theres a much easier way I did mine and took 1/2 hour to do you buy the hid conversion kit on ebay you get hi/low beem the whole kit for $140 I'll give you the sellers name when I find it.

 

Easier...but improper. This is the way to go if you really want them.

LaxPlaya21: Just get some airbags on the back if hauling is a regular thing. Hey, it's not my money

 

Question: Are you running into any heat issues with the back of the lenses painted black like that? If I remember correctly, those xenon bulbs put out quite a bit of heat, and that black backing might be soaking it up.

Gunner15a

 

Heat won't be a problem for him. True HID bulbs actually put out less heat than a halogen, considerably less. Both overall, and watt for watt. More electricity is converted into light instead of heat with them.

 

Yes it could be done. I planned on leaving it the stock reflective color, however the problem is with leaking light. Light leaks out of the sides of the projector... it will then hit the stock reflector and reflect out on the road as glare. I went black so it would not reflect anything out to the street.

I think you are talking about putting HID kit in the stock housing. If that is the case it is easy however, it is dangerous. Doing so will be a downgrade to your stock headlights. It will also be dangerous for oncoming drivers who will be blinded by the rediculous amount of glare coming off of the reflectors. HID was never made to be in a halogen relfective housing. If you were talkina bout getting a kit, and a projector setup off Ebay, I would say you are going in the right direction. However, any projector you get off ebay in one of those premade headlight housings will be garbage. However, it gives you a great starting point to upgrade.

I don't usually haul heavy loads, so I should be good to go! That would be a nice feature though haha.

No like Tdister said, these things run cool compared to halogens. They also draw a lot less power after they are running. I have had no heat issues at all. I can actually touch the projector after its been running for 20 mins without burning myself.

 

Old thread but still Valid.
Lax, Looks Good, Similar to what I'd like to do.
Do you know anyone near you that has other projectors retrofitted into similar trucks (for equal level and such) to compare the outputs? are those TLs better than a Mini H1 or Mini D2S? how hard was it to shoe-horn that projector in there, I heard that the housings were a little too small for bigger projectors like the FX-Rs and such... I'd like to do this with my F350, but when I do it I am thinking paint the bezel Body color (Dark Copper Met.) and I'm not sure about the reflector, Torn between painting it too or leaving it chrome.

I tried and did a retrofit in my F150 but the cutoff didn't come out aimed too good, It's all level just not straight... V.V
When I did this retrofit I tried to take one of the "eBay Projector" housings and retrofit the FX-Rs (Ver 1) into it but I had to cut so much away that when I went to install the lights to try and aim/mount then the pegs in the back broke right off, now maybe a smaller "Mini" series or even the smaller "Micro" series projectors from TRS would work I don't know, also since the Super duties use a different mounting system than the F150 did It may work better than my experience....

 

Ace,
The TL's are still probably the best projectors on the market, but their big design isn't retro friendly. I also did a retro on my 09' F250 using the FX Rs and they were easier to work with and offer a comparable output. A friend of mine has the mini D2S on his and they are by far the easiest to do the retro with but offer the least output compared to the other two. So in my opinion I would use the FX R, with the clear lens on it. I would also use Phillips 4300K D2S bulbs and not after market stuff. I think you would still be happy with a mini projector, especially with the ease of install compared to the FXR, it all comes down to how much work you feel like doing.

There are new techniques for mounting as well that don't require screws. JB weld can be used to hold everything in place instead of mounting screws. The only problem is you get one shot with lining things up. You really need to focus on left right alignment, and rotational alignment. Up and down can be aligned using the stock alignment screws.

I use theretrofitsource.com for projectors and bezels. They have everything you need. When I did my first retro they weren't selling packages like they are now.

Good luck and post pictures!

 

For the up/down are you referring to the screws that hold the reflector in place? I have been contemplating doing this with mini DS2's from TRS on my 04 (switched to the 05-07 headlights). The only concern of mine is the up and down because left/right and rotational is easy to adjust with the DS2 kit.

 

I'm not too familiar with the kit you are talking about but if you have a link I would gladly look into it. In all the retros I have done or seen, the stock reflector is adjusted for up and down alignment. There is aiming screw on the back of the light that does this adjustment. It has a star shape end, I usually use a 5.5 or 5mm socket to adjust it.

 

Here is the DS2 kit i was talking about.
Bi-xenon Morimoto Mini Stage III Kit (D2S) - Complete Retrofit Kits from The Retrofit Source Inc

I looked up how to install it and basically you just grind the H13 nipple thing off in the back of the reflector and screw it down. Rotational aiming is easy because its screwed in and same with left and right if it is ground down correctly. I'm just not sure about the vertical aiming other than using spacers when re installing the reflector. On the 05 lights the start shaped adjusting screw only moves the little dingle berry that is in front of the stock bulbs lol.

 

I thought that the aiming screw raised and lowered the entire reflector that you screwed your projector into. These little projectors sure made retros a lot easier! What you could also do for aiming vertically is add washers to the mounts where the headlight fixture attaches to the truck. You play with this for left right and up and down aiming.

Post pics of your retro!

 

Will do, that's what i assumed i would have to do since the reflector itself doesn't actually move for the 2005+ trucks.

 

The reflector does move on mine, when you twist the e5 hex screw the reflector moves up and down and because the projector is mounted inside the reflector the whole deal moves up and down there is no left to right adjustment that I have.

 

Really, every time i looked (youtube usually or google searches) people never showed how they adjusted them just before and after adjustment. I fell more releaved to do it now then because that's easier than i anticipated.

 

Its the star shaped thing in the left side. One way adjusts the reflector pattern up and the other down.

Excuse the salt. They use it like candy here.