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Ranger/B-4000 LED Headlight Coversion - Experiences & Suggestions


cobrajocky

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I've got a 1997 Mazda B-4000 2WD Extra Cab (98k Miles) and it seems like everyone on the roads have brighter headlights than my sweet truck. My headlight glass is still pretty clear, not sure if it can be polished like the lexan headlights found on all cars these days. It's really the stock 9007 55/65 watt Halogens are just too weak and when I've bought higher wattage Halogens I've noticed the wiring/plugs gets noticeably hot and the Halogens don't last as long as the stock lower wattage. I'm assuming that Ford just (barely) designed the wiring, plugs and circuitry for a max 65w lamp system?

There are a lot LED Headlight "Upgrade Kits' from more brands I've never heard of and a few like Phillips that are known brands on EBay, Amazon, etc. Many have suspect "compatibility" listings with Ranger / B-Series trucks, all the listings fall short on explaining how to do them and are they complete kits with all the parts and electronics needed.

So let me through this out in the Forum of Experts on Ford Rangers and bastard brother Mazda B-Series modes -
1) do they work and are they worth the conversion?
2) are they noticeably brighter and well aimed down the road?
3) which ones are recommended?
4) what components are needed (for the full conversion) and how to best do the conversion?
5) lastly can the stock Ranger / B-Series electronics handle the upgrade (wattage) or is some upgrade there needed?

Now some might say, just get a bumper / grill / roof mounted LED light bar! Yeah, except all the "harmless" Illegal immigrants and usual suspects here in California will steal them off your truck the minute you leave it unattended for 20 minutes in your driveway or store parking lots.

Picture below is an EXAMPLE of the many "LED Conversion Kits" listed on EBay.
 

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07nhbpsi

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I've got a 1997 Mazda B-4000 2WD Extra Cab (98k Miles) and it seems like everyone on the roads have brighter headlights than my sweet truck. My headlight glass is still pretty clear, not sure if it can be polished like the lexan headlights found on all cars these days. It's really the stock 9007 55/65 watt Halogens are just too weak and when I've bought higher wattage Halogens I've noticed the wiring/plugs gets noticeably hot and the Halogens don't last as long as the stock lower wattage. I'm assuming that Ford just (barely) designed the wiring, plugs and circuitry for a max 65w lamp system?

There are a lot LED Headlight "Upgrade Kits' from more brands I've never heard of and a few like Phillips that are known brands on EBay, Amazon, etc. Many have suspect "compatibility" listings with Ranger / B-Series trucks, all the listings fall short on explaining how to do them and are they complete kits with all the parts and electronics needed.

So let me through this out in the Forum of Experts on Ford Rangers and bastard brother Mazda B-Series modes -
1) do they work and are they worth the conversion?
2) are they noticeably brighter and well aimed down the road?
3) which ones are recommended?
4) what components are needed (for the full conversion) and how to best do the conversion?
5) lastly can the stock Ranger / B-Series electronics handle the upgrade (wattage) or is some upgrade there needed?

Now some might say, just get a bumper / grill / roof mounted LED light bar! Yeah, except all the "harmless" Illegal immigrants and usual suspects here in California will steal them off your truck the minute you leave it unattended for 20 minutes in your driveway or store parking lots.

Picture below is an EXAMPLE of the many "LED Conversion Kits" listed on EBay.
Personally, I wouldn’t mess with that brand..... :popcorn: as the old sayin goes, u get what u pay for........ I currently am waiting on OPT7 fluxbeams to show up...:icon_hornsup: they have a lot of positive reviews on them.....can’t wait as I’ve been putting off trying LED for sometime now...:icon_surprised: the Opt7 aren’t cheap but I hope they live up to their reviews for me....:icon_hornsup:
 

