DIY: MotoTundra's 2014 Tundra D2S Retrofit

2014 Tundra D2S Retrofit

DISCLAIMER: It is typical for there to be a disclaimer at the beginning of DIY threads, but on this one, I mean it 100%. This is how I did my first retrofit. I am 100% satisfied with my results but I am not 100% sure that I did the retrofit the correct or most efficient way. I used other DIY threads as a guide and did as much research as I could prior to starting, and I still learned things and had some surprises come up doing my retrofit. I’m not telling you how to do your retrofit, just telling you how I did mine. If you read this and find something I could have done different or better, please let me know so I can add your tip to this thread. www.Tundras.com and/or I are not responsible for any actions you take. It is very easy to mess up a retrofit and/or your truck, if it is over your head, pay an experienced retrofitter to do it the right way.



About a year ago I decided that I wanted to do a retrofit on my 2014 Tundra so I began to do some research. I had a spare pair of TRD Pro headlights that had broken mounting tabs which I planned to use as test dummies for some of the process, specifically separating the headlights and removing the permaseal. I eventually repaired the tabs using a plastic welder, some wire mesh, and some Polypropylene plastic welding rods. The repaired tabs felt stronger than stock, so I decided to do the full retrofit on those headlights. After everything is said and done I will say this, it was time consuming. I don’t have much spare time so the time spent on this retrofit was mostly done for a few hours here and there instead of sleeping. I took pictures as I was moving along, however I had a problem with my phone and I lost a lot of the pictures.

Hopefully this will help someone.

Parts list:

All my retrofit parts are Morimoto and I purchased all of them in a complete kit from www.theretrofitsource.com also known as “TRS”

Projectors: Mini D2S 3.0 (O Lens,LHD)

Shrouds: Apollo 2.0 Full Circle

Harness: MotoControl BiXenon H4/9003

Ballasts: XB35W with XB D2S Ignitor

Bulbs: D2S XB 5500K

RetroRubber headlight sealant

XSB LED Demon Eyes (White/Amber)

Extra parts I purchased from TRS and would recommend:

90mm Housing Caps

Velcro Patches

9006 Extensions

Other things I needed and would recommend, and where I bought them:

High quality electric tape (Lowe’s)

(2) Self tapping body screws to mount your grounds (Autozone)

(2) Weatherproof Ring Terminals to mount your grounds (Autozone)

Aluminum Tape (Harbor Freight)

J-B Weld JB Kwik (Local Hardware store)

J-B Weld Steel Stik (Local Hardware store)

3M Outdoor permanent hold double sided tape (Local Hardware store)

Micofiber towels (Wal-Mart)

Rustoleum 2x Painter’s Touch Satin Black Spray Paint (Home Depot)

Automotive painter’s masking tape (A&A Auto)

Newspaper

Cardboard

Clean Mechanix Gloves with smooth palm (Autozone)

9V Battery

Things I needed for the Demon Eyes: *Note* If you wire them directly to something you may not need some of these

Black wire loom for wiring harness (Harbor Freight)

Black Wire, Red Wire, I used 18 gauge (Autozone)

Weatherproof T-Tap (Autozone)

Low Profile ATM Add a Circuit (Amazon.com) and appropriate LP ATM fuse, I used 2 amp

9006 Female Connectors (TRS)

Red LocTite (Local Hardware store)

Other things needed:

Some form of stress relief, more sleep, more time

Some type of oven

Some type of Dremel or grinder

Level surface for marking your cutoffs


Let’s get started:

Here are some of the parts. I took this picture after I completed the retrofit so some things are missing.



The projectors, demon eyes, and demon eye brackets.



Marking the cutoffs:

First thing I did was park my truck on level ground approximately 20 feet from the wall of my garage. I marked my stock cutoffs and with masking tape. I also marked the position of my truck by tracing the outside of my tires on the driveway with sidewalk chalk (which washes away with rain so use caution).



