2004 kj upgraded headlight wiring harness

has anyone ever made an upgraded harness or knows of anyone sells one had put one in my Cherokee XJ a couple years ago and made a big difference. Notice that the lights dim a lot we're not stepping on the gas so assuming that might help. Just wondering if not does anybody know of any good headlight upgrades.

Headlights should not dim when you are at idle. I'd have your battery and voltage regulator checked out.

Never had an issue

Just figured it may have helped the same way it did on the xj?

To venture a guess, it may not have been the wiring so much as the connections. When you re-did the harness it may have just tightened things down enough to fix your problem.

That is a common upgrade in the xj because of smaller gauge wire used in the factory harness

Definitely sounds like a bad battery connection, bad bulb earthing or bad alternator.
You need to put a voltmeter over the battery terminals and check that the alternator is charging at about 13.5 volts at idle.

At one stage I fitted much larger wattage bulbs up front my Export CRD 100/85 W compared to the standard 65/55 W H4 bulbs the Export models use. So I fitted 4 relays right at each front bulb..two for main beam and two for low beam. Then I fitted thick wire
direct from the battery positive via inline fuses through the relays to the bulbs and added thick grounds to the bulbs from nearby chassis points.

So the normal controls for the high/low beams would energize the relays which would switch the extra drawn amperage to the bulbs.

These 100/85 W H4 bulbs became increasingly difficult to get...I think they probably became illegal here...so I removed all the relays and returned everything back to standard but used better quality Hella Nightbreaker 65/55 W bulbs!

But I am sure that you only need to track down what is happening to your charge voltage...if the alternator is not charging properly then relays will make no difference!

Yea the XJ's are really bad about losing voltage with age.

I've always thought the headlights in our KJ were excellent. If yours are dim, I'd take a voltmeter and track down the voltage drop.

belvedere said:

I've always thought the headlights in our KJ were excellent. If yours are dim, I'd take a voltmeter and track down the voltage drop.

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I was stopped at a traffic light on the way home from the gym just now and was next to some ricer boy with an extra set of running lights bolted to his grill. I swear that the road was more well lit in my lane than in his. I don't even know what bulbs are in mine. I've had it for twenty months and haven't had to replace them yet.

I'll second that sentiment.

It got dark on my ride home after buying my KJ, and I was fully expecting to get mediocre light output when I turned them on. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my '05 KJs headlights were much better than my '12 Colorado's head lights. Much more throw and width to the beam.

Doesn't mean I can't dream about retrofitting some projectors in there, though. :gr_grin:

Too many ideas, too little money. :shrug:

cbpf9 said:

has anyone ever made an upgraded harness or knows of anyone sells one had put one in my Cherokee XJ a couple years ago and made a big difference. Notice that the lights dim a lot we're not stepping on the gas so assuming that might help. Just wondering if not does anybody know of any good headlight upgrades.

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Something maybe you could try is to disconnect the bulbs on the headlights and spray the connectors down with WD40, both ends. Clean them out as much as you can, maybe some water has gotten in there and corroded the contacts a bit? I'd also double check the battery connections to make sure they are nice and tight. Try wiggling them a bit on the posts, then tighten them down nice and good. Hitting the posts and connectors with a wire brush wouldn't hurt (remove the wires first!)

profdlp said:

I was stopped at a traffic light on the way home from the gym just now and was next to some ricer boy with an extra set of running lights bolted to his grill. I swear that the road was more well lit in my lane than in his. I don't even know what bulbs are in mine. I've had it for twenty months and haven't had to replace them yet.

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I have been impressed with them too, Do you know if or when they would have been replaced before you? Before winter I sanded and polished my headlights/Fog lights real good and applied the UV protectant and then replaced the bulbs with new OEM bulbs and made a huge difference, I have been contemplating going with the Putco LED conversion headlights but am waiting to see what else comes out, I hear a lot of people having snow and ice buildup and having to deal with that because the lack of heat from the LED's and I also would have to get my country code changed from Canada to USA and disable DRL's, I might just buy better aftermarket halogen bulbs when I find the right ones, Have not have luck with aftermarket brands like GE Nighthawks, Sylvania Silverstars, Eurolite and multiple others, I am thinking Hella but we will see.

CalcityRenegade said:

I have been impressed with them too, Do you know if or when they would have been replaced before you? Before winter I sanded and polished my headlights/Fog lights real good and applied the UV protectant and then replaced the bulbs with new OEM bulbs and made a huge difference, I have been contemplating going with the Putco LED conversion headlights but am waiting to see what else comes out, I hear a lot of people having snow and ice buildup and having to deal with that because the lack of heat from the LED's and I also would have to get my country code changed from Canada to USA and disable DRL's, I might just buy better aftermarket halogen bulbs when I find the right ones, Have not have luck with aftermarket brands like GE Nighthawks, Sylvania Silverstars, Eurolite and multiple others, I am thinking Hella but we will see.

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I do have to recommend Phillips extreme vision or something like they. Pretty kick@ss bulbs

CzarKJ said:

I do have to recommend Phillips extreme vision or something like they. Pretty kick@ss bulbs

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I hope you are right - I just ordered a pair of them. After posting last night I thought about the fact that I have been methodically replacing fluids, etc, yet had no idea what bulbs I even had in there. Time to freshen things up.

Been running the Phillips for about 4-5 years now I think
Better than any other bulb I tried plus last a long time, still running the originals I bought back then

I might have to give the Phillips bulbs a try!

The reviews on Amazon look solid, What's the color like? Do they make 9145/H10's? I couldn't seem to find any.

Regular yellowish with a white middle.

CalcityRenegade said:

Putco LED conversion headlights

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How do those work? I was under the impression they hadn't quite gotten there in terms of brightness, compared to regular bulbs. At least in non-optimized housings..