LED headlight bulbs
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Lead Driver
Joined: Oct 2014
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From: NY/Canada border
LED headlight bulbs
I recently bought a 1987 F250 that's being shipped now. The plan is to replace the headlight assemblies because the current ones are cloudy and I haven't found any reliable information about cleaning products that last any amount of time.
Also considering replacing the bulbs with 9004 LED. I've found several online. All things being equal, is the higher lumen bulb more desirable? I've found both 3600 and 3800 lumen bulbs. Whether they'll work OK with the old school reflectors remains to be seen, but I've had good luck replacing halogens with LED in the OEM housings of my 2017 F250 so I'll take a chance.
Also considering replacing the bulbs with 9004 LED. I've found several online. All things being equal, is the higher lumen bulb more desirable? I've found both 3600 and 3800 lumen bulbs. Whether they'll work OK with the old school reflectors remains to be seen, but I've had good luck replacing halogens with LED in the OEM housings of my 2017 F250 so I'll take a chance.
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Lead Driver
Joined: Oct 2014
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From: NY/Canada border
After reading through another thread on lighting for these old dogs I've decided to buy the heavy duty wiring/relay kit and Alfas Maxi headlight bulbs from Bronco Graveyard.
Hotshot
Joined: Sep 2001
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I'm a huge fan of relays and quality bulbs. Currently my favorite is Phillips Xtreme. I have not heard of these bulbs you mentioned before. Do post back after you try them.
With what is currently available, I'm not an advocate of HID or LED bulbs yet, since the optics of the lamp is not designed for them. Although I do like factory HID on some vehicles. Would love to have that on the truck.
With what is currently available, I'm not an advocate of HID or LED bulbs yet, since the optics of the lamp is not designed for them. Although I do like factory HID on some vehicles. Would love to have that on the truck.
Cargo Master
Joined: Mar 2010
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From: Laramie, WY
In the last week, I've improved my headlight output substantially. First I wet sanded my factory housings (600, then 2000 grit), and painted them with UV-stable clear gloss spray paint. That helped. Next I added a relay harness. Big improvement there. Then I added the Phillips Xtreme bulbs. The bulb difference was not much, I was a little surprised. I had Sylvania bulbs in it, but mismatched models. I think one might have been one of their higher output models? It's also possible that my housings are limiting the improvement here.
I'm sure new housing would be a bigger difference/improvement, but this was an experiment to see if it would work, and last, for under $10.
I'm sure new housing would be a bigger difference/improvement, but this was an experiment to see if it would work, and last, for under $10.
Posting Guru
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,146
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From: Central Indiana
As GoinBoarding suggested, you can sand the lenses as long as you can get all the way through or most of the way through the hazing/yellowing. Do clearcoat with something that says UV Stable on the can. The only reasons I replaced my housings on my '97 250HD was the lens was yellowed inside and out, would fill with water in the rain plus the bulb glare guards were laying in the bottoms of the housings.
And yeah, that's a wise choice not to use LEDS in those factory housings. The optics will never give anything acceptable except for glare. Do post back once you have your lights and harness installed to let us know how it worked out for you.
And yeah, that's a wise choice not to use LEDS in those factory housings. The optics will never give anything acceptable except for glare. Do post back once you have your lights and harness installed to let us know how it worked out for you.
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Lead Driver
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From: NY/Canada border
After some reading on this forum I decided that you all are most likely right about putting new tech bulbs into old school housings from 31 years ago. So I did go ahead and order new housings from 1A Auto along with the harness, relays & bulbs from Bronco Graveyard.
Truck will mainly be used to pull my 7x18 enclosed business trailer around from April to October and likely sit idle during winter. It'll save miles on my newer truck with payments. I liked the idea of an old timer truck in nice shape pulling the biz trailer. Just doing some minor updates on it like the lights, adding a receiver hitch and mud flaps for now.
I'll post back with some pics and updates, but it'll be a few weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to dig up this post then!
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