By Wicked_Sludge

If your interested in “upgrading” your dome lights;

For 1993-1997 (and possibly other years, I don’t know for sure), Ford had 3 different interior dome lights:

  • A single bulb, used in base model pickups only
  • A dual bulb, used in most standard cab pickups
  • A triple bulb used only in super cab pickups

The dual bulb and triple bulb fixtures use the same base and are wired into the trucks the same way. If you’ve got a dual bulb fixture, you can swap in a triple bulb from a super cab and it will function without changing anything electronically.

There is a plastic alignment tab that needs to be snipped off the back of the super cab fixture in order for it to bolt up…but this is the only “mod” required.

I discovered all this after I broke my dual bulb fixture while attempting to clean the map light switch (which I never use anyway). I figured I’d order a triple bulb fixture to add a little more light to the inside of the truck.

Dual Beam Dome Light

Triple Beam Dome Light

Above are the dual and triple beam fixtures. They are the same aside from a plastic tab on the back which is located in the “wrong” spot on the triple beam model. and of coarse the extra bulb socket.

Here is the triple beam dome light with LED lights installed. The map lights are 194 replacements and the center is a 1watt LED map light replacement.

Replacing A Single Dome With Triple Dome:

It looks to me like the mounting area on the cab is almost the same…..but the wiring is different. The dual and triple beam fixtures have 2 wires (12v constant and 12v signal from door/headlight switch) and a ground. The 12v signal wire is attached to that empty squarish hole in the upper left corner of your cab.

It looks to me like you could bolt the triple beam fixture up, but you wouldn’t have use of the slider for turning on the dome lights individually (they would all 3 come on when you opened the door). You might also want to install a plastic blind nut in that empty hole so you can use all 3 screws to hold the larger fixture up.

You would have to add a constant 12v wire to be able to switch the lights on and off when the door is closed or the dome light switch isn’t on.

Parts:

The Ford part number for the (3) bulb fixture is F37Z-13776-B. Its $43.00-$63.00 depending on your dealer. For most people, you could probably get one from a savage yard for about $10.00.

The LED’s I used are by a company called Varad: VARAD.COM

The part number for the 194 replacement LEDs (the map lights) is ALWP-WH (the “WH” at the end indicates white color, they come in a variety of colors) and are about $10.00 for a pack of two.

The part number for the festoon bulb (the dome light) is AL1W-WH (again, WH denotes white, these come in white or blue). these will run about $27.00 for one bulb “kit”. LINK.

More Domelight Information:

From funkingonutz (forum member):

I put a dome light from a 2004 F-150 in my 1995 Ranger. It is soooooo much brighter than the ranger one. The only modification I had to do was to break off a little plastic “stick” on the back of it in order for the dome light to sit flush against the headliner. All the wiring is the same. Just put the screws in and turn it on. The dome light from a Taurus also fits like a glove.

Dome is out of a 2004 Ford F series (F-150 Heritage). In case your wondering, the center bulb is a blue led. The map lights are regular bulbs that came with the F-150

Bulb Upgrade:

From Crunchy (forum member):

Go to autolumination.com, and get some of their super bright xenon bulbs. I installed those in my dome light, and it is like daylight inside the cab at night. I can’t even look at the domelight.

From Jim Oaks (Forum Admin)

I swapped out my bulbs with Sylvania 194 LED bulbs. You can find them at most parts stores.