Removing the headlights:

Then it was time to remove the headlights. To remove the headlights you need to remove the grill and the trim panels below the headlights. Here is a video to explain those steps, disregard the tires portion.

https://youtu.be/qOgOFHcWYOk

Opening the headlights:

Then it was time to prep the headlights prior to opening them. I removed the rubber headlight bulb grommet, all the Torx screws, all bulbs. I left my level motors on, after everything was completed, they workfine. Next was to separate the lens of the headlights from the housing. I did this by putting my rack in the lowest position then preheating my electric oven to 265. Once the oven was preheated I placed two thick pieces of cardboard on the rack, then placed the headlight on the cardboard, lens side down. My headlights are OEM Toyota and they were permasealed, I expected this and it was as much of a pain as everyone said it would be. I read posts of guys saying they opened them on the first try, I’m not calling them liars, but I will say with my headlights and oven, it was not possible, at least not without destroying something. They may have a different style oven, different placement, I don’t know, but this is what worked for me.

Once the time was up I removed the headlight from the oven while wearing the Mechanix gloves then placed it on a towel and let it sit for a minute. Then I removed the cardboard from the oven and got to work. I used a Craftsman pick with a pointed tip and a small flathead screwdriver. When they were separated I was extremely happy with the condition of the housings and lens. I took my time and it paid off.

First Bake:

• 265 for 18 minutes – Once out, I worked the pick through the permaseal, moving it in the channel and along the edge, starting with the corner near the small side marker bulb/reflector. The pick seemed to do less damage but used caution as it is a sharp tool and I accidentally poked my hands a few times. I didn’t try to pry anything yet, just worked the pick in to move the permaseal to defeat the adhesion. I don’t know how else to word that, you have to just figure it out. I did the second headlight faster after developing a good method. After a few minutes I could tell the permaseal was starting to stiffen up so I put the headlight back in.

Second Bake:

• 265 for 9 minutes – Same thing, started at the same area and worked my way around. Trying to pull with my hands a bit at the corner to help separate. Once the permaseal started to stiffen up I put the headlight back in.

Third Bake:

• 265 for 9 minutes – Only used my hands to gently and slowly pull and finally it opened right up!

*NOTE* Do NOT touch the inside of the lens with anything. Be careful separating the headlights so that the bezel don’t touch the inside of the lens and scratch it. Do everything you can to keep them clean and before putting them back together use compressed air to blow out any debris.

Once I opened the headlights up I removed the bulb cap from the reflector bowl as it won’t be needed. I used a flat head screw driver to get under the tab in the back of the reflector bowl, pried up the tabs, then pulled it out with pliers.

Removing the permaseal from the housing and lens:

I don’t want any moisture issues down the road, and I certainly don’t want to have to deal with permaseal again if I need to get back into the lights, so I removed all of the permaseal from the housing and lenses. I used a heat gun to soften the permaseal and a flat head screwdriver to lift and pull the permaseal off or scrape it off. Use caution with the heat gun, keep it moving, it can melt the housing and/or lens. The permaseal came off the housing easy, for a moment I thought this step would be cake. Once I moved to the lenses I saw what a pain it was. I kept the bezel on the headlight while removing the permaseal from the lens and I really feel that helped prevent me from scratching the inside of the lens when my screwdriver would slip. It would catch on the bezel instead of continuing on to gouge the inside of the lens. Little pieces of permaseal fell on the lens but I was able to blow all of the pieces out later with compressed air.

This is what my lenses looked like after this step.



This is what my housings looked like after this step and mocking up the projector and shroud.




Prepping the reflector bowl:

While mocking up the projector I didn’t like that the inside surface of the reflector bowl wasn’t flat and smooth to match the mating surface of the silicone washer. I also read about guys having aiming problems with the projectors being aimed too high. I decided I would use my $9 Harbor Freight rotary tool to grind down bumps in the reflector bowl to make a nice smooth mating surface for the silicone washer. I also had to grind the back of the reflector bowl flat so the projector is seated in far enough to allow the lock nut and bulb retainer on the back of the projector to thread on. I also grinded the inside of the reflector bowl where the top of the silicone washer would mount to increase the upward angle of the projector naturally. I decided to use the small hole in the reflector bowl for my solenoid and demon eye wires, so I had to use the rotary tool to make it a little bit bigger to fit the harnesses.

This is what the back of my reflector bowl looked like after this step.



