Has anybody tried glass lensed headlights for 94 to 99 GMT400's ?

[Big T]

Here's some pics at dusk of the lights and the spread they throw against a garage door. Colby is very happy with these. The HID lights arrived after this install. I've told Colby to run these for a week to see how he likes them. I've got some other things to work on, namely my wife's cars and trouble shooting my ABS.

 

[Will L.]

So, how they come as halogen, are they recommendable?

 

[Big T]

So, how they come as halogen, are they recommendable?

Did not know they came with the Halogen bulbs. When I saw that, I went over to Colby's to install them. We intend to install HIDs with All 4 on Hi relays. Those arrived while we were installing the housings. I have similar housings with HIDs and have been satisfied with them. CKO housings are really your only option at this point and these are the best I've seen to date.

If you're going with HIDs you can't use the OEM housing with grid in the the lens. You need to use the Eueo Clear style. That's just from trail and error of others that I've read. mAtuva had posted here that you need the deflector cups if you're using HIDs.

I've Been through 3 sets of housings and the biggest problem has been the drooping deflector cup on LO when used with HIDs. The market is eBay sellers, which leaves you scanning pics on-line looking for the right features. Trial and error has ahown me what you don't want.

We tried one set of the projector housings with glass lenses. The light patern was bad and the projectors looked out of place: round light on square truck.

So these housings are another trial. Had given up on the search for new housings as noted with my posts here. Thankfully a TTS member posted something close. COlby desperately needed new housings and his Birthday was coming up. We were over at his place for dinner during the week and he showed me some LED fog lights he bought to improve his light pattern it was so bad. i knew then I had buy him some housings. He said last night that these are a vast improvement. Still need some minor adjustment to the right. I gave him the HIDs, but told him to drive with the halogens for a week. I Noted that his turn signals now look bad and one is out, so I sent him a link to a set of LEDs the. Signals on eBay.

 

[jrsavoie]

jrsavoie, did you ever get those headlights installed?

Yes I did. I took a belt sander to the sides to trim them down. They were about 1/8" wider than the OEM headlights.

I would recommend using the original GM mounting plates.

From what I read on reviews. many people posted no issues installing these glass lensed headlights and many people posted the same issue I had.

It may be the luck of the draw, may be the aftermarket grill I have.

But they are in and we really like them. I get irritated when I have to change things I bought new to make them work. But I could not find any other glass lensed headlights

 

[Big T]

Yes I did. I took a belt sander to the sides to trim them down. They were about 1/8" wider than the OEM headlights.

I would recommend using the original GM mounting plates.

From what I read on reviews. many people posted no issues installing these glass lensed headlights and many people posted the same issue I had.

It may be the luck of the draw, may be the aftermarket grill I have.

But they are in and we really like them. I get irritated when I have to change things I bought new to make them work. But I could not find any other glass lensed headlights

Are you saying the outside edge of the light housing was rubbing against the grill? If so, you could just alter the holes of the mounting bracket to allow them to me pushed inward. The ones we installed already allowed for such shifting, but could use additional. Much easier than removing material with a belt sander. Swapping in the OEM brackets would be a pain.

 

[jrsavoie]

Are you saying the outside edge of the light housing was rubbing against the grill? If so, you could just alter the holes of the mounting bracket to allow them to me pushed inward. The ones we installed already allowed for such shifting, but could use additional. Much easier than removing material with a belt sander. Swapping in the OEM brackets would be a pain.

Swapping in the OEM mounting backs is all I was talking about. All you have to do is pull the 2 pins that hold the headlight in and put the headlights in your existing mounting backs.

Changing the whole mounting brackets is definitely a PIA. I gave it the 5 minute try and decided to give up.

 

[Burning oil]

Here's some pics at dusk of the lights and the spread they throw against a garage door. Colby is very happy with these. The HID lights arrived after this install. I've told Colby to run these for a week to see how he likes them. I've got some other things to work on, namely my wife's cars and trouble shooting my ABS.

The cut off looks really good. I bet he will like them long term.

