If your explorer has the tow hook mounts on the front, you can add a pair of fog/driving lights. That is what I did to my 02 XLT.

 

I really didn't notice too much of a difference as far as height goes when I swapped to the 9007. I did take some pictures of before, after and with 1 bulb swapped. I'll get those posted up when I get a chance sometime today. The extra 10 watts will definately be brighter, however I was swapping from standard halogen bulbs to the Silverstars so I can't say which one it was.

I have it set up so that I can have both highs and lows on or I can have just highs by just disconnecting a wire. Thats a good point about the light up close. I do most of my driving on the interstate between Fargo, ND and the Twin Cities, MN and I find that the high beams are somewhat lacking because I can't see things infront of me. That is something that I'll have to play with to decide whether or not I like it.

How much were the xtravisions and nighthawks? I have read a little about the Euro Silverstar and they look promising. I would really like a 9007 bulb with a higher light output such as 75 and 65 or something like that.

I found a nice looking driving light on autoanything by Hella that looks like it just might fit inside of the bumper. I'll have to take some measurements of it and check.

As far as budget goes, I definately would like to stay under $100 but it depends on what comes up. Do you have any pictures of your driving lights, specifically the mounting and the light with them on?

 

There isn't a mount for tow hooks on the 1st gens. That was pretty stupid of Ford IMO. I ended up mounting my hooks to the frame underneath just behind the bumper air dam.

 

Yeah, I've got some pics and I'll take some others. Look for them tonight/tomorrow. My mounting is kinda ghetto, but hidden most of the time...and it works. OK, no "kinda" about it, I just hand bent some thin metal home depot stock and attached it with screws to the rad. support.

Large round lights are the best, anything else is a compromise. Which lights were you seeing from Hella?

Can't say I've driven a Ranger or Exp. from that era, not sure on the spread. They may very well need more foreground lighting.

Actually here are a couple pics, before getting everything (including the headlights) aimed properly, but they are pretty close to the end result. My camera doesn't do the best job of showing the diff. between stock and how it is now, there is more of a difference than appears in the pic.

First pic is new OE sylvania bulb with OE harness and fairly new NH with new harness (pic is alittle blurry, I must have moved while taking it, everything looks dimmer because of this). second in both NH with new harness on both. third is with hellas added (edit: the third pic I must have mislabeled, the cut off leads me to believe it is actually with XV headlight bulbs, no the nighthawks).

 

here are the drivng lights from the front. You can see the rear/top of my "custom" mounting brackets. Hood is partially opened and radiator cover is off, you can't normally see them...

 

Here is a picture of the front of my truck. I'll get some other ones and some other comments a little later.

http://mistercmk.com/images/explorergrill.jpg

 

C'mon, some big round Hella's would look right at home on that rig!

 

Alright, here is the stock bulbs.
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01404.JPG

Here are the 9007 Silverstars
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01412.JPG

9004 bulb vs 9007 Silverstar
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01411.JPG

I was looking at the Hella FF 75. I am thinking that it would fit nicely either between the grill or between the opening right by the license plate in the bumper.

Your driving lights look good; I'm sure they really light up the road. My family has a 2000 Expedition that I put Silverstarts in the fogs (9005 bulb) and those fogs are brighter than the headlights now. I love having a ton of light driving.

I would like to put a nice big round light behind the grill, however I have a feeling that a lot of the light would be blocked because of the thick bars on the grill. I'm pretty sure the car gods hate the 1st gen Explorers.

Anyway, whattya think?

 

Yeah, that is definitely more light. No, I wouldn't suggest mounting the round one's behind the grill, much of the beam would be blocked. I was thinking more of some custom bracket running under the grill and above above the bumper. Doesn't sound like what you want though.

I was going to suggest those very lights, pretty decent price too. They aren't 100% optimal (big and round) but you can bet they'll make a good difference. I'm not trying to steer you away from them at all.

I have mine aimed slightly wide, I enjoy just a bit wider beam at the expense of ultimate distance (they don't cross over as much so the center doesn't penetrate quite as far)

Here's a pic. of how the FF75 would look (beam wise) if aimed 100% properly. Lots of good info on this site http://www.rallylights.com/hella/ff075.asp

 

Well, it works...

Details and pics to follow tomorrow

 

Alright, here are the details I promised. I'll put up the pictures when I finish them up a little later.

The harness works great so far. I need to take some voltage readings again with the truck running rather than using my battery charger on there. From the readings that I do have it would appear that the harness definitely helped. I also took some before and after pictures of the ligh pattern on my garage wall too.

I ran into a little trouble with the way I had wired up the relays so that when the highs come on the lows stay. This was 2:30 in the morning and I was scratching my head as to why the lights were on when the relay harness power feeds were disconnected. I had it wired up so that the +12v to the bulb when the highs are on would energize the lows as well. This really balled stuff up and it didn't quite work right until I disconnected the jumper. A simple diode fixed the problem of the current backfeeding through the highs, however I was an idiot and soldered it into the jumper backwards. oops.

All in all I think this was definitely worth the $15 in materials to make. I'm gonna finish up fixing the high/low diode and button her back up sometime this afternoon and get some new pictures up.

 

Alright, I finished up with my balljoints today so I could take the truck for a test drive. The extra light is awesome. My dash lights are brighter and everything does not dim if the headlights, defrost, blower, radio, etc are on at night. It will be nice to not have all that current flowing through the headlight switch since mine was already starting to turn a little brown. I am definitely going to make a harness for my 'stang too (I already burned up the harness going into the headlight switch on that car). I have a bunch of pictures that I have to go through and put together so I will hopefully have those up tomorrow.

 

Alright, as promised, I have the pictures.

BEFORE
Low beams
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01530.JPG

High and lows
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01531.JPG

Highs
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01532.JPG

Finished install
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01536.JPG
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01537.JPG

Most of the mess there is because my power wires were a bit too long. I plan on adding a fuse block for the headlights as well as the electric cooling fan to tidy things up a little more.

AFTER
low beams
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01542.JPG

high and lows
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01544.JPG

highs
http://mistercmk.com/album/albums/us...2/DSC01543.JPG

More pics of the install can be found here.
http://mistercmk.com/album/thumbnail...album=9&page=3

The pictures don't do it justice. The lights are considerably brighter on the road now. My dash lights don't dim as much anymore when I am at idle with the blower, defrost, etc on.

tdister - I don't think that I am going to keep the lows on with the highs at this point after experimenting with it on the drive last night. I just may add some driving lights though.

 

Yeah, pics rarely do the mod justice. If you haven't already, just wait until you get out of lighted city streets. The difference on dark roads is amazing.

Install looks good.

 

Yup, I drove from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Fargo, ND last night and it was amazing. Now I gotta order some more relays and stuff to get started on the one for my Mustang.