HID/Projector headlight replacements?

[Swissy]

Anyone have a good story on H.I.D. replacement headlight assemblies, or projector headlights? I have a 2000 F250 and the stock lights just seem to be getting worse and worse. with the dark winters here in AK I was thinking of upgrading. I've seen a number of HID setups in eBay (Halo lights?!?!) but I'm always leary of stuff like that on eBay.

I'd look at offroad lights but I need daily driving around town lights... but will most likely add some HID style driving lights for the long highway drives as well.

But if anyone has some insight on replacement setups, I'd love to hear it.
Thanks!

 

[J_F250]

I put Harley lights in my SD and did a HID kit on mine. I would not under any circumstances go with any projector lights that are already made. Those are not HID projectors they are halogen projectors...no matter what they tell you on ebay. There are companies that sell HID kits (what I bought) and do retrofits. They take your headlights (you ship them to them) and they put real HID projectors in them...from BMW, Audi, Nissan, Acura, etc..(you usually get to choose or you can buy your own and send them) and they take the headlights apart and fab up the mounting of the projectors with shrouds and sell you the ballasts and bulbs and harness. I explored doing this on mine with a company but he said generally Ford headlights especially SD lights are hard to get apart and it costs more in labor than normal retrofits and they also said that they had never done one for a SD yet. If I was to do it and maybe eventually will I know that I will love the cutoff of them and the "rainbow effect" at the top of the cutoff. If you have the money do the retrofit with projectors...you won't regret it.
Just my .02
The place I bought my kit...cut off is OK and they look really great.
custom HID conversions, HID kits, LED, CCFL specialists - retrosolutions
Also another place that has been in business a while:
Home - CustomLightz - The HID Retrofit Specialist
General info about HIDs on SD trucks:
Hid Lighting

 

[AK Rover]

I haven't added HID to my SD yet but I ran them in the stock housings on my 07 Dodge Ram without a problem. The housing produced a surprisingly good cut off and didn't offend other drivers. I realize it's not the best way to do it but it worked well for me.

Probably the most popular driving lights in Alaska are the Lightforce Strikers. They are 170mm diameter and put out an incredible amount of light for a halogen bulb. Lightforce is now also offering a HID upgrade for the Strikers that I haven't tried yet but I'm guessing is awesome based on the halogen version of the light.

 

[J_F250]

I haven't added HID to my SD yet but I ran them in the stock housings on my 07 Dodge Ram without a problem. The housing produced a surprisingly good cut off and didn't offend other drivers. I realize it's not the best way to do it but it worked well for me.

Probably the most popular driving lights in Alaska are the Lightforce Strikers. They are 170mm diameter and put out an incredible amount of light for a halogen bulb. Lightforce is now also offering a HID upgrade for the Strikers that I haven't tried yet but I'm guessing is awesome based on the halogen version of the light.

Same for me with the Harley housings...it has worked fine for me. My truck is a 2000 as well as the OP and I would not recommend doing it with the stock housings because there is no up/down adjustment...there is on the 05-07 housings though.

 

[Swissy]

so the Harley model light housing will swap into the 2000? much trimming or modification needed?

I'd like to change the whole thing as the lens on the 2000 is far too opaque (seems like it's getting worse too)

then I assume you just add a better bulb? Sorry, I can rebuild engines but can barely change a bulb

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

so the Harley model light housing will swap into the 2000? much trimming or modification needed?

I'd like to change the whole thing as the lens on the 2000 is far too opaque (seems like it's getting worse too)

then I assume you just add a better bulb? Sorry, I can rebuild engines but can barely change a bulb

I'm thinking of doing the swap myself and I'm collecting information right now. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but this is what I got so far.

The 07 lights (Harley or regular) will fit, but require minor trimming of the panel behind the lights.

The 07 lights use a different style bulb (h13 vs. 9007) which require a harness to convert the 9007 harness to your new h13 bulbs. These can be found cheap on ebay. However, while some buy this simple harness, a different harness should truely be used. I believe BAMA has it. It is a harness to connect the 9007 harness to the h13 bulbs, but incorporates a relay. The relay is required because the h13 bulbs used in the 07 lights are a higher wattage than the old 9007's and will burn up the factory wiring without using a relay.

With that said, instead of buying the better relay (I believe is $90), I will buy the cheap harness and a quality h13 HID kit ($160ish) when I do the swap. This will give me the better looking and better performing setup I believe.

 

[J_F250]

so the Harley model light housing will swap into the 2000? much trimming or modification needed?

I'd like to change the whole thing as the lens on the 2000 is far too opaque (seems like it's getting worse too)

then I assume you just add a better bulb? Sorry, I can rebuild engines but can barely change a bulb

You have to trim the header panel or put in a 2005-2007 header panel. Just add an H13 bulb or a HID kit for H13 housings.

 

[J_F250]

I'm thinking of doing the swap myself and I'm collecting information right now. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but this is what I got so far.

The 07 lights (Harley or regular) will fit, but require minor trimming of the panel behind the lights.

The 07 lights use a different style bulb (h13 vs. 9007) which require a harness to convert the 9007 harness to your new h13 bulbs. These can be found cheap on ebay. However, while some buy this simple harness, a different harness should truely be used. I believe BAMA has it. It is a harness to connect the 9007 harness to the h13 bulbs, but incorporates a relay. The relay is required because the h13 bulbs used in the 07 lights are a higher wattage than the old 9007's and will burn up the factory wiring without using a relay.

With that said, instead of buying the better relay (I believe is $90), I will buy the cheap harness and a quality h13 HID kit ($160ish) when I do the swap. This will give me the better looking and better performing setup I believe.

That is exactly what I did..besides the cheap harness part. I bought the cheapest ones from dfuser.com

 

[Swissy]

so lemme ask this... where did everyone get the 2007 Harley lights for the conversion? I see them on eBay for cheap, which is usually the case... cheap. But then the retail stores with OEM stuff are in the $500 range...

 

[J_F250]

so lemme ask this... where did everyone get the 2007 Harley lights for the conversion? I see them on eBay for cheap, which is usually the case... cheap. But then the retail stores with OEM stuff are in the $500 range...

I was lucky and got mine practically new for $200 on craigslist...but this is where I was going to get them.
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If you go with the retro solutions kit you only need one harness for the hook up (it just acts as a switch)..I have an extra harness