This is what the inside of the reflector bowl looked like midway through grinding down the inside the first time. I had to go back and grind it more, then repaint. I don’t have a picture showing but that entire surface where the silicone washer would go was smooth, flat, and the 12 o’clock position was grinded deeper.



Prepping the Shrouds:

I didn’t think I would have to trim my shrouds, but I did. The shrouds I bought snap right into the projector. After test fitting them, I noticed I had to trim my them at the top and the bottom. Although they clip in, make sure you have both of them aligned the same direction vertically so the designs visible from the front are the same on each headlight. I marked the insides with a “T” for top and “B” for bottom, then took measurements, drew a cut line with a sharpie, and trimmed them. Unfortunately I lost the pictures I took of this step.

This picture shows the inside of the shroud and the clips.




Painting the reflector bowls and shrouds:

I read about guys having problems with the adjustment of their reflector bowl being maxed out up top which caused the reflector bowl to hit the bezel and the bezel to hit the inside of the lens and scratch it. It was my goal to manually aim/secure my projectors while only making minor adjustments to the reflector bowl. With that, I decided to keep my level motors on during baking and leave the reflector bowls on during painting. That way I wouldn’t get confused about where the reflector bowl was positioned from the factory. At this point I knew I was going to paint my reflector bowls and shrouds black, while leaving my DRL reflector bowl chrome. I removed the DRL reflector bowl and taped/newspapered the rest of the housing to prevent overspray. I painted right over the chrome, everything stuck fine. I did a few coats.





Testing your solenoid:

Since we have one bulb for our low/high beams, we use one projector for both our low/high beams. The solenoid controls a piece of metal that makes the cutoff so not all the light passes through the projector. When you activate the solenoid the cutoff shield lifts up, allowing more light, aka your high beams. After connecting the high beam harness to the projector I followed the advice of TRS and used a 9V battery with some test leads to test the solenoid. I did it about 60 times, worked perfectly every time.


Mounting the Demon Eyes to the Projector:

Pretty basic. I used Red LocTite to secure the bolts/nuts. Mounting bracket bolts on to projector. LED goes over the projector, rubber spacer goes between the mounting bracket and the LED, LED bolts to top of mounting bracket.

This is what they look like mounted and on.



Running your HID wiring:

Best to do this with the grill off. You will want to follow the directions, but here are some things I did. I put some dielectric grease in my passenger side headlight connector and wrapped it in electrical tape. I mounted my MotoControl harness with 3M outdoor double sided tape as shown in the picture. This double sided tape sticks very well and I don’t anticipate any problems. You need to mount the harness with the wires pointed down as you will see in your instructions. I started with mounting the harness then ran the wires to the areas of the headlights. For the wires going to the passenger side I used black zip ties and ran them along the factory wiring harness that goes to the passenger side. I used my rotary tool to sand down the areas I was going to use for my grounds, check the photos for the locations.



Then I used self tapping bolts (which conveniently also use a 10mm socket) to secure the grounds to the truck. I also used these grounds for my XSB LED Switchbacks. I used the extensions, they weren’t necessary, but for me, it was a tight fit without them. I was able to mount the ballasts to the headlights and I have enough extra wiring to remove the headlight, then disconnect the harness, instead of having to disconnect the harness before removing the headlight.

MotoControl Harness (Gold thing) and driver’s side ground.



Passenger side ground.




Demon Eye Wiring:

I did this a way this is more complicated, but I didn’t have to cut any factory wires, and it is easily reversed, so I felt it was worth it. I used a low profile ATM add a circuit in the fuse box under the hood to tap into ignition power. I could have easily used a T tap on the factory wiring for the running lamps, but I didn’t want to do that, so I made my own harness if you will, using 9006 female connectors that snap into the XSB’s connectors, ring terminals for the grounds, and wire loom to cover it all. I am very happy with the outcome. I didn’t take any measurements, just made a generous guess then trimmed the excess. I ran my add a circuit through the factory exit, carefully cutting some of the electric tape, running my wire through, then sealing it back up with electrical tape. The outcome looked great. I was about an inch short on the wiring in the fuse box so I had to run the wire diagonal across the fuses instead of going around the perimeter for a cleaner look. I will fix it when the weather warms up. I decided not to use the XSB’s as switchbacks, so I just taped off the orange wiring connector, as it’s not needed.