 

[ak diesel driver]

I'm sitting here wondering how hard it would be to put the glass lenses on in place of the plastic ones

 

[jrsavoie]

I'm sitting here wondering how hard it would be to put the glass lenses on in place of the plastic ones

Maybe not so bad. What would you use to glue the lenses back on with?

I never looked at the oem lenses to see how hard those would be to get off.

The glass lenses are held on with some black Goo. Seems to warm up and stay soft. I think if a guy warmed them up some, the lenses would come off fairly easy. But I've been wrong before

 

[ak diesel driver]

I was thinking just some silicone

 

[jrsavoie]

I was thinking just some silicone

I was thinking Right Stuff.

Any ideas on how hard the OEM lenses would be to seperate

 

[Burning oil]

Thats what I did on mine. Glass lens on different housings. Just used Goop brand adhesive and works well.

 

[ak diesel driver]

How hard to seperate Leroy?

 

[Burning oil]

Pretty easy. I bet a heat gun would have em off quick. Mine just basically came off by hand. They wont come off easily now with the Goop adhesive, but will if needed. I love that stuff.

 

[jrsavoie]

Pretty easy. I bet a heat gun would have em off quick. Mine just basically came off by hand. They wont come off easily now with the Goop adhesive, but will if needed. I love that stuff.

Did the OEM headlight lenses come off in the same manner?

 

[Burning oil]

Not sure about OEM. I put aftermarket glass lens on aftermarket housings. I bet OEM would take some work.

 

[n8in8or]

OK I ordered a set of these for my son Colby, because the housings on his '94 were basically yellowed over and produced such a worthless light spread it was like driving without lights.

The lights arrived and I am very encouraged by what I see. The most important thing is the design of the deflector cup on the LO beam. Bad designs have a flimsy cup attached to the roof of the housing. Heat from the bulb eventually causes these to droop down. Better designs have the deflector cup attached to the rear wall/mirror of the housing. Even better, in this design the bracket metal is positioned vertically making it very unlikely for the deflector cup to droop down in the face of bulb heat. There's not as many vertical hatching lines, but I can live with that. They came with halogen bulbs in them, but we have a HID kit ordered. I will do the "Matuva Mod" so the housing sits flush with the grill.

Digging this one up......Hey @BigT are you still happy with these headlights? I looked these up on Amazon (by manufacturer part number so I'd be sure they were the same) and they have mediocre reviews. It seems like all headlights for these trucks are a crapshoot.

 

[jrsavoie]

Digging this one up......Hey @BigT are you still happy with these headlights? I looked these up on Amazon (by manufacturer part number so I'd be sure they were the same) and they have mediocre reviews. It seems like all headlights for these trucks are a crapshoot.

I am still very happy with mine. The install sucked. Had to use a belt sander on them to get them to fit. I'm still not positive that the aftermarket grill I have didn't have something to do with fitment.

But the OEM headlights fit fine. Grill could have had a slightly smaller opening and coupled with the headlights being slightly larger it may have resulted in the fitment issue.

They were still worth the trouble though.

 

[n8in8or]

I am still very happy with mine. The install sucked. Had to use a belt sander on them to get them to fit. I'm still not positive that the aftermarket grill I have didn't have something to do with fitment.

But the OEM headlights fit fine. Grill could have had a slightly smaller opening and coupled with the headlights being slightly larger it may have resulted in the fitment issue.

They were still worth the trouble though.

Thanks. I just bought a set of glass lens headlights and the hole for the bulbs was extra loose, so the lights wouldn't seal. They also didn't have a ring for the bulb to engage with....just 3 screws. Pretty disappointing. I just want a decent headlight, that functions correctly and looks a little cooler than stock. Shouldn't be that hard it seems.

 

[jrsavoie]

Thanks. I just bought a set of glass lens headlights and the hole for the bulbs was extra loose, so the lights wouldn't seal. They also didn't have a ring for the bulb to engage with....just 3 screws. Pretty disappointing. I just want a decent headlight, that functions correctly and looks a little cooler than stock. Shouldn't be that hard it seems.View attachment 49872

That sucks. it seems I reused my bulbs and that theirs were trash. Not positive but it was that way on one aftermarket headlight I bought. Might have been the Sentra