[Jag Daddy]

I've been working on swapping out the Halogen headlights to the newer style LED type. The Low beams fit with a some minor adjustment but the High Beam halogen bulbs seem to have a different tab pattern from the low beams so the bulbs do not sit correctly in the buckets. That means nothing is going to line up.
Anyone else had this issue and come up with a solution?

Thanks
Mark

 

[Ford blue blood]

Lay the LED lamps in the bucket, mark the tab location on the bucket and cut slots at the marks. Use a small chisel to crimp the "new" tabs down to allow the lamp to sit in the bucket properly. I had to do this to make halogens fit in the buckets on my 57 Ranchero.

 

[Jag Daddy]

Thanks for the advise Ford Blue Blood. I ended up having to get a dremmel tool and cut the area out. The new glass had these metal tabs that no way would fit. It also made the retainig ring tabs to short to connect with the buckets. Another issue was the high beam buckets are clocked slightly different from the low beam. So after getting the first one figured out I have to lights installed. What a difference in brightness. I'm going to have to do a complete headlight adjustment after this but night driving should be so much nicer now. BTW Did you put your LED's on a relay setup or just use the switch?
Thanks again
Mark

 

[Ford blue blood]

I used a relay for the Halogens. The stock headlight switch will not handle the load those lamps draw. You should be fine with the LEDs running through the stock switch as the load they have is actually less then the stock incandescent bulbs were.

 

[cerial]

The solution is to run sealed.

Sealed (glass) lights will not yellow and they take a impact much better then plastic. You can upgrade your bulbs to better glass ones that will provide more light.

You can use relays to lessen the strain on the switch while providing full voltage to the lights which will keep them bright.

LED's may seem cool at first. But after a few years of driving most have issues. If the thing is just a show car then run them. But for a driver glass is often just as good. If you want improved lighting hiding a led bar behind the grill or near the front licence plate area will allow for the additional light.

 

[Jag Daddy]

Thanks all:
I purchased the relay kit for the headlights now just finding a place to hide it is going to be fun. Thanks Cerial for the advice on the glass. I totally agree about the plastic lenses, the ones on my Explorer are a constant battle to keep clear. I actually purchased the more expensive glass H4 style bulbs that look almost like the stock glass units (not an easy task to find ) with the ability to use either H4 standard bulbs or LED's I did not opt for nor did I want the trendy color changers or the "Halo" style bulbs, I don't think they fit the look of the car. I wanted it to look as close to stock as possible. I spent hours researching which bulbs generated the best beam patterns with the best bulbs. The LED's are Beamtech and the Lamps are Maxwell. The Mustangs stock headlights are notoriously dim, and since I'm not getting any younger and would like to take the wife out on a cruse night I opted for brighter. Not blinding just brighter. I don't want to pull up behind someone and have them thing some alien spaceship had landed. The best part is if I wanted to go back to Halogen I can with this setup by simply swapping bulbs.

I really do appreciate everyone's input and value it greatly.
Thanks everyone and Happy Easter
Mark