Here is the XSB wiring harness I made, sorry the picture is a bit out of focus.



I also wrapped the XSB wiring with loom to make the install look a bit cleaner.



This is the add a circuit.



Ripped the stock electrical tape and poked my wire through (black wire).



Then wrapped my black wire in loom and wrapped everything up with electrical tape nice and clean. This is how I wired the add a circuit. I plugged it into the ignition fuse.



I secured the XSB box to the back of the headlight housing with Velcro.


Mounting your HID ballasts:

I chose Velcro to secure them to the back of the headlight housing. I think it is the cleanest option that is easily accessible for a swap if needed. This is where I ended up mounting the ballasts. The ballasts aren’t heavy, and the Velcro has been holding up fine so far. If that changes, I will update this thread.




Mounting/Aiming your projectors:

Put your truck back into the same position and get ready for game time. If you mess up this step, it could really suck. This is how I did it, I am going to remind you, this is not the way, just the way I did it. Please check around to see how others do it.

First off, the general idea that I went by is this… Loosely mount the projector in the headlight. Align horizontally so that your cutoff line is perfectly horizontal, and adjust vertically so that your cutoff line is exactly where your stock cutoff line was. Then push JB Steel Stik in the gap between the base of the projector and the reflector bowl, right where the silicone washer is. Hold it steady until the Steel Stik sets, then do the other side. You also need to make sure you have your step down marked properly so your projectors are aimed straight, not too far out or too far in. With mine loosely mounted it seemed they naturally aligned that way.

This is what my stock cutoffs looked like. Disregard the multiple tape lines/colors, you should only do one line/color for each headlight. I was doing some experimenting, ended up doing different things. The pictures may not show the finished cutoff on the blue tape.



This is what my D2S Cutoff looked like after I secured them with JB Steel Stik, but before minor adjustments. I later adjusted the driver’s side up a tad, and the passenger side down a tad, for a perfect horizontal line.



After my JB Steel Stik l dried, I put JB Kwik all around the base of the projector and the reflector bowl, just to make sure the projector wasn’t going to move, this is what that step looked like.



After that dried, I put some JB Kwik around the rear of the reflector bowl, making sure some went on the lock nut so that couldn’t loosen up. I didn’t put any JB Kwik on any threads, as the bulb retainer needs to get threaded on.

This is what the rear of the reflector bowl looked like after this step.




Mounting your shrouds:

Although I doubt they need it, I put a bit of JB Kwik on the projector where the tabs would make contact, then snapped them in, making sure I have the “T” at the top. I let them dry overnight then I wiped everything with a microfiber prior to sealing up the headlights.

Here is one mounted.



Here they are mounted with the Demon Eyes on.




Sealing them back up:

I followed the directions on the RetroRubber. If I could do it over again I wouldn’t have stretched it out as much. I’m sure it sealed just fine, but I didn’t get oozing out of the sides, and truthfully I didn’t feel like taking them apart and doing it over. I ended up smearing some silicone on the outside where the housing meets the lens. I know the silicone doesn’t look all that professional, but I’m not going to car shows, I could care less. I trimmed the silicone up with a razor blade and I don’t think it looks bad at all, I would rather the added insurance. I used a bunch of clamps I picked up at a local hardware store. From the other threads I viewed and pictures I saw, I didn’t think the clamps would do much, but they definitely did. After I took them out I had a bunch of condensation on the projector lens, it scared the crap out of me, but went away and didn’t seem to leave any water marks or anything.



I put the Torx screws back in the housings after I was sure the lenses were seated properly in the housings.


Sealing up the back of the housing:

Now it was time to put all the bulbs back in and figure out how I was going to keep moisture out of the back of the headlight. This is what I came up with.

I cut the stock rubber grommet to fit around the D2S ignitor.



Then I stretched the grommet over the ignitor.



Then I got a little ugly with some high quality high temp 3M electrical tape.



Then I measured and trimmed the 90mm housing cap I bought from TRS to fit the grommet already installed on the D2S wiring.




