KARR Gets LED Headlights

Remember KARR's new taillight lenses? Well, the butyl tape I needed to install them finally arrived June 1st, but while waiting for it I decided I was not going to install the new taillights until I got KARR repainted. Oh, and KARR insisted he needed the new LED headlights he found while browsing Amazon...who knew?

The new headlights arrived on June 12th.  These are a direct replacement for the sealed beam headlights KARR has.

On Saturday, June 13th, we decided to clean and fix the tiled floor in the garage before installing the new headlights.

The floor tiles had separated over the winter and needed to be set back in place.

We pressure washed but did not shine and seal the floor.

We put KARR back in the garage and he immediately popped his headlights up, as if implying that we would forget to install his new ones. 🙄

The first step was to pop the hood.  I wanted to get a good look at the pop-up headlight mechanism.

Because I did not want the motors slamming the headlights down on my hands, I disconnected both motors.

I disconnected both headlights.

I removed the screws holding on the headlight surround.

I removed the headlight surround.  Unfortunately the driver's side surround was broken and the side mounting holes had become brittle and were bored out.  Sara began searching for and found a replacement on eBay.

With the surround off, I twisted and turned the headlight until it was free of the aiming screws.

The headlight is held into the housing with a chrome retaining ring.  Once these two parts are separated, the headlight is able to be removed.

With the headlight housing removed, you can see how it fits into the pop-up assembly.  You can also see the spring in the lower left corner that holds the bottom of the headlight housing in the pop-up assembly.  Removing this spring was the hardest part of the install.

The LED headlight comes with an adapter that makes it a direct fit to the electrical connection on the headlight harness.

The chrome retaining ring had rusted but otherwise was in good shape.

I used Eagle One Never-Dull and cleaned and polished the metal.  I used steel wool on some of the more rusted areas. 

I was happy with the result.

LED headlight installed on driver's side.

A comparison of the original headlight (passenger side).

Side-by-side comparison.

Low beam comparison.

High beam comparison.

Low beam comparison.

High beam comparison.

Notice the carefully placed Pac-Man hoodie...an essential item in KARR's front storage area.  You never know when you need something a little warmer.  Plus it's hiding the mess underneath. 😏

Getting started on the passenger side.

Removing the passenger side surround.

The passenger side surround is in good shape.

Removal of the headlight and housing went a lot faster on the passenger side.

Side-by-side comparison of the headlights.

Both headlights installed!

Low beams.

High beams.