Ford Raptor Forum

I have not been happy with the stock OEM headlights. That said, Long story follows:

First off. I am a CHEAP Bastard. Second, I have always had some sort of AMBER or YELLOW Aux lights on every car I have owned since my 72 Pinto in 1975. I do NOT know WHY the HELL I like them. I know for me they seem to show off road signs and road stripes better. Makes them stand out more. I have always just liked the Euro Look I guess as well. I tend to drive with just the running lights and my Amber Lights on in rain. low light and fog.

So I am not one of the FLYING RAPTOR MEMBERS as far as the complete OFF ROAD look and function go. I bought my Raptor because I love the wider stance and wider look and that front end. All the rest of the BAD ASS stuff that came with that was a bonus! AHhahaaaaaa. I LOVE the mods the rest of you are doing , its just not me at this point.

That said, I did have a 94 Ranger 4X4 Ext Cab and did the Pre Runner and 4 big honker KC lights. 2 Were Yellow of coarse! HAHahhaaa.

So I am looking around the internet and this forum and like many of the options out there but damnit them LED's and some of the light bars and stuff are pricy! Remember I am a cheap Bastard. So I find a smallish set of lights made by Hella called 2020's. They are a 2 bulb unit with a wide flood 55w bulb and a beam 55w bulb all in a 3" x 6 " housing, both clear bulbs . Did some looking around and found them anywhere from $90 to $50 bucks. Hummm? Cheap enough if they suck I won't freak out. So I bought a pair and also bought some Amber 55w bulb that are claimed to be the equivalent of a 75w bulb. O.k.? They were cheap.

So I get them and they are kinda on the cheezy side but have a heavy cast body and a removable back plate which allows for a fairly easy bulb removal. The back plate has a real cheezy seal on it so a dab of rtv was applied upon replacement. These are pretty small units so I was kind doing the HUmmmmm thing. I hooked one up to a battery at work and where they were shipped to and MAN! They actually put out some decent light. I poped an amber bulb in and it was bright as well. Cool! I have a DUAL pourpus light with yellow and amber bulbs, SWEET! I will be able to split the circut to two of the Aux Switches and run just Amber or just White or BOTH! SWEET!

THE MOUNTING!
Well Saturday comes, 9:00am rolls around and I am READY. I decided that the best place for these tiny lights was gonna be in the lower grill just above my decal license plate. I had to split the decal where I have it placed over the bottom flange of the grill insert. That went like shit! Thats a DUMBASS STORY for another 6 pack! HAhahaaaaa. So I pull the grill and start looking at where and how to mount these. The truck has a nice flat upright on both sides of the opening just behind the grill where that roofing material close out is. Between the bumber and the radiator. Sweet, its flat on both sides so I can run an angle from one side to the other and go from there. I made a few measurments and headed out to the local hardware store.

I came back with an 2" x 2" X 1/8 " think aluminum L angle that cost almost as much as the damn lights! I bought a flat 2" x 1/8" flat as well. Bought tie wraps and connectors and this and that and fuse holders and all I thought I would need. Again, this all cost more than the damn lights. Why am I EVEN screwing with this. I can hear my wife now, A FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLOR TRUCK AND YOUR GONNA PUT WHAT WHERE AND OH HELL NO! HAhahaaaaa.

I was right. She went off saying I was this and that and used a few unpolitical names for me. HAhaaaa. She is right, what was my defence? HAhahaaaaa. So I dive in.

My main goal is to not mess anything up and make anything I do look decent and also be removable with little or no damage to anything just in case this don't work and look decent. So I get out EVERY TOOL in my box from Spring clamps, Clecos, all my old aircraft air frame and sheet metal stuff. Drills, grinders and I MEAN just about every tool I own. I get hacking and clamp the angle where I think its needed and then mood the mounts for the lights and attach them here and there and get it all pre drilled so I can make sure any adjust ments or maintanance can be done with the least amount of dickin around. This is one thing I have ALWAYS done with anything I fabricate, MAKE IT SIMPLE and MAKE IT EASY for the next guy or to maintain it. Its freaking HARd to think 3 steps ahead.

I get all the parts in for the last fit and then its time to trim the Grill. i posted about one anyone had laying around so if I screw thisone up I have an out. HAhahaaaa. I started hacking away, grinding, fileing and this took me a few hours but its not so bad looking since the lights hide most of the hacked off crap. I may treat it to some semi flat black paint down the road or maybe the puewter look. Anyway that went well and fits back in with the lights installed so the grill comes off for any adjustment screw access. Not bad! All in all I was done with the mounting at 10:00pm! AHhahaa. TOOK ALL FREAKING DAY!

THE WIRING;

So after Sunday morn coffee with my old man and a few friends as we do EVERY sunday morn, I dive in for the wiring. WHAT THE HELL was Ford thinking when the give you 2 freaking inches of wire to work with down in behind the SHARPEST METAL brackets and cut off wire ties and SHIT! My left hand is toast!!!! cuts and scrapes. I even had to wrap some trim tape along the edge of that DAMN METAL brace along the bottom of the glove box door area. It sliced my hand 1000 places between my wrist and thumb! WHY not just give you a series of single plugs on the ends of the wires you CHEAP BASTARDS! HAhahaaaaaa. So I get the two wires located that I am gonna use. AUX 1 and AUX 2 since they are the closest to the driver. I some how manage to get them soldered and only burnt my dash once and only melted the access door frame in 3 places. Stringy melting plastic shit floating everywhere for a half hour! HAhahaaaa. I know they are 30 amp so I will just installed a inline fuse for each circut under the hood. I will use those little or Mini Fuze holders that are rubber and snap closed. Use them all the time on the bikes where water gets on them all the time and the stay dry. I some how get my heat shrink installed and close everything back up.

I go under the hood to do a temp test and just twist wires together for this. I also hook up an in line fuse that came with the lights in both circuts just in case something goes wrong and I have those 30amp fuses which are way big for the supplied light wire. I hook up the amber circut first and WAHLAHHHHh! They work? HAhahaaaaaa. Now I Hook up the white lights and NOTHING! What the hell? I freak. I pull the damn glove box back off and the burnt side panel and cut off my heat shrink thinking I did something wrong like wired the Shunt wire under the hood to another Shunted wire and no power wre. WELL SHIT! I had done it correct! What the HELL! SO I go and check the in line fuse now instead of earlier. SHIT! Is like a 1 amp fues for the relays that came with the lights! SHIT! I pop out the Amber lights circut fuse and stuff it in the white light circut and YEA HAW! It works TOO!

So I cut and crimp and shrink all my wires and cram it all in convalesent or whtever its called tubing and tie wrap it all nice and perdy. I installed those rubber covered in line fuses with a 15 amp fuse and put it all together and all thats left to do is an aiming session. I finished up about 7:00pm. Its taken me like 24 hours of shit to install a $50 set of lights. SHIT! Here are a few pics.

Amber are the outside pair and the whites the inside pair. First pic is all the lights, then Amber, then white which are closer together and then all from an angle. They look cool, Hope they keep woring and put out some decent light! HAhahaaaaaaa.

BDRAG

P.S. Thanks to all the forum memebers that posted their mods and videos of how to's. All the comments and answers were greatly appriciated as well to my stupid questions. This forum does ROCK! ..... Really! HAhahaaaaaa.

It does look good. That was a real decent deal! Looks better on white than black. Can you run with those things on while in town or do you get SHOT at? HAhahaaaaa.

BDRAG