Headlight Bulb Upgrades
Junior User
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 91
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Elder User
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 921
Likes: 305
From: Wanilla, MS
You are correct. The passenger side head light has a different pattern & aim than the drivers side. In the LOW beam mode the passengers side throws the light beam a little farther down the road to see the side of the road better without blinding oncoming traffic. This is done either by light pattern and / or aiming.
More Turbo
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 587
Likes: 101
From: Nampa, Idaho
Finished clocking the headlights tonight, and it is much better! I tried clocking the passenger light with a new hole between the factory setting & 1/8th. It moved the lobe 1/2 way up. So then I put it to the factory clock, and it looked pretty good. Not sure why it had a hump the other day. So l didn't like the looks of the driver's side one with the little lobe on it too. So it dawned on me to just remove the allen screw, twist the collar to 1/16th turn, and then put the assy in the headlight without the allen. The two orings under the collar are snug enough to keep everything in place without the allen to test. Found driver's side needed to be 1/16th turn clocked, and it's done. Then I realized if a guy could get his hand behind the headlight assy, he could turn the LED's to adjust with the allen out. So I went back to pass side, took out the allen, and set the headlight assy on the bumper while the headlights were on. Then I was able to rotate the LEDs freely while watching the beam. Pretty cool, and it allowed me to pic the best spot. I think this would be the fastest way for a person to find the sweet spot during a new install. Of course, there is a learning curve to figure out what beam pattern is right.
09F250, what do you suppose ended up being the best spot for both headlights? Yup, exactly what you found!!! LED's pointed perfectly at 3 and 9 o'clock, which was 1/16th a turn on driver's side and factory setting on pass side.
Went for a drive, and the light is much more filled in. I mean a lot better. It's filled in better in the middle, it isn't as patchy at all, and it projects out better. Amazing the improvement after moving the LEDs only 1/8th clock on pass and 1/16th clock on drivers sides from yesterday's positions. In all honesty, my drive to work on Monday had me wondering a little about these lights because I was staying very objective, and while they were better, I wasn't stoked about the inconsistent density of the light. Thanks to the sharing of info on here and 09F250's idea, I'm totally happy now! Here's some pics.
After putting pass side at 1/16th clock.
Then after putting pass side at factory clock.
Then after putting driver's side at 1/16th clock.
Low beam out windshield.
High beam out windshield.
09F250, what do you suppose ended up being the best spot for both headlights? Yup, exactly what you found!!! LED's pointed perfectly at 3 and 9 o'clock, which was 1/16th a turn on driver's side and factory setting on pass side.
Went for a drive, and the light is much more filled in. I mean a lot better. It's filled in better in the middle, it isn't as patchy at all, and it projects out better. Amazing the improvement after moving the LEDs only 1/8th clock on pass and 1/16th clock on drivers sides from yesterday's positions. In all honesty, my drive to work on Monday had me wondering a little about these lights because I was staying very objective, and while they were better, I wasn't stoked about the inconsistent density of the light. Thanks to the sharing of info on here and 09F250's idea, I'm totally happy now! Here's some pics.
After putting pass side at 1/16th clock.
Then after putting pass side at factory clock.
Then after putting driver's side at 1/16th clock.
Low beam out windshield.
High beam out windshield.
Elder User
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 543
Likes: 0
You are probably tired of playing with them now, but any pictures of the housing and bare light without housing? I'll be getting mine in a few days and will be able to look at them then.
Thinking maybe either drill some new holes and thread them, or make new housings with more possibilities.
Thinking maybe either drill some new holes and thread them, or make new housings with more possibilities.
