The time has come to put new headlights on the truck. I was once told by another ‘00 F 350 owner that putting led lights on that truck caused “gremlins” in the electrical system.

so the question is stick with halogen or move to LED (assuming no gremlins). How about it folks. Any ideas or experiences?

TIA for your feedback.

 

The LED folks want me to start carrying around a sledge hammer to take them out. There are no LED lights that work properly in any assemblies that are not designed for LED housings as the focal points are wrong. All the bulb kits you see are not approved for road use, the packages even say that on them. They are horribly blinging and do more glair than anything.

If you want to upgrade your lights do us all a favor and get this.
https://www.riffraffdiesel.com/2005-...eadlight-left/
https://www.riffraffdiesel.com/2005-...adlight-right/
https://www.riffraffdiesel.com/9007-...s-pigtail-set/

 

yes there are.

OP make sure you get bulbs that look like these (and clock the diodes correctly if needed)



and stay FAR away from bulbs that look like these (these are the ones Jimmy hates)

 

Your post is a broad generalization that is simply not true.

Granted, there are several, I’d venture to say most of the Amazon and eBay Chinese knockoff cheapies fall squarely into what you describe above, but there absolutely are LED bulbs that work exceptionally well in the OEM headlight housings.

Here is at least one example of LED bulbs that work great in the OEM housings ( link below) . The pattern is consistent with a distinct cutoff line ( as not to blind other drivers ), the high and low beam function as they should ( I’ve had a few Amazon bulbs that didn’t), and installation is true plug-n-play. I have these bulbs in three of my vehicles currently and I’ve passed my wife driving in the opposite direction at night while she was driving one of the vehicles with these bulbs a few times, they’re bright ( like any of the cars on the road with factory LED lights) but they don’t blind or cause any issues to other drivers.

https://www.dieselsite.com/ledheadlightbulb9007.aspx

Oh, and no electrical gremlins to speak of in any of the three vehicles that have them.

Post Edit: Here's a recent picture of a 9007 LED bulb from DieselSite like linked above, compared to a stock halogen bulb , in a factory Ford headlight housing. Beam sure looks like a pretty focused pattern that's not at all "horribly blinging and do more glair than anything" like stated above.



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The only "gremlins" LED lights could be responsible for, would be the hyper-fast blink rate of your turn signals. That's a known phenomenon, less resistance through LED as compared to halogen means a more rapid blink rate. There are plenty of "LED piggybacks" that will restore the normal blink rate. Not sure how much money I'd throw at the factory headlight housings, that's old old tech. Maybe with brand new housings and the right LED bulbs, you could see an improvement, but you're ultimately limited to that setup. I was not at all impressed with the Recon lights I installed in my wife's previous '04. While they looked good/modern, the performance was pitiful, especially considering the price tag and what it took to install them. If you have factory foglights, I was really happy with the Diode Dynamics replacement fog lights I installed. Those made a HUGE difference.

 

Just saw this on YouTube, reinforces what I said earlier…

 

The only thing I've noticed about LED Headlights is they cause interference on AM radio but I'd never go back.

 

AM radio,,,,I’m not sure I’ve tried listening to AM radio since LED lights have been invented.

now I’m gonna have to go see.
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I listen to talk radio but I'm finding it easier to listen over my cell phone at iHeartRadio. Also may interfere with CB radio which is AM. Something else nobody uses! LOL!