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So let me through this out in the Forum of Experts on Ford Rangers and bastard brother Mazda B-Series modes -
1) do they work and are they worth the conversion?
2) are they noticeably brighter and well aimed down the road?
3) which ones are recommended?
4) what components are needed (for the full conversion) and how to best do the conversion?
5) lastly can the stock Ranger / B-Series electronics handle the upgrade (wattage) or is some upgrade there needed?
1) They work, but if they are worth it is a matter of opinion.
2) No personal experience with LED slugs, but they should be as the down-road aiming and projection is more a function of the reflector in the housing than it is of the bulb itself.
3) I would go with a known brand like Phillips or Sylvania. I have been eyeing some very interesting Sylvanias for my truck, but they are $80 a piece.
4) They should be more or less plug and play, but a lot of them come with large ballasts and heat syncs.
5) The stock wiring should handle it just fine. The big advantage of an LED is that it is supposed to use less power to make the same light.


Now for the things you didn't ask about.


1) LEDs don't make as much heat and so if you ever get snow don't expect them to keep the lenses clear like a halogen will.

2) A lot of LEDs are very bright, but in the wrong color range for proper night-time viewing, meaning they wash out the areas not directly in the center of the beam and give you worse down-road vision than a dimmer bulb in the correct color range.

3) Headlights are for other cars to see you more than they are for you to see. Super bright lights are not always an advantage. If you are looking to upgrade because you can't see well after dark that is one thing, and should be approached with the goal of seeing, and so you should use bulbs that will do that the best. If you are doing this because you are jealous of other vehicles having brighter lights than you, maybe you need to sit down and rethink your views on life instead of messing with your headlights.
 

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2) A lot of LEDs are very bright, but in the wrong color range for proper night-time viewing, meaning they wash out the areas not directly in the center of the beam and give you worse down-road vision than a dimmer bulb in the correct color range.
Agree 100%
This is an almost universal problem with LED vehicle lighting (especially with aftermarket conversions and those big LED light bars, but even somewhat the newer OEM LED headlights on some new cars too). LEDs put out a very sharp spike deep within the blue light spectrum, which makes them "seem" really impressively bright up close (or if staring right at them), but the short-wavelength light dissipates much quicker into distance than light from, say, halogen or some HID lights do. This creates additional glare, not just for you, but for others on the road as well.


You should be able to get your stock lenses back to like new crystal clear with some 2000-grit wet-sanding (preceded by 1000-grit if they are heavily hazed), and finally a plastic or acrylic polishing compound. Note that without a sealer of some sort you'll probably have to hit them every 3-6 months with the polish to maintain their clarity, but unless you allow them to get real bad, there should be no need to redo the sanding part of the procedure.
There are also headlight polishing kits you can buy too, though IMO most seem way overpriced.

If that isn't enough, you can try bypassing the stock wiring and run the headlights off a couple relays wired straight to the battery (one for low-beam, the other for high) and retry your higher-watt bulbs.

Finally (maybe the easiest/best option), add a pair of good halogen auxiliary lights to your truck and wire them on a relay so they simply come on with your headlights (put some paint splotches and/or nicks with a file or something all over them to make them look ugly & worthless so no one would want to steal them :D ).


Just be glad you don't have a '89-'92 truck. The 9004 bulbs used in those suck by comparison to yours.
 

cobrajocky

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Agree 100%
You should be able to get your stock lenses back to like new crystal clear with some 2000-grit wet-sanding (preceded by 1000-grit if they are heavily hazed), and finally a plastic or acrylic polishing compound. Note that without a sealer of some sort you'll probably have to hit them every 3-6 months with the polish to maintain their clarity, but unless you allow them to get real bad, there should be no need to redo the sanding part of the procedure.
There are also headlight polishing kits you can buy too, though IMO most seem way overpriced.

If that isn't enough, you can try bypassing the stock wiring and run the headlights off a couple relays wired straight to the battery (one for low-beam, the other for high) and retry your higher-watt bulbs.

Finally (maybe the easiest/best option), add a pair of good halogen auxiliary lights to your truck and wire them on a relay so they simply come on with your headlights (put some paint splotches and/or nicks with a file or something all over them to make them look ugly & worthless so no one would want to steal them :D ).
Well if I was looking for optimism about switching to LED system, all you guys are anything but. I am looking for both more distance penetration and over-all brightness from my headlights, high and low beam.

