A guy told me he put cab lights on his 02 and said the harness connected to the digital display above the rear view. Anyone got any info on this? Want to do it but would like to be prepared. Don't seem to be too difficult besides the headliner removal.

 

Very easy install, Me and another hundred on here have done it, do a search.. Buy the factory lights and harness from someone like Ed (Y2K Ford). It plugs into a plug behind the right kick panel. I made a template for marking my roof and punched the holes with a greenlee knock out tool. I beleive the search should bring up "Motormans" write up if I remember right. Any other questions PM me.

 

Has anyone had any problems with water or any other elements in the cab lights? Fear of leaking is the only thing stopping me from installing a set.

 

Probably the single most commonly used referral link for installing cab clearance lights:
http://www.emotoman.com/f250/lights/f250lights.htm


In my four years of lurking around FTE (and longer at some other Ford forums), I have only seen one thread regarding a leaking cab clearance lights. So, either no one brings it up when it happens, or it is an extremely rare occurrence.

 

Like Deluxe05 I live high in the mountains where there is more than my share of snow and other bad weather and in over two years, never a leak. The factory lights come with a good gasket on them, I installed mine dry, just the way they came and tightened them down and have not given it a thought.

Go for it, it completley changes the nighttime look of our trucks. I am sure you will love it.

 

I've installed them too.

Regarding the harness, there are two. If you have an overhead console you need a harness that feeds the overhead console AND the new cab lights. I would say it is unlikely that your existing harness already has a connector for the cab lights. That would be unusual if it did, and you will only know by pulling things apart and looking. The other harness does not have feed to the overhead console, just the cab lights.

Either way, the harness plugs into an existing connector in the passenger side kick panel.

 

I had a writeup back in January when I installed them on an '08

I put mine on dry, and since it is a regular cab (and I had taken the liner completely out) i took it to a touchfree wash after I was done to check... not a drop. Haven't worried about them since.

 

That works for me. He said you unplugged the harness and plugged the overhead console harness and this plugged in between those two plug ins. Either way that kick panel won't be a big deal to run it too.

 

Meeks,

I did mine aprox: June/08 and no sign of drips.
Even with the good factory seal included with the OEM light package kit I would recommend applying some additional sealer (some folks here will disagree) along with primer on the cut edges.

I applied generous amounts of black silicone sealer to my installation. Liberally to the top and generously to the underside.

NOTE: (something to consider)
I also ran some additional wire to the over head console from the engine compartment and drivers side of dash for future use while I had the roof liner and console out (maybe lights or horn or ?). Braided 4wires wrapped in electrical tape.
If you're thinking about a roof mount CB antenna this is a good time to run the coax as I ended up doing later in the year.

Good luck...

Rick...

I had dozens of photos of the installation process but misplaced the SD card. There's actually a good chance I (for the butthead I can be sometimes) left the card on the roof during the work and drove off the next day).

- The orange line is the braided 4wire.

 

Awesome info here, guys. Thanks!

 

They very rarely leak if you take your time, buy the OEM lights and put them on when the truck is dry and CLEAN.

Using some silicone sealer on them on the inside and a little on the out side can't hurt.

Measure 4 times cut once

 

cut 15 times, actually ;-)

 

No offense meant Rick, but I just have to comment on this. I hope everyone accepts it in the spirit intended.

But that is way too much silicone, and it's in the wrong place. If water gets under the lamp base, that electrical connector will still leak. It's better to put a little bit of silicone around the base of the electrical socket on the bottom of the lamp base. Just a small bead, and then place the lamp base on the roof. You want it to be just enough to squeeze downward into the drilled holes. You probably don't even need any, but I did use a little. There is no point in putting any on the bottom side of the roof.

 

I ordered some from Recon. They are going on this weekend. I ordered the kit for trucks that do not have factory lights assuming it would come with the wire harness. Wrong! There is no wire harness, says I have to get one from Ford or I can go directly to another wire. Anybody know where this other wire is? i will ground the - to a screw post for one of the lights, but where do I connect the +? What interior components do I need to remove to do it aside from the headliner and A pillar covers.

 

bpounds,,, You got nerve dis'in my mess,,, (do I really need a smiley face here?)

I have the silicone completely filling the underside of the light bases with a little on the OEM seals. There is no chance of even condensation getting into the base of the housings let alone the exposed primed metal. The sealer you see on the underside is not as much as it looks like at a glance. Its just the final seal to have the complete housing 100% sealed inside to out. It's only a thin coat on the underside if you look closely.

As my luck would have it,,,
I had to replace one of the lights (1 complete unit including the base) 2 weekends back due to a branch taking it out during a short back road afternoon trip (not even a scratch on the roof! Too close). Since I installed them, the Truck's been through a fairly normal summer then a pretty harsh winter of snow and freezing and then this year we had a record breaking hot summer. Not to mention here in Vancouver (home of the 2010 Olympics) we do get a lot of rain in general and the Truck is washed once/week. I took a good look at it during and after disassembly and I was more than pleased with the effort I originally put into it. The silicone took very well to the painted roof surface and the plastic base. I struggled a little bit to get the base off but it peeled off ok then I had to spent some time scraping the chunks and residue silicone off the roof. I probably could have gotten away with not pulling head liner, but the **** sob that I am I simply had to pull it and get the silicone on the underside of the roof.

I'm sure other application methods are just as good or better, but I will do it again the same way if I need to install clearance lights again.

Rick...