changing headlights
 

I have a 97 Ford Ranger and don't like the headlights. I've been told
that replacing them w/ lights 01 or newer will make a big difference.
Do they just bolt right into place like the existing ones? Or do I
need to make some alterations?
TIA
Tom
Seattle

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, I love Edsels wrote:

> I have a 97 Ford Ranger and don't like the headlights. I've been told
> that replacing them w/ lights 01 or newer will make a big difference.
> Do they just bolt right into place like the existing ones? Or do I
> need to make some alterations?
> TIA
> Tom
> Seattle

They will bolt in. You must use the newer headlamps *and* the newer corner
lights. The park/turn function is located within the main headlamp body on
the newer lamps, not in the corner lamp as with the old lamps. Therefore,
there is a separate sidemarker bulb in the new-style corner lamp. This
must be wired in, which is not difficult to do. You can either wire it to
burn steadily whenever the parking or headlamps are on (one wire to
parking lamp feed, one wire to ground) or you can do the smart thing and
wire it to burn steadily when the parking or headlamps are on *and* flash
with the turn signals (one wire to parking lamp feed, one wire to turn
signal feed, diagram at
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...rkerflash.html )

Ford's marginal headlamp wiring has been starving bulbs and producing dim,
brownish light from the headlamps for several decades now. They've finally
(in the last three years or so) started equipping their cars with decent
optics, and that's a big improvement over the badly-focused beams produced
by virtually all pre-'01 Fords, but the too-thin wires still starve the
bulbs. Put relays in, see
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html

DS

thanks. by newer, do you mean 04? this sounds do-able now but
I want to be sure before starting anything as I am the nervous and
delicate type. and as usual here, good advice from DS. as to the
others and their non-advice - stop that silliness right now!
thanks
Tom
Seattle


On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 20:21:27 -0500, "Daniel J. Stern"
> wrote:

>On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, I love Edsels wrote:
>
>> I have a 97 Ford Ranger and don't like the headlights. I've been told
>> that replacing them w/ lights 01 or newer will make a big difference.
>> Do they just bolt right into place like the existing ones? Or do I
>> need to make some alterations?
>> TIA
>> Tom
>> Seattle
>
>They will bolt in. You must use the newer headlamps *and* the newer corner
>lights. The park/turn function is located within the main headlamp body on
>the newer lamps, not in the corner lamp as with the old lamps. Therefore,
>there is a separate sidemarker bulb in the new-style corner lamp. This
>must be wired in, which is not difficult to do. You can either wire it to
>burn steadily whenever the parking or headlamps are on (one wire to
>parking lamp feed, one wire to ground) or you can do the smart thing and
>wire it to burn steadily when the parking or headlamps are on *and* flash
>with the turn signals (one wire to parking lamp feed, one wire to turn
>signal feed, diagram at
>http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...rkerflash.html )
>
>Ford's marginal headlamp wiring has been starving bulbs and producing dim,
>brownish light from the headlamps for several decades now. They've finally
>(in the last three years or so) started equipping their cars with decent
>optics, and that's a big improvement over the badly-focused beams produced
>by virtually all pre-'01 Fords, but the too-thin wires still starve the
>bulbs. Put relays in, see
>http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html
>
>DS

Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, I love Edsels wrote:
>
>
>>I have a 97 Ford Ranger and don't like the headlights. I've been told
>>that replacing them w/ lights 01 or newer will make a big difference.
>>Do they just bolt right into place like the existing ones? Or do I
>>need to make some alterations?
>>TIA
>>Tom
>>Seattle
>
>
> They will bolt in. You must use the newer headlamps *and* the newer corner
> lights. The park/turn function is located within the main headlamp body on
> the newer lamps, not in the corner lamp as with the old lamps. Therefore,
> there is a separate sidemarker bulb in the new-style corner lamp. This
> must be wired in, which is not difficult to do. You can either wire it to
> burn steadily whenever the parking or headlamps are on (one wire to
> parking lamp feed, one wire to ground) or you can do the smart thing and
> wire it to burn steadily when the parking or headlamps are on *and* flash
> with the turn signals (one wire to parking lamp feed, one wire to turn
> signal feed, diagram at
> http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...rkerflash.html )
>
> Ford's marginal headlamp wiring has been starving bulbs and producing dim,
> brownish light from the headlamps for several decades now. They've finally
> (in the last three years or so) started equipping their cars with decent
> optics, and that's a big improvement over the badly-focused beams produced
> by virtually all pre-'01 Fords, but the too-thin wires still starve the
> bulbs. Put relays in, see
> http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html
>
> DS

I've been driving my friend's late 80's F-150 all week, and working
nights as well (note timestamp) and I have to say that IMHO the
headlights are pretty darn good as far as seeing where I'm going, at
least on high beam. Of course, they're the same headlights that I hate
to have behind me at night when I'm in my regular ride, as the rear
window turns into this big wash of white light.

nate

!Peeve: got a call from the shop I dumped my Porsche at, they managed to
get rid of the hideous rattling noise from my A/C just by replacing a
few broken bolts. (apparently the bolts that hold all the accessories
on tend to back out and subsequently break. You'd have thunk that after
all these years of using bolts they would have figured out how to keep
this from happening, but according to the mechanic, it's actually fairly
common on the 944 series.)

Peeve: the fact that I didn't find this myself.

?Peeve: they were unable to reproduce the dying-CV-esque noise that
originally prompted me to drop it off at the shop with a side note "oh,
by the way, see if you can fix my A/C..."

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, Nate Nagel wrote:


> I've been driving my friend's late 80's F-150 all week, and working
> nights as well (note timestamp) and I have to say that IMHO the
> headlights are pretty darn good as far as seeing where I'm going, at
> least on high beam. Of course, they're the same headlights that I hate
> to have behind me at night when I'm in my regular ride, as the rear
> window turns into this big wash of white light.

High mounting height lets even cruddy optics show you the way passably
well. I'm guessing you haven't had to contend with much rain, fog or snow!

DS

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, I love Edsels wrote:

> thanks. by newer, do you mean 04?

I don't recall the exact starting year for the new-style headlamps, but
it's very easy to figure it out: Go to www.car-part.com (searchable used
auto parts nationwide) and search 2004 Ford Ranger headlight assembly. The
search results will only include identical years. Results are listed in
decreasing order of price, with the "new" lights at the top of the list
being aftermarket stuff from Taiwan.

> this sounds do-able now but I want to be sure before starting anything

Makes perfectly good sense. You *shouldn't* have a problem installing the
newer lamps, but it's been a few years since I closely compared the front
end arrangement of the Rangers in question.

DS