Elder User
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 543
Likes: 0
From: Northern VA
09F250, If you can park farther away from your garage door, I think you'll notice a bigger difference when you clock the lamps. I did the driver's side first, and I decided to clock it in 1/8th turn increments (that's how they are designed) until I had rotated it 180*. I wanted to see what clocking did, and it's very very noticeable as you clock it. Poorly clocked splatters the light all over, and you don't have a good horizontal line at the top of the beam. I've got to think that's why many other packages that can't be clocked results in headlights that blind other drivers. It turned out the factory clock setting was the right one for the drivers side, but the passenger side required a single 1/8th turn clock for it to be right. "Right" is when you get the good flat line of light across the top, and that was pretty clear for me since I was parked back a ways from the garage. (In my pics, don't worry about my aiming on my garage door as my driveway is gravel and not level. I put duct tape on the garage door as markers for where my stock lights hit. My truck was higher on the driver's side where it was parked, and it turned out that I found my driver's side actually needed to be aimed a little higher than it was in these pics.) As a note, the instructions say to "loosen" the allen screw so you can clock the lamp, but you actually have to "remove" it, which is obvious once you see how the collar is designed to rotate. Be careful not to drop that little allen!
I had to adjust both headlights down a good bit after installing the LED lamps. Both LED lamps put the beam on the garage door higher than where I had put duct tape markers for the stock beams.
Wife and I took a drive afterwards, and I agree with what 09F250 said about the light having pockets that were a little less light than others. I wouldn't call them dark, but I think that's just the word he used to describe. The light intensity varies a little in spots across the entire field of view, but the light is a drastic improvement over the stock light! The LED fogs help fill in the light some. Nobody flashed their lights at me during the drive, but like I said, my driver's side was set a little too low. I adjusted the driver's side up, and I'll know more this next week as I drive to work. The top beam line on these LEDs is much more defined than it was on the stock lights, and I can easily see if they are aimed the same while driving.
The driver's side plug for the stock lamp gave me a hard time when trying to remove it. I had to fiddle with it a while as I was squeezing the release, and I started to wonder if it was a different type of release. If this happens to someone else, push the plug onto the back of the stock lamp and then press the release. After doing that a couple times I finally got it to release.
Dakster, these are H13 Extreme Headlight kit (XT-LED-H13) from XenonDepot.com, and the fogs are H10 Extreme LED CMB Bulbs in 5000K (XT-LED-H10-CMB).
Low beams
High beams
I had to adjust both headlights down a good bit after installing the LED lamps. Both LED lamps put the beam on the garage door higher than where I had put duct tape markers for the stock beams.
Wife and I took a drive afterwards, and I agree with what 09F250 said about the light having pockets that were a little less light than others. I wouldn't call them dark, but I think that's just the word he used to describe. The light intensity varies a little in spots across the entire field of view, but the light is a drastic improvement over the stock light! The LED fogs help fill in the light some. Nobody flashed their lights at me during the drive, but like I said, my driver's side was set a little too low. I adjusted the driver's side up, and I'll know more this next week as I drive to work. The top beam line on these LEDs is much more defined than it was on the stock lights, and I can easily see if they are aimed the same while driving.
The driver's side plug for the stock lamp gave me a hard time when trying to remove it. I had to fiddle with it a while as I was squeezing the release, and I started to wonder if it was a different type of release. If this happens to someone else, push the plug onto the back of the stock lamp and then press the release. After doing that a couple times I finally got it to release.
Dakster, these are H13 Extreme Headlight kit (XT-LED-H13) from XenonDepot.com, and the fogs are H10 Extreme LED CMB Bulbs in 5000K (XT-LED-H10-CMB).
Low beams
High beams
Any regrets, guys???
More Turbo
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 587
Likes: 101
From: Nampa, Idaho
You are probably tired of playing with them now, but any pictures of the housing and bare light without housing? I'll be getting mine in a few days and will be able to look at them then.
Thinking maybe either drill some new holes and thread them, or make new housings with more possibilities.
Thinking maybe either drill some new holes and thread them, or make new housings with more possibilities.
More Turbo
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 587
Likes: 101
From: Nampa, Idaho
We are moving to Idaho this Spring, and I might add some driving lights to help when driving on the open roads out in the remote areas. Then some long distance lights to help see animals farther out would be a good idea.
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Lead Driver
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 9,762
Likes: 115
Are you going to change your nickname to IdahoF250?
I hope that you chose to move to Idaho and it isn't a forced relocation that you didn't want. Either way, hope it all works out for you.
I just want much better than stock for the moment, since we may be moving this summer, I may need aux led light bars. One of the places we are looking at is miles of dirt road and no street lights.