Considering that nearly every new car and truck in the past few years comes with LED lamps, I find it hard to believe that there is a problem with using LED (their "color" etc) over halogens. My buddy has a 2012 Mazda 3 with the optional LED headlights option (now they are standard on all M 3's and 6's etc.) His lights easily illuminate 1/2 mile, tho I do realize the reflector cone in the headlight assembly was designed for an LED lamp. Still the reflector back in my Mazda B-4000 headlights (nearly the same as that for a 1996 - 99 Ranger XLT) should work appropriately for an aftermarket LED lamp assembly in which the LED's (multiple ones) shine sideways so the reflector actually does the "work" of redirecting the light forward.

As for polishing the headlight front, ain't gonna work. 96 - 99 B-Series and Rangers have GLASS lenses, not plastic or Lexan. Plus the Glass lenses have several "nipples" from the Glass Forging process that stick out a good 1/4inch from the surface of the Glass. Try to use a polishing disk or wheel and those Glass nipple will rip them to shreds. Being that they are Glass not Lexan and that I only have 95k miles on the truck, there is no "Sun fogging", only some microscopic pits from road gravel.

I'm also in Sunny, but sometimes on fire, southern taxifonia (People's Republic of Jerry Moon-beam Brown and the Damnocrats), so cool running headlines to combat snow, frost, fog is not an issue. Sand storm out in the desert on the way to Palm Springs, maybe.

The solution I need is brighter lamps.

I'd still like to explore LED replacement with a good but not expensive brand name maybe. Still looking for someone that's already tried it and has first-hand experiences.

Thanks :beer:
 

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Considering that nearly every new car and truck in the past few years comes with LED lamps, I find it hard to believe that there is a problem with using LED (their "color" etc) over halogens. My buddy has a 2012 Mazda 3 with the optional LED headlights option (now they are standard on all M 3's and 6's etc.) His lights easily illuminate 1/2 mile, tho I do realize the reflector cone in the headlight assembly was designed for an LED lamp. Still the reflector back in my Mazda B-4000 headlights (nearly the same as that for a 1996 - 99 Ranger XLT) should work appropriately for an aftermarket LED lamp assembly in which the LED's (multiple ones) shine sideways so the reflector actually does the "work" of redirecting the light forward.
No, LED lights have only just now started to trickle into some new car designs over the last 2-3 years (for the Mazda 6, it's 2016).
You are confusing LED with HID, which has been relatively common going back maybe 6-8 years or so (longer on some luxury brands). HID lights do not have the same intense spike of blue light in their output like LEDs do (however HID does have a tendency to interfere with radio reception, especially that of 2-way radios).

As for polishing the headlight front, ain't gonna work. 96 - 99 B-Series and Rangers have GLASS lenses, not plastic or Lexan. Plus the Glass lenses have several "nipples" from the Glass Forging process that stick out a good 1/4inch from the surface of the Glass. Try to use a polishing disk or wheel and those Glass nipple will rip them to shreds. Being that they are Glass not Lexan and that I only have 95k miles on the truck, there is no "Sun fogging", only some microscopic pits from road gravel.
Might want to go look at those again, they are infact plastic. RBVs have never had glass headlights since the days of them having sealed beams ended in 1989 (I can't swear someone didn't make something aftermarket though, however I've not seen any).
And yes, they have those nipples too. Grind or cut them off if they're in the way.

BTW, mileage plays no role in hazing of the headlights, that is solely a sunlight incidence thing (garaging the vehicle would make some difference here).

Still looking for someone that's already tried it and has first-hand experiences.
You've received responses from at least one person here with first-hand experience... So it's unclear what else you really want (the answer "LEDs are freaking awesome!!!!!!!!" will not come from anyone knowledgeable on the subject who knows that there are better options out there).

I've done plenty of side-by-side tests with various LED "spot" beams next to good halogen and HID lights (the Hella 4000 for example). LEDs tend to flood the foreground more (often MUCH more), but at distance there's no comparison (another reason being that all that glaring foreground light causes your pupils to constrict, reducing the amount of light reflecting off distant objects that can reach the retina in your eyes).

