Replacing headlights...

silent one said:

I used ones likeTHESE on mine and i think they look good.

Thread here, http://fullsizebronco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=159199

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miesk5 said:

yo
Replacement info & pics in a 92
Source: by zerocool at SuperMotors.net
he wrote; "...bought a new head light unit from napa; these aftermarket peices didnt fit exactly, some shaving/cutting on the plastic was required..."

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I put the same lens as Silent One in my 95. Mine came complete with all hardware except the 6 retaining clips (3 per side). Take some advice if you decide to go this way.... use the old hardware(adjusting srews/collars) from your factory lights if its not shot. The hardware that came with mine, while all nice, shiny and new, was not quite to spec. In short it was rather...."sloppy", allowing the lens's to jiggle around a fair bit. The other thing about the original hardware is that the end of the Left/Right the adjusting screws are hex headed, like the up/down adjuster....the hardware that came with my new lenses was just threaded all the way down. The factory hardware will take a 4mm open end wrench, so that should you need to adjust the lights left or right at some point in the future, you can do so easily by removing the rubber vanity shield between the rad support and the plastic grille frame and using a 4mm box wrench or (forgive me) a set of pliers instead of having to go throught the pain of removing the lens bezel to use a phillips head screwdriver on the hardware that comes with the clear lenses.


Should you go the OEM route, the OEM style lens in miesk5 's link (from NAPA?) appears to have the hex end on the L/R adjuster....and I'd wager there was no out of spec free play in that lens after it was installed.

Either way you go, when replacing the lenses I would suggest removing the grill frame. Its less painful to replace the lenses this way, but it does take a few extra minutes. Look through miesk5s link...the clips the guy shows are a pain in the arse to remove. And, with the lens in the car, the clips are very hard to get to as well. To remove those clips without destroying them you need to wedge a set of snap ring pliers down a very narrow gap to hold the clips open while pulling/prying on the clip tab with another set of pliers. Very difficult to do in the limited space available when the lenses are in the car. Much less painful to do with the grill frame out as the lens mount to the grill frame. And to remove the grill frame only requires taking out 15 more fasteners than you already have to remove. 5 screws to remove the grill and 10 10mm or 11mm (I forget which off the top of my head) bolts to remove the grill frame. As an added bonus, the grill frame is 'keyed'(locator holes on the frame slide over pins on the rad support) so there is no adjustment necessary when you put it back on...it slides right back into the exact same spot it was in originally. Regardless, if you replace the lenses you still have to remove the bezels whether you take the grill frame out or not... but thats another pain all its own.

BTW, my len 'kit' also came with new amber side marker and turn signal bulbs. You will need to replace the standard clear bulbs with amber bulbs if you go the 'clear' lens route...unless you want to live dangerously and risk getting pulled over by the one anal retentive cop in your area who knows the DOT light regs. Unfortunately, the bulbs that came with my kit were the right color, but the wrong part # and they didnt fit. So anticipate a trip to the store for new bulbs if you go the non OEM route....even if the lenses you get come with bulbs.