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I am sure this has been brought up many times but do not have the time to do anymore searching. I have a 04 F250 and want to do the newer 06 upgrade. Can anyone tell me the best detailed instructions to do this or even a detailed video? The ones I have watched are not to detailed, how do you aim the new lights it looks like there are no ajustments. Also the best place to buy the headlights and tow mirrors that are not junk but won't break the bank.. I have found a place on eBay to buy the grill. Any other upgrades I should consider? Thank you
I finally did my headlights on Saturday. Everything went pretty well, got it completely done in 3 hours. I'll post a few notes after the photos.
Before:
Tool for unwinding the headlight adjustors:
Driver's side cut, cleaned up with a grinding wheel at the end:
Passenger's side before:
and after:
Stainless hardware:
Test fit:
Done:
For the bolts, I used:
(4) 1/4-20 X 3/4 BUTTON HEAD ALLEN BOLTS (STAINLESS STEEL)
(4) 1/4 X 1 FENDER WASHER (STAINLESS STEEL)
(4) EXTRUDED "U" NUT 1/4-20 SCREW SIZE (CTR. HOLE TO EDGE:17/32")
I got the hardware from Allen's Fasteners online. Dealt with them several times and they are awesome.
Notes:
1. Don't use a fender washer larger than 1" OD. It will not fit flush with a larger washer.
2. The Extruded "U" nut I used was the perfect center hole to edge length. They make deeper nuts, but they won't fit as cleanly.
3. My headlights had bulbs, but no marker light sockets or turn signal sockets. Turn signals still fit fine. Marker lights do not. I will be ordering (2) sockets from LMC truck (Part # 47-0431) so I can install the markers. For the time being, I just have the old sockets in there to plug the holes. They do not fit well and there is not way to plug the connector into the socket. The sockets do use the same plug adapter from the wiring harness, so no worries there.
4. I knicked my rad core support in a few areas. I made sure to touch all of these areas up before re-assembling. I don't want any unnecessary rust.
5. I used my air die grinder with a 3" cut wheel to remove the header panel. It worked well, but I've heard that a roto zip tool is even easier and probably gives a cleaner result.
Riff Raff did a nice job with the conversion harnesses and I used there how to written by a member on FTE. Thanks guys!
As for where to buy light, I picked up a set of Eagle Eye lights for my Ranger about 18 months ago and they are great. I would give them a try for F250. That is what I plan to buy when I do a HID retrofit.
A word of caution.... these lights do look better than the 99-04 in my opinion, but the light output is not increased. If anything, the 99-04 housings actually project the light better. As a result, people have been doing HID retrofits. This seems to be the way to go. LED bulbs do not really help because the 05-07 lights have a crappy lens shape.
I like the LEDs, but it really depends on the shape of the housing and the orientation of the bulb. Your reflectors are designed for a bulb that emits light 360 degrees. LEDs are often 180 although some are getting closer to 360. Anyway, LED work very well in my ATV pod light housing. LEDs are oriented at the 12 o clock position and that works well with the reflector. I put them in my wife's Grand Vitara in the projector low beam housing and they are not any brighter than the crappy halogens the replaced and I believe this is because of the beam spread.
All that being said, it seems like the biggest improvement you can make is doing an HID projector retrofit.
And here is @xmontex4's truck with the HIDs he got from the Retrofit Source. He had someone install them and they did a great job. You could also attempt them yourself, you just need an oven get the lights apart. If memory serves me, he has the H1 kit with square projectors.
when I did mine (on my 2k Super Duty supercab 4x4 V10), I bought the headlights from Headlight Depot. They came with the conversion harnesses and instructions, tho I had to cut more from the resin header than the drawing indicated. I used a Dremel with a cutting wheel to cut the header. Mine are fully adjustable, which was a good thing as they were aimed WAY too low. I took quite a bit of time on the install... cutting, then fitting, then cutting some more, until I got the fit right. What remains of the header is a bit on the flimsy side, but I believe that if you go to the '05-'07 header, you'd need to go to an '05-'07 grill & bumper as the location of the cutouts for the grille clips are different from the '99-'04. There's a number of ways to "skin the cat"... it all depends on how far you want to take it.