If you want good distance penetration, the only truly good option is to add a set of halogen or HID auxiliary lights to the front of your vehicle.
 

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...96 - 99 B-Series and Rangers have GLASS lenses, not plastic or Lexan...
I don't recall seeing any cars that have glass headlight lens since the early 90's.

I can tell you what made a HUGE difference in brightness for my '93 Ranger. I added a couple of relays (one for regular and one for brights). I installed them so that the only power going through the headlight switch is the amperage needed to power the relays. I wired the headlights directly to the battery (through the relays and some fuses, of course).
When I did this it had more effect than replacing the very yellowed headlight assemblies.
 

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I have led bulbs in my ranger and they work really good at night. Only bad thing is my "high beams" dip down, but my night driving is limited now that I work closer to home and the sun sets around the time I'm pulling into my driveway


Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

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I have led bulbs in my ranger and they work really good at night. Only bad thing is my "high beams" dip down
The filament wiring is reversed
 

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The filament wiring is backward
Wiring seems correct but it could be placement.. I'm not worried, my lenses are so yellow it looks like my low beams, sadly I've had to drive home after sunset this week, normally doesn't matter because I'm pulling in as the sun dips behind the trees

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

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I don't recall seeing any cars that have glass headlight lens since the early 90's.
Wranglers were still using the H6405 sealed beams into the late 90s. I think the TJs were the last run to use them. My boss's old 98 had them still. I haven't looked at what lights are in his '16, but I think they are round.
 

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I came across the same situation when I installed a set of three sided LED's into my 98 headlamps, the wiring for the filaments was reversed, one has to pull the pins from the LED harness receptacle & reverse the low & high.

The bulbs work well, because only two of the three filaments are *on* when in low position the beam is directed down by the headlamps reflector & doesn't scatter everywhere the way an HID does. I had to search for a set that went no higher than a 6000k temp rating.
 
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I came across the same situation when I installed a set of three sided LED's into my 98 headlamps, the wiring for the filaments was reversed, one has to pull the pins from the LED harness receptacle & reverse the low & high.

The bulbs work well, because only two of the three filaments are *on* when in low position the beam is directed down by the headlamps reflector & doesn't scatter everywhere the way an HID does. I had to search for a set that went no higher than a 6000k temp rating.
Where is your "high" led situated in the housing? Mine is at the top and that could be the cause

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

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Wranglers were still using the H6405 sealed beams into the late 90s. I think the TJs were the last run to use them. My boss's old 98 had them still. I haven't looked at what lights are in his '16, but I think they are round.
Factory lights on Jks ( 2007 -2018) are plastic with separate Bulbs. On my 3rd Rubicon since 2010. I have swapped my 2017 to KC gravity lights for headlights and fogs and love the out put.
 

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Where is your "high" led situated in the housing? Mine is at the top and that could be the cause

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
The high is not so much the issue, it's the placement of the lows in the headlamp housing, The further the distance the filament is from the base of the bulb where it seals into the housing the lower onto the ground the beam will be thrown. The closer the filament is to the base the further down the road the beam will be thrown. For the lows it's all about where the light reflects off the bottom of the housing reflector back up onto the upper rear curvature of the housing and then out thru the lens.

The bulbs I purchased have a 48cm distance from the base (where the collar contacts the lamp housing) to the center of the low beam filament. The high filament is a shorter distance. The filament board is longer than most others I looked at. These are a twist lock design, I did not like the bulbs that make use of a single set screw to hold the collar as those allowed the bulb to move, a poor design in my opinion.

Of all the bulbs I looked at there are many variations with regards to this measurement. There doesn't seem to be a exact constant between manufacturers. I chose the triangular bulbs seeing as the two lows point down & the single high points up. I wasn't looking for extreme brightness just something better on low beam than what the halogen bulb provided.

Keep in mind the majority of these items are manufactured in Asia (as mine are), one needs to be choosy on what one selects.

 
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