Hello All!

I recently purchased some LED "Strobe" lights to put on my '09 F250 FX4. I have seen hidden strobes mounted on the flat proximal parallel plane of the head light assembly. After looking at my headlights, it appears that the inner reflector has a black plastic casing it sits in.

I am hoping someone with experience installing strobes in the headlights might offer some advice and direction for me. It appears that they outer shell could be removed for easy and watertight access to the reflector but I hate to break something that was never meant to separate.

At any rate, if you had any suggestions before I delve into this mod... I would greatly appreciate it!

 

First figure out where in the headlight assembly you want to install the bulbs, after that remove headlight drill your hole and mount your bulb in there... Just make sure you double check your location and your hole size before you drill. On my 05 I installed them on the amber side of the assembly

 

Welcome FlameNSky
I think you will find a lot of great Ford truck owners/Super Duty owners here on FTE
have you joined IL FTE?

 

Ok first you need to cut the outside Black area out larger enough to fit the entire rubber housing of the bulb. CAREFUL NOT to cut too deep as you will hit the inside reflector. Once you have done this, remove all debris from the first cutting. Then find the drill bit that is just a tad larger than the bulb itself. Cut the reflector piece out to make fit the bulb. Its best to try this on a piece of cardboard to ensure this is the correct size. The bulbs usually have a strange tit that is at the end and side of the tube. So you have to manevuer it so that it fits inside.
Once you have your holes cut, remove any shavings inside lense you can, I used an air tool to blow mine mostly out. Then I placed a thing layer of clear silicon around the rubber part to ensure a really tight seal. Then take the black excess part (oh forgot to mention, I used the door handle cutting tool for the outside piece (not sure the name), but it gives me a round piece of black plastic. I remove that piece and cut a slit in it so that you can put this back around the wiring and place back to cover the hole. I then silicon that area too, to ensure a nice seal all the way around.
I hope this is easy to understand.

My lights with strobes installed, I put them in the bottom blinker part, as to make sure they were not in the way of the headlights.

Here is my post with vids
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ed-w-vids.html

 

Hey Thanks Scott!

I was hoping to seperate that black outer housing but I guess, if I seal the first hole real good, the unit will still be watertight. I like where you mounted the strobe. I was thinking of going further up toward the front on the flat side reflector but deeper in the cup would definitely get better reflection. The video look good. I bought LED lights instead of actual strobe so I would never have to replace the head. I hope they are bright as yours! Thanks again.

 

I have installed many strobe set ups in many different trucks.
I try to put the strobe in a spot that will produce the maximum reflection (from the chrome insert)
I always use a "uni-bit" or "step-bit" drill bit with a max size of 1". It just seams to work out the best (for me).
Also, as said above, make sure you vacuum out all of the debris.

 

Are they LED strobe heads that are fired from a strobe power-supply, or LEDs that already have strobe patterns integrated?

 

Well I opted for the location that I did due to the limited rear spacing. These fit in the best spot possible for easy access and not hitting anything from the rear too. Thanks for the comments and I have other lights added since the vids too in the grill.
Also, take a pic of the LEDs that you have as I would be interested in seeing what they look like. I have used the tubes in 4 different trucks with never any issues with them burning out, but of course I didnt use mine on a daily basis either.

 

They are actually just High Intensity LEDS that flash in various patterns. You can definitely tell the difference between the two but they still flash nice full patterns.

I bought them from this guy on Ebay. 150 WATT VOLTEX AMBER LED STROBE KIT LIGHTBAR LIGHT BAR: eBay Motors (item 270586250028 end time Jun-03-10 19:00:00 PDT)


He does sell actual strobes but the LEDs seemed a simplier and less maintenance set up. Only a 3 watt draw and 1 million hour life span. Time will tell....

 

OH too funny......I have just about that same kit I am going to install on a buddies of mine F150. The only thing I noticed, atleast on this set was they didnt seem as bright. But it might just be the power box I got for his install, as he didnt want to spend the 200-300$ I did for my whelen system.

 

Yeah, they are definitely not as bright. Partly due to the fact that the light is not as evenly dispersed as with the strobes/halogens. Kind of hard to explain but I put a LED bub in my tail lights and they did not look right with the multi-faceted reflector. I guess because instead of having a single (even) light source, you have several small sources, all interacting.

I am not as worried about them being bright. I have 10 other dual LED lights that I will be mounting in the grill and rear tailgate areas. I was going to mount the "strobe" LEDs in the front turn signals, the rear backup lights, and in the cargo lights. I'll post a video when I get them all in.... probably won't be until August though. It's going to be a busy summer!

 

I have concerns also about where to mount my strobe bulbs. I had previously mounted them in a 99 Expedition/F-Series with great success. The recommendation from scottej is great but the grill and headlight configuration is really different that my 2008 and your 2009. I am anxious to find out how yours works out as I need to get out and do mine while the weather is still decent before the snow flies!!!

By the way, your truck looks great! Are those factory 20's it is sitting on as the only thing I don't care for about mine is the 17's. It kind of looks like it is sitting on four "mini spares" out of the truck of a passenger car!!!