One thing I forgot, I got my headlights from Craigslist. The are OEM Ford lights. I think I paid $125 for the pair. If you can find a cheap set of OEMs, go for it. If you want to go for the projector, I'd get the Eagle Eyes. Aftermarket are supposed to be easier to disassemble than OEM.
On OEM housings, there is a vertical adjustment. It is the external Torx screw sticking up at the right side of the photo. I did not have to adjust mine.
Thanks for the tag Jeremy, I actually have the square mini D2S kit (https://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...l#.V1G80cArJhE) and the output is amazing compared to the stock lights. I lost light output by going to the 05-07 style lights from my 99-04 housings and i never quite got it back until i did this and it exceeds the original lights. I have not driven with them as the truck has been undergoing a huge build the past two years but the output on the driveway just shows its WAY better.
In my opinion here is the cheapest way to do it and i learned this for experience. Get eBay lights you like (mine are eBay lights) and then get the HID parts from the retrofit source, if you look into their close out options you can usually get them for much cheaper by bying the piece parts vs the whole retrofit kit ($300ish itself). The parts total i have in mine is roughly $400-500 i can upload light outputs this weekend maybe if i hook up the fuse panel again.
Parts Breakdown.
Headlights: $150
Clearance D2S projectors: $35
D2S HID Kit: $160 (depends on options)
Projector shrouds: $20
Total: $365
I upgraded the HID system and got 55W ballasts and better bulbs which is why mine is more expensive. I started the retrofit myself but realized i bit off a little more than i could chew but i also didn't have the time to just sit there and get it perfect the way i wanted.
eBay headlights wont matter because if you get new sealing material then they are sealed just as good as OEM lights are at that point.
Also adjusting is just as easy because the projectors are mounted the the reflector housing so you can retain the factory adjustments for vertical adjustment. Most projectors just screw into the hole for the Halogen bulbs but i tried to get too crazy and dug myself a grave causing me to have to ship them out lol. If you screw them in then there is no left right adjustment it is aligned by the housing but if you go crazy like i did and cut out the back of the reflector you need to align and epoxy it in...dont do what i did i ended up getting a new light and having it done.
Also you dont need the conversion harness for the different headlight bulbs you are basically using a custom headlight system so you can get an 9007 to HID harness vs getting a 9007-9008 harness. Overall its a little more expensive but the output is so much better (and legal) its well worth it IMO.
Thanks guys for all the very detailed info on this conversion. I am going to start getting everything to do this. I was told that the HID bulb color is rated by temp.? What temp is the brightest and whitest? I hate the ones that look pink, blue or yellow.
2300k is warm white, like an incandescent house bulb. 4300k is almost pure white. 6000k is white with a shade of blue. Most LED light bars are about 6000k. This chart should help.
Is 1 color best and brightest for all around use "5K or 6K any good?
I read that 4300 is the brightest, but you would have to do some research. I don't remember where I read it. I'd guess the 6000 is a close second since it is so commonly used in light bars.
When I was researching and keep in mind the wattage of your ballasts. 55w ballasts have a higher output than the standard 35w ones so they make the bulbs color output go down in the Kelvin scale. For example I got 6000k bulbs (white with blue tint) but with my 55w ballasts they give off 5000k color (pure white) so if you upgrade the ballasts go one step up on your bulbs. 4300k is also pure white but with a yellowish tint, think of 6000k and 4300k as pure white with a blue or yellow tint and 5000k and the in between which is pure white.
Also do not get 55w ballasts with 4300k bulbs it will turn them yellow (3000k color) which is what you said you don't want.
Also keep in mind the bulbs have a shorter lifespan with higher wattage ballasts so it's a trade off 55w gives off more light but die sooner (20% faster roughly) vs 35w less light but longer lifespan.
I did a ton of research when I did this lol I'm trying to remember if I said everything.
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