I bought new headlights a year or so ago for my 2002 450 and they look great but they don't light up the road like the newer cars do so I'm looking for some auxiliary lights I can use along with them. I'd imagine mounting them on the front bumper and grill and pointing them away from oncoming traffic.

The replacement headlamp assm's where very hard to get installed.

 

The best light you can get from stock headlights is the '02-04 clear lens headlights with relay harnesses and 100/80watt HELLA bulbs.

Ive used Eagle Eyes brand light housings on several trucks and they fit/work well (even at <$100/set).

www.rallylights.com builds a really nice harness right here in USA.

I've found best price on bulbs at Summit racing the last couple times (<$10/<acronym title="Page Ranking">pr</acronym> shipped).

If you want more light than this, you need driving lights. I wire those with 3-position switch so they can be ON-OFF- or on with high beams.

I built this this truck for a customer earlier this year and replaced the sealed-beam lights with this combo. This produces more usable light than drop-in HID/LED and does not annoy other drivers.

 

I'm thinking the driving lights is the way I want to go but is there anything in particular I'm looking for? (I don't want to annoy the other drivers).

Here's my rig.

 

Nice truck. Get (or build) a relay harness. Power for headlights goes through 4 miles of skinny wire passing through headlight switch, multifunction switch, fuses, relays, etc and can have up to a 2v drop from battery to headlights!!! This alone will make a difference.

With short, fat wires (10-12ga), going from relays to bulbs you will see full battery power making the bulbs you have now brighter. But, this also gives you the opportunity to run higher wattage bulbs without melting the factory harness. Stock bulbs are 65/55 watts (high/low beam). There is a 100/80watt bulb option that produces significantly more light without changing factory optics - therefore stock cut-off lines are intact and there is no annoying glare like stupid HID's we all hate to see in traffic.

As as far as driving lights go, you can run anything from $6/ea LED's from china to projector-style HID/LED that can be $1000's. I always wire them do I have the option to turn them on/off with high beams, so I don't have to flip another switch when there's oncoming traffic.

These were $6/ea (MOVE bumper I built for '99 truck with '16 front clip. Those little lights are BRIGHT !!!!

 

Bout to make a trip so I don't have time to get complicated. So probably the $6 driving lights with their own switch and wiring would be the easies/quickest? Do you run it off your fuse box or just attach directly to the battery w/fuse and switch?

 

I installed Trucklites. If you have sealed beams now they will connect right up. However, if you have the upgrade headlights it's a little more involved. The Trucklites are very bright, have an outstanding cutoff so you're not blinding oncoming traffic.

using Video Tube.

 

On the subject of headlights...mine were pretty well crazed so I tried using Deet on them, it's one of several well circulated remedies. I have some 100% 'Jungle Juice' that I got from REI. I squirted some on a Bounty and wiped the lens in an obscure spot and it worked, did both lights and you'd think that they were brand new. No buffer, no elbow grease, just a little on the paper towel and voila, shiny lens. Sorry, I have no before pics but if there's a need I can take an 'after' and show it off.

 

Skijason

what relay harness do you suggest? There seems to be many options that I'm a but confused about. Also do does the harness on rally lights plug directly into the super duty light? Thanks for the help

 

This is plug and play with best quality components.

http://www.rallylights.com/hl281-transition-upgrade-headlamp-harness.html

 

Thanks jason!

 

Bump...Bump.....

 

My truck came with projector headlights lights and 4 old K/C style lights mounted to the ranch hand. After the first drive at Night I knew there was a problem the projector beam was blasting the bar on the guard. I didn't want to spend money on new lights at the time and they did look good just not effective So I deleted the 4 huge lights that were getting old and replaced them with 2 of these LED pods where the factory fog lights go. With those 2 the headlights lights literally only mattered for legal purposes. Soon after the ching Chong lights the previous owner installed were falling out Picked up a set of sealed beams from an 07. I was looking for a major upgrade with the sealed beam it was there especially since I can get away running the highs But I still didn't get the upgrade I wanted. I'm going to replace the seal beams with a 12 panel 200 mm LED bulb when the time comes. But for now the two LED fog lights work great and get me where I need to go. Not to bad of .01 cents on eBay and 28.00 shipping.

 

One other question. I have saw some reviews with those hella bulbs burning out quickly. Have you had that experience or just a select few people. I just wondered if there was a better bulb option. Thanks

 

+1 on the retrofit, do it yourself or get a set ready to install. It's the best without comparison

https://www.hidretrofitkit.com/?s=2005+F350

 

Theyve always provided adequate service life for me. As little $$ as they are now, you can keep spares in the glovebox.