Sealed beam to halogen swap.....

[Tanker3278]

After 5 years I finally got tired of looking at my mangled gray bumper on my 05 F350. Bought the truck with it that way. Was a fleet truck and had the old sealed beam bulbs.

Junkyard in southern Indiana didn't have any 05-07s. Had newer stuff (08+) that would require converting the whole front clip and a few 03-04s.

Only had a single 03 left with an intact front end. I took the header panel, lights, and chrome bumper since the bumper was a different pattern than my stock one. I forgot to grab the grill when leaving and now its gone. Have to make a few more trips till I catch one there.

Turn signal bulbs are fine and plug in, but the headlights are HB5/9007 halogens. How much of a problem is this?

If I go get the pig-tails to splice it in, is it going to burn up the wiring and turn my truck into a funeral pyre because of the higher current draw?

Thanks!
Jimmy H
Radcliff, KY

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[6.0 Tech]

Short answer is no, you’ll be fine.

Longer answer, check the harness. Never taken a sealed beam front end apart on a 6.0, but pulled several off 6.4s and they ran a jumper harness to convert to the sealed beam plug. Cheaper for Ford to make it that way than 2 completely different harnesses...


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[Tanker3278]

Short answer is no, you’ll be fine.

Longer answer, check the harness. Never taken a sealed beam front end apart on a 6.0, but pulled several off 6.4s and they ran a jumper harness to convert to the sealed beam plug. Cheaper for Ford to make it that way than 2 completely different harnesses...


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Good to know! Thanks for the pointers! Headed back to the junkyard this morning!

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[Tanker3278]

Turns out the 03 didn't have the jumper harness. Had to cut the pigtails off. My 05 does have the jumpers. Since my 05 pigtails are already chewed up, I'm going to order new replacements and install them. Will clean up and solder/shrink tube the two old pairs into a pair of functioning backups. No sense throwing away things that can still work.

For me to get a better understanding.....how did you come up with your answer? I tried looking up the current draw for both style headlights. I freely admit I don't understand electricity very well. I tend to use plumbing to understand electricity (volts = psi, amps = gal, watts = gph @ psi).

What I was able to find was both bulbs pull 55w on low beam and 65w on high beam. Is there any change in the spike draw when the lights are turned on (blow a fuse) or anything that would cause the wires to need to be replaced with heavier guage (prevent fire)?

Thanks!

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[6.0 Tech]

So wattage is just a formula of voltage x resistance. I came up with my answer honestly without knowing anything about how much either draw, but more of knowing how much of tight wads manufacturers are. There would be no reason for them to build 2 different harnesses and spend hundreds of dollars per vehicle to switch from 1 headlight style to the other. I’m actually surprised the 03 didn’t have jumper harnesses.


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