Trimmed it with a scissor…




Fit the grommet in the hole, and made a small channel in the hole to run the XSB wires through. Then I smeared some silicone over where those wires came out for added insurance. I also used a thick zip tie to wrap around the housing cap to secure it to the housing.



All done!






Installing them back on the truck:

This is the opposite procedure as removing them. Double check all your connections. After I made all my connections I tried to tuck all the wires in neatly and make sure everything looked as clean and OEM as possible.

Driver’s side cleaned up.



Passenger’s side cleaned up.




Minor aiming adjustments:

I used the white 8mm bolt head to make minor adjustments to the headlights so my cutoff line was a straight horizontal line, with the exception of the step downs.

With risk comes reward, hopefully!







Truck was dirty but it’s too cold to wash so this will have to due until it warms up.




If you notice anything I left out or could have done better, let me know so I can add it in. So far I am extremely happy with the setup. I wanted a basic setup that performed well yet was still courteous to other drivers. I placed a few calls and e-mails to TRS, their customer service was top notch!

 

Thanks for the write up!! Job well done!

 

Very, very well done. Could you put a little more effort/detail next time around? (sarc of course)

 

Thanks brother. I was actually a bit bummed that I lost some photos, specifically the ones I took trimming the shrouds...

Sounds good!

 

Thanks, hopefully it will help someone out!

 

You did such a good job man! With the lights AND the info.

 

Now that's how you do a write up! Good job! Oh, and I have never seen a pair of pliers and crescent wrench all in one. Interesting...

 

Thanks brother, haha the one end also doubles as a Phillips screwdriver.

 

Hey Don! Do my headlights for me ♥

 

We could just trade trucks instead...

 

That's not fair!! I can't afford a higher payment haha.

 

If I had the extra time I would do them for you. Just doing mine about killed me, I had to trade off sleep for retrofit work, while working crazy hours.

 

Update: Still loving this setup, no issues.

 

They look great man.

 

Thanks!

 

Very nice write-up man and I also do my own retros! I think you did a great job explaining the steps, and ill definitely keep your process in mind on how to open these up. My only experience is with tacomas so that permaseal crap is new to me. So my only question about our headlights is the adjustment. We all have motors that move the bowl up and down or right and left, but how do we accomplish that manually? Am I missing the adjustment knobs or are the motors covering them?

 

Thanks! The permaseal was definitely tell a pain, but it's doable, just ime consuming, and frustrating. The headlights can be adjusted up and down manually from a bolt on the exterior rear of the headlight. If you look at the pictures in my original post, check out the picture below the picture with the scissors in it. See that white plastic looking bolt on the rear of the headlight? That's it. Guys were having big problems relying too much on that knob that they had to crank there headlights up so far the bezel inside was touching/scratching the inside of the lens. To prevent that, when you aim/JB Weld your projector in, make it as accurate as possible or a bit too high if you can't get it right on the line. There is no L/R adjustment, at least to my knowledge, so you need to be 100% accurate with that.

Good luck!!

 

Thanks man, I see it. I was actually looking for it after I installed some HIDs, my passenger headlight is way higher than the driver currently

 

That adjustment sh ok uld he able to help you out. A word of caution if you plan to retrofit though, know where the stock setting is. That way you know you are in the safe spot where there is enough clearance around the bezel.

 

When you read a write up that makes a amateur feel like he could do this with no problems, I would say it's a excellent write up. Hands down the best one yet. I'm going to give it a shot!

 

Thanks! Just be careful if you have an 07', there will be some differences in the headlight assemblies. I don't know anything about the 07-13 headlights. Good luck!

 

Wow, awesome job and great write up.

 

Thanks!

 

Thank you for such detailed instructions. I'm in process of ordering all the parts and this is a HUGE help.

 

No problem, glad it helped. Good luck, what setup are you going with?

 

I'm drawn between modding my 1794 or Spyders with RX350 projectors.

 

I would modify OEM lights. I haven't owned a pair of Spyder's, so I can't speak from experience, but you know the OEM lenses and internals are going to hold up over time. @Sean266 has Spyder's, as do many others but I can't think of them off the top of my head. Maybe see how they are holding up with those guys. Also I wonder if the retro on Spyder's would be more involved than on the OEM lights.

 

That's the plan for the next week !!!!