1996 Ford F-250 headlight upgrade

Kenny78

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Dec 7, 2018
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I am looking for options on my 1996 Ford F-250. I have spoken to Daniel stern and he presented OEM lenses, harness, and Phillips extreme vision bulbs. As a stop gap, and because I have other vehicles running 9007 lamps, I purchased the bulbs(thru his link) and a cheap harness due to time constraints and not wanting to alter a harness if I departed from 9007 or used reputable LED's sealed beam form factor.

I can appreciate the OEM lenses, but by the time I spend 240.00 on these, what lighting level am I going to have? Would I have a better/safer light if I was to properly mount a universal bucket for a 200mm rectangular lamp? What about fabricating proper mounts for the hella 90mm halogen modules to replace the factory headlamps?

Thank you for this incredibly professional community focused on proper lighting. Most of the rest of the Internet is full of hid/led retro BS. I am very sensitive to headlight glare and do not want to create any.
 

-Virgil-

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Mar 26, 2004
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Welcome to the board!

Top number one important thing before anything else: lose/dump the cheap harness before it kills you by plunging you into darkness while you're in the middle of using your headlights some dark night. No exaggeration; cheap harnesses fail without warning. There's a reason why good harnesses cost good money; you don't get what you don't pay for. If you need to economize and not buy a good harness for now, just continue using the truck's standard wiring -- it's not optimal, but at least it's safe.

Between halogen 90mm modules and new OEM Ford headlamp units fed by a good harness, the OEM lamps are going to win that comparison easily. The beam pattern won't be as "pretty" to look at on the garage door, but in terms of real, objective safety performance you'll be better off.

If you spend the dough for the Xenon 90mm modules they'll win out over the Ford lamps. LED 90mm modules could go either way depending on which ones you get. But now you're looking at a whole lot of money.

200x142mm LED sealed beams: if you buy good ones (JW Speakers are top-of-class, and are the only ones available with a heated lens for driving in sloppy winter conditions), they'll beat out the Ford lamps. The Truck-Lite ones will still beat out the Ford lamps, but there's no heated lens available.

There is also the factor to keep in mind that mounting 90mm modules or 200mm sealed beams is going to look klugey -- if you care.

(If you find a new pair of genuine Ford OEM headlamps for '92-'96 F-Series trucks for $240, buy 'em quick! You can always sell them later if you choose not to use them, but those lights are not made any more, and all that's generally available is aftermarket units of much poorer quality.)
 

Kenny78

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Dec 7, 2018
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Understood on the cheap harness. I will remedy with first tier products.

I think I had a pretty clean setup on the 200 mm buckets. However if it's only a marginal increase then I'll stick with the oem lenses.

On on one of our other vehicles, what is the comparison between relayed cibies with "best" bulbs and jw LED's? The non heated version is fairly equal price wise since I'll have to buy a first tier harness or the components.
 
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idleprocess

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I used to have a 1996 Ford F150 - which looks to have identical headlights - with badly hazed headlamps that were borderline uesless. Put some Eagle Eyes housings in since I was being cheap (it was an occasional-use work truck principally driven during the day) - they were subjectively brighter but patterned rather bizarrely; I was thankful that it rarely left the well-lit confines of the city.
 

-Virgil-

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Mar 26, 2004
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I think ink I had a pretty clean setup on the 200 mm buckets, but if it's only a marginal increase, I'll stick with oem.

If you can mount the 200 mm buckets in a satisfactory manner, and can swing the cost of the JW Speaker LEDs (with heated lens if necessary for your driving conditions) then that would be the superior setup.

On on one of our other vehicles, what is the comparison between relayed cibieswith best bulbs and jw LED's?

JW LEDs, head and shoulders. That's assuming we're talking about 200 mm rectangular lamps. The answer can change with different headlamp formats.
 
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