I have a 2005 F-250, V-10, that I ordered, and it is the very basic model, no carpet, etc. Night driving has always been a concern as the headlights just aren't bright enough. Today I was exploring options and talked with the Ford dealership who said I had sealed beam headlights for work trucks and my only option was to spend $1300 in parts with them, not including labor to change out the headlights for something that would have been standard on the XLT model. Anyone out there have any other options? Can you really not replace the bulbs with something brighter? Not looking to get into anything that might not be legal. He said if I knew someone savy with electricity and could pigtail in the lights and without purchasing the wiring harness the parts would be about half that. He also said I probably would have to pay about the same price at a salvage yard which raised some suspicions. I pull my horse trailer with this truck and I really like everything about it except for the poor night vision. I have to say that putting low lighting even in work trucks just because Ford takes the position that most work trucks are used during the day seems to be a bit of a safety concern. I am not saying that this is Ford's position, only that I was told by the part's manager that that was their rationale. I am not mechanical and don't know very much about trucks in general. Appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance

 

You have several options:

1. Add driving lights. There are a number of options here, good ones are either sealed beam, halogen LED or high intensity discharge (HID). This option may require the installation of a relay to power the lights and a switch to operate the relay. Most 4wd shops and customizing places have many options as does every online vendor.

2. Replace the stock headlamp with a halogen version. These are generally brighter than stock by a factor of 25-30%. These are available at most auto parts stores.

3. Replace the entire lamp assembly with an aftermarket HID setup. Mr. JDM has them for reasonable money on EBay. I have a set in one of my fleet for evaluation and am pleased with them. HID provides more light with lower draw, but requires some installation.

 

First, welcome to FTE!

As for your lights, I would start by adding some quality driving lights. They should run you about $100 and install is straight-forward with included instructions. As for upgrading, you can get better sealed beam lights or you can install the XLT style lights. You can probably find lots of info on FTE using the search function regarding the factory headlight upgrade.

Let us know what you do.

 

Short of buying night vision goggles or installing a Heads Up FLIR, the three options outlined above are usually the most common. Just a couple more thoughts of my own:

Option one is probably the most straight forward with the most number of choices available for separate driving lights. Just requires a bit of install time and finding a good mounting location for the lights.

Option two, which you also asked about, can be done. Most auto parts stores sell super white/bright replacement bulbs that swap out with the OEM's. Just a warning though, these bulbs are expensive (like $40 - $50 a pair!) and they burn out fast - most people are usually lucky to get one year out of them - something not mentioned on the package (just google reviews for these bulbs and see how many complaints there are out there). Also, I don't think you really get all that much more light from them.

Option three is probably the most expensive, and the most complicated and time consuming intallation wise.

 

This is what I did and it seems to help when its really dark.

 

I love the look of the sealed beam lights on the XL. Question: years ago cars used sealed beams with the same brightness as these with no issues. What is the problem today that no one can see? Must be all those worthless fluorescent lights ruining eyes. I have the 01 headlights on my truck that everyone says are soooooo bad, but I can see perfectly fine. What's the deal?

 

Until a LEO comes the other way.

 

I appreciate the advise. As far as sealed beam headlights, I had the same type headlights on my 1994 F-150 that I used before I bought this truck. I never had the same vision problems with the old truck. My brother still has that truck so I know that it isn't that I am just older and don't see as well. Thanks for all your help.

 

IF you find you are driving on mostly unpopulated roads the Brite Box comes in really handy, when there is oncoming traffic it is real easy and quick to turn off the hi-beams as you are already used to doing that. FYI...the brite box will light up both low and hi beam when you select hi beam, really brightens up those empty roads.

 

There are replacement wiring harnesses that get more juice to the lights than the factory wiring pretty simple to install. They use the factory wiring to power a replay that taps into the battery using a heavier gauge wire.

Heavy Duty Headlight Wiring Harness with relays increases voltage over stock wir suvlights.com HEADLIGHT WIRING HARNESSES & WIRING KITS
http://www.suvlights.com/images/head...ockets4-lg.bmp

You can add the factory fog lights VERY easily and put bigger bulbs in them. Parts Guy Ed sells the whole OEM fog lights pretty cheap. With XL you might or might not have plug to add them it is gray and mounted on radiator support.

Adding a bolt on light bar like the one pictured above allows you to add lights with out drilling any holes in truck four lights and light bar can run about $300 and up depending on what you buy and to have it installed would be about 2 hours work at a good shop but it is some thing you can easily do yourself with help from FTE

 

Welcome to FTE. Like the others have said, the easiest option is to just put on a good set of aftermarket lights.

I love the look of the xl too. I have one with sealed beam and one with halogen lights and I have never had any complaints with my sealed beams. I also like just replacing the bulb when it goes out(and having lights that are the same brightness their entire life) instead of having to replace both the bulb and the lens assembly when it gets dingy and dims the lights.

 

My '05 had the sealed beam headlights when I got it. I bought a set of repro XLT headlights for about $130 a piece (with bulbs), and threw them in. They bolt right up, and there's NO wiring to be done. The sealed beam headlights use a jumper from the halogen bulb receptacle to adapt to the sealed beam light. Take out that jumper, plug in the lights and go.

Now if it's bright than the sealed beams, I can't say for sure. But it's legitimately plug and play.

 

I find it disheartening to learn that Ford or any vehicle manufacturer would sell a vehicle with inferior headlights on their basic model and only supply decent headlights on more expensive models. There are other ways to increase profits without putting folks at risk.

 

There is absolutely 0% risk. The headlights are fine. You don't need 1000W spotlights on the front of a vehicle!

 

The lights on the light bar above are 85 watt lights. The little piaa lights under the bumper are far less. When its pitch black on the road and raining or foggy they are very helpful. To each his own on lights but the more light the better. KC just came out with a new light but $2,200 a set is a little steep for me. They are only a 70 watt HID but produce 1.2 million candle power or 7,000 lumens. Now that bright beings your 3D mag lights is only 77 lumens. Whatever you put on youor truck for lights, do it for your slef and what you need or want.