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I wanted to upgrade my headlight wiring and put a relay near the headlights so that I can improve the wiring and keep most of the voltage between the batteries and the lamps vice routing it through the switch in the cab. During my on-line searching to save me the time of acquiring all of the individual parts myself I came across sort of what I was looking for. I also found a conversion harness that will convert my '03 (with 9007 bulbs) to the '05 and up lights (9008 bulbs).
My questions are these:
1. Are the 9008 bulbs that much better?
2. Are they a direct replacement for the 9007 bulbs (do I need new lamp housings)?
I have a set of 9007 Sylvania Ultrastars from the 150 I just sold and was going to put them in my '03 250. They made a big difference in my '97 150. I'm leaning towards putting in relays and heavier gauge wiring with the Ultrastars and was wondering if the 9008 upgrade was worth it.
A wiring harness upgrade for the headlights works great. I did that along with switching to Sylvania Xtravision bulbs and really noticed an improvement (I don't like the coated bulbs like Silverstars).
The 9008 mount to the light housing different. I'm not sure if you could modify your light housing to hold them or not. Most people upgrade to the 05-07 headlight assembly which use 9008 bulbs. They also seem to put out a better light pattern.
The harness upgrade to stay with 9007 bulbs will run you about $60.
The harness upgrade to switch to 9008 bulbs is about $70. The new headlight assemblies will run you anywhere from about $200 to $600 depending on if you buy used or new, OEM or aftermarket, standard or Harley style. Check the classified section here, ebay, and at dfuser's website.
I wanted to stay away from a sizeable investment. I'm more or less looking to only spend some beer money and invest a few hours to make an improvement. I just wanted to find out the logistics for the 9008 upgrade, which is a little more than I'm willing to bite off now.
I'm pretty happy with the beams now the the standard 9007's so I'm going to go with the wiring upgrade with my Silverstars. I'm sure after a while the itch will come back after I get used to those.