08:34am |
Fifth-Wheels
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