good timing on this thread. I bought an '03 F-250 SD with the 7.3 PSD to pull our travel trailer. Four nights ago I drove it for the first time at night. The lights are terrible. The plastic isn't particularly fogged. Looks pretty clear, in fact. But I was barely able to see the pavement in front of the truck, and oncoming drivers were flashing me, when my low beams were on. High beams were way off in space somewhere. They lit up fence posts in the next county, at the higher elevations. I spent a big part of two days in Santa Fe trying to find SOMEone who could adjust my beam pattern. I tried Firestone. I tried a body shop. I finally went to the Ford dealer in Santa Fe. No luck. None of them knew how to adjust the beam pattern on the lights. Oh, they knew you used a screwdriver, of course, but no idea how to line them up correctly in elevation and azimuth. Doesn't anyone align headlights any more? The Ford guys had me shine them on the inside of the garage/bay door and they said the light pattern looked fine to them. Well, I should have them try to drive from Raton to Taos through the mountains at night with them.

Now I've done a search on here and found this thread, and am wondering if the lights are adjusted right, but just too dim. Is there a quick and easy upgrade from whatever stock bulbs are in there to a better brighter bulb? Something that doesn't require adapters or cutting anything on the truck?

 

Pretty much any bulb will work and be better over stock. I prefer GE bulbs, Sylvanja has a huge class action suit against them right now and I've never gotten good life out of them.

If you have foglights, try throwing some 9005 series bulbs in there. It makes a HUGE difference in light output in the road and they require no modifications. Personally I went with the ridiculously priced $60 Xenon's and I'm glad I did - my foglights are better than the stock headlights ever were.

 

I found some OFF mosquito repellant at the house with 15% DEET. Used it on my daughters car. I am impressed.

 

Here's a simple, yet effective way, to adjust headlights.:
How to Adjust a Headlight on a Ford F-350 | eHow
The adjustment screws are hex head, and there are two on top of the housing. Look down on top of the headlight housing, you can find them.

 

If I recall, they are Torx-head adjusters. Not sure what size, though.

Pop

 

x2. I put the 9005 bulbs in my fogs and it is a big improvement. Just be careful not to slice up your knuckles on the radiator fins when reaching back there!

Your only upgrade without doing any real work is to get better bulbs (9007 for the headlights and 9005 for the fog lights). Next is to get a better harness with better wiring and relays. I got mine from here:

Upgraded Headlight Harness for 94-04 Ford with 9007 Bulbs [50-9106] - $85.00 : GOS Performance | High Performance Diesel Parts | Bozeman / Livingston, Montana, 800-620-4467

Between the harness and bulbs I have enough improvement to be satisfied that I can at least see the road. The next step is to convert to the 2005 front with the 9008 bulbs. It is a popular modification but does require a bit of work since it mounts a little different than ours (from what I understand most just convert everything over to 2005: bumper, grill and lights). It is a little out of my budget to do that as there's a laundry list of "need to" before I get the the "want to" list.