One headlight brigher than the other...

[autonuerotic]

Has anyone noticed that one headlight is brighter than the other on some of these older trucks?  I cleaned up my grounds, made sure all of them  were good, but still one is brighter than the other.  What causes this?  What can I do to fix it?

Thanks,
-Auto

[shaved80]

do you mean looking at the lights themselves, or looking at what they light up? if you're looking at them head one, one will look brighter than the other unless you have them right next to each other, because of the way they are designed to point more light straight ahead

[RSBAD454]

For starters, what year truck do you have?

Toys are my game

[autonuerotic]

Its a 74 with the round headlights, not that it matters... Ive seen it on the 60's trucks as well.  I also posted some pics up a while ago in the forum titled, "My 1974 hooptie." Im talking about what they light up, my passenger light seems dim compared to the drivers, and its not an adjustment.  If you face the front of the truck and look at the lights its just as noticable the passenger seems really dim, I do know what you mean though.

Thanks,
-Auto

[VileZambonie]

Retrofit them to the modern style. I put similar ones in my 74

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Round-Headlights-69-80-Chevy-Full-Size-Pickup-H4-PRJ_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33710QQihZ013QQitemZ230033153877QQrdZ1

[autonuerotic]

They are retrofitted to modern H4's, it did it with the sealed beam and it does it with the H4's.

[VileZambonie]

Some head lamps project a different shaped beam from L to R and the best thing to do is at night try and focus the most intense part of the beam equal. Use your garage door as a focal point. From there sand back at a distance and have an assistant help you fine tune it until they look as equal as possible. If you still aren't happy try another set of lights.

[RSBAD454]

The year does matter, that's why I asked.....It's typically been the older style trucks that have had the dimmer headlights period. You might want want to check the wires for corrosion or ground leakage. Check the resistance of the headlight wire with the dimmer light to that of the brighter light. Check from block at firewall to plug at lamp, then check to ground. It seems no matter what light you use, you will get the dimmer light on one side.

[shaved80]

not to get off topic, but anyone have experience with those aftermarket headlights like the ones on ebay?

i'm not a big fan of the "euro" clear glass ones, but i saw one on a 4x4 site (it's bookmarked on my other computer so i can't give a link) but it' uses those H4 bulbs, just curious to the light output

something similar to these ones here

[autonuerotic]

The H4 (anything) conversion is brighter than the stock sealed beams.  I made the switch for the safety of being able to see down the road a little further, which isnt a bad idea if your dropped significantly.  So.... I have 11.700 volts out of both headllight pig tails, the grounds are good, hmmm... Im thinking maybe the pigtails arent getting a good connection to the bulbs...

[VileZambonie]

Easy to check since you have a volt meter. Put your positive meter lead on the ground side of the pigtail with the headlight plugged in and turned on and your negative lead on the negative battery cable. If you have voltage present then it's a resistance after the load (otherwise known as a poor ground.)