I hope that you chose to move to Idaho and it isn't a forced relocation that you didn't want. Either way, hope it all works out for you.
I just want much better than stock for the moment, since we may be moving this summer, I may need aux led light bars. One of the places we are looking at is miles of dirt road and no street lights.
More Turbo
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 587
Likes: 101
From: Nampa, Idaho
Are you going to change your nickname to IdahoF250?
I hope that you chose to move to Idaho and it isn't a forced relocation that you didn't want. Either way, hope it all works out for you.
I just want much better than stock for the moment, since we may be moving this summer, I may need aux led light bars. One of the places we are looking at is miles of dirt road and no street lights.
I hope that you chose to move to Idaho and it isn't a forced relocation that you didn't want. Either way, hope it all works out for you.
I just want much better than stock for the moment, since we may be moving this summer, I may need aux led light bars. One of the places we are looking at is miles of dirt road and no street lights.
Cross-Country
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 61
Likes: 9
From: Cicero, IN
Quick question for you guys that have these. What does your beam pattern look like with your high beams on? I installed a set yesterday and have them clocked perfectly vertical like suggested. This did give me the best low beam pattern and cutoff (much better than my old Lifetime LED's that I had). However, when I switch to high beam, the beam doesn't seem as focused as the high beam on my halogen lights. I think it may have to do where the high beam LEDs are located on the bulb itself. If the high beam LEDs were more towards the front of the bulb (like the front 2 out of the 4 high beam LEDs overlapped the rear low beam ones), it seams that would give a more concentrated beam. If you look at a regular H13 halogen bulb, you can see that there is some overlap of the low and high beam filaments. I think this is what is causing this to happen.
It was rainy here last night, so I haven't had a chance to really see how far the high beams "reach" down the road. Just wondering what the rest of you thought. I haven't seen anyone else post a pic of their high beam pattern on a garage door yet.
Also, anyone know of a way to keep the low beams on while also having the brights on? Seems like with the low amp draw of LED's, this should be possible to do.
It was rainy here last night, so I haven't had a chance to really see how far the high beams "reach" down the road. Just wondering what the rest of you thought. I haven't seen anyone else post a pic of their high beam pattern on a garage door yet.
Also, anyone know of a way to keep the low beams on while also having the brights on? Seems like with the low amp draw of LED's, this should be possible to do.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 832
Likes: 110
Bleppek,
Regardless of bulb type, if your lights are aimed slightly high, the low beam can be fantastic, but the high beam will get washed out because it never hits the road surface correctly. If the low beam bulbs are weak or of lesser quality, if adjusted too high they too will never hit the road surface and appear washed out. Generally, lights have to be aimed much higher before it affects the low beam.
Regardless of bulb type, if your lights are aimed slightly high, the low beam can be fantastic, but the high beam will get washed out because it never hits the road surface correctly. If the low beam bulbs are weak or of lesser quality, if adjusted too high they too will never hit the road surface and appear washed out. Generally, lights have to be aimed much higher before it affects the low beam.
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 310
Likes: 1
From: KC
Thanks to the sharing of info on here and 09F250's idea, I'm totally happy now! Here's some pics.
After putting pass side at 1/16th clock.
Then after putting pass side at factory clock.
Then after putting driver's side at 1/16th clock.
Low beam out windshield.[/QUOTE]
Glad it worked out for you brother! You have the same reaction I had, I was so much happier after getting them clocked correctly. They help with visibility like no other. I agree that I love the way they light up road signs and help me see much better through a tinted windshield. Ever since clocking them, I have not been brighted once!!!
Thanks cangim, I went with these because of your pics of the beam patterns compared to stock!
After putting pass side at 1/16th clock.
Then after putting pass side at factory clock.
Then after putting driver's side at 1/16th clock.
Low beam out windshield.[/QUOTE]
Glad it worked out for you brother! You have the same reaction I had, I was so much happier after getting them clocked correctly. They help with visibility like no other. I agree that I love the way they light up road signs and help me see much better through a tinted windshield. Ever since clocking them, I have not been brighted once!!!
Thanks cangim, I went with these because of your pics of the beam patterns compared to stock!