RAM 3500 2013 & Newer - Projection Headlights & Fog Light Conversion to HID

[DesertThumper]

I wanted to share my completed project and experience with everyone here in case you decide in the future to upgrade your Projection Headlights (Regular Bulbs) & Fog Lights (Regular Bulbs) to an HID Conversion kit.

The reason why I did mine was due to poor lighting from the truck headlights when I drove in the evenings. First I thought it was my eyeballs but my wife did comment about the headlights not very bright too. OK, so I waited and drove more in the evenings and read up on info about the projection headlights. I finally committed and ordered two sets. I should have ordered three for the high beams too. But that will be for next time.

After the installation yesterday, we took it for a drive and all I can say is that our investment is well worth it to have a higher lumens ratio and switching to HID. I can see again!!! Both the headlights and fog lights overall provided us a comfort of having better lighting at night.

Below are some images of each step I took to complete this project:



Here is a snap shot of how you inner connect the HID Conversion Kit to an existing Projection Headlight System.



The kits comes with everything you need. There are no drilling, wire splicing or custom switches required. All plug and play.

Tools needed: You will need a 10MM 3/8 socket, one foot long 3/8 extension and 3/8 socket wrench, 8MM socket for the back plate removal on your headlight - back side, plastic fastener tool to pop six of them off which is on top of your radiator and front grill which the grill have to be removed as well (4 - 10 MM bolts on top). You will also need a one inch drill bit to drill out the back plate of where your headlight bulbs are located on the back side. I used a cordless drill.

1. Remove front grill - (6) 10MM bolts. On the bottom of your grill, it has two push in tabs on each bottom corner. Once you have the four bolts off the top, grab the grill on a wide grip and slightly tilt, and pull slowly on towards the bottom of the grill and it will pop off. No need to man handle.

2. Remove the headlight by first going underneath your front fender tire(s) of each side, you will see a small little panel where you can snap the two tabs off and fold. Reach in and unlock the latch that holds the headlight stud on the back housing to allow you to remove pulling forward to you once you get the two (10MM) bolts off on the front of your truck. See image:


Top bolt to remove on each headlight.


Bottom bolt to remove on each headlight. Use the long extension for this one and the bolt is 2 inches + long.


If you look at the inside pocket of the light assembly, you will see the little opening flap from the inside of the front fender. The white tab inside (3 1/2 inch in length) is what needs to be pushed up with your hands from the inside flap so it unlocks the back light assembly. Once you have all three items removed and unlocked, pull the headlight gently towards you while standing in front of the bumper. No need to man handle. remove the connector from the back of the headlamp. Use a small screw driver if needed to pop the connector lock. At this point, you are ready to install your conversion kit.


Here is the small door flap inside your front fender you will need to open to get to the unlock and lock arm. If you look inside, there is the 3 1/2 inch estimate of the arm that needs to be pushed up to unlock. when you assemble it back, push the headlight assembly back in the same way you pulled it out and push down on that white tab to lock.



Remove the 5 screws off the back plate. Drilled a one inch hole so I can feed the wires and connectors through the hole and seat the rubber grommet in place. Then I took the original bulb out and installed the HID light, put the cover back and fastened twith the five screws with an 8MM socket. The orginal bulb connector plugs into the female from the new harness. The instructions on the box is very simple to follow. Refer to the first image.


Here is how it looks after installing the HID light, drilling a hole and wiring loom kit connected. The fogs are similar to install. Just follow the instructions. Very straight forward. I strapped my canceller and ballast inside the flap for the headlights and the fog lights I tied strapped them onto a bracket near the fog lamp housing.. There are other ways you can mount them inside and underneath. They also come with brackets if you wanted to use them. Assembing back together is the same way you took everything off. It took me a little longer time since this is my first install. But once i started the second headlight assembly including the fog lights, it went very quickly. This should help you eliminate the scratching the head situation and reduce install time.


New HID low beam and fog light with (4) cancellers (to eliminate dash board error light) and (4) ballasts installed.

25 feet away.

Close up.

Low beam, fog light and original high beam on. You can see the yellow which is omitting from the high beam. I did not buy the high beam conversion kit. I would suggest to if you want to do it all at one time. I plan to replace the high beam to HID in the near future.

The view from a low beam headlight and fog light stand point. No comparison from the stock bulbs. The lumens doubled for both head and fog lights.

There are many places you can by this kit online. I purchased the kits from this site because of easy navigation and have good reviews. Look around if you plan to upgrade your lights. http://www.xenonpro.com/?gclid=COKeoJ31kr0CFenm7AodAU0AHw

Part numbers: 9145 and 9012 from this site.


Al

 

[alex00]

Nice write up, Al. I think you are going to enjoy being able to see at night now. I know we've talked about the lights. The plug and play aspect makes for a clean install. Thanks for posting the pictures up.

 

[szewczyk_john]

I would be interested in future updates as the Ram lighting is controlled by the on board computer. Many other upgrades are available but many fail once due to the computer override. I hope that this works for you. I have tried 2 different lighting upgrades on my 2006 and both ended up failing within months of the install. The brite box worked great but then failed 4 months after the install.

 

[Miller0758]

I would be interested in future updates as the Ram lighting is controlled by the on board computer. Many other upgrades are available but many fail once due to the computer override. I hope that this works for you. I have tried 2 different lighting upgrades on my 2006 and both ended up failing within months of the install. The brite box worked great but then failed 4 months after the install.

John ... can you elaborate on your failure? I am considering a much simpler lighting route ... Sylvania Silverstar ultra but don't want to waste the money if it's doomed for failure. Thanks

 

[emm4273610re]

I believe Ram uses what is called multiplexing. Which means the lights are controlled by a computer. If the circuit load is changed by adding extra lights or changing the bulbs the computer shuts off the circuit due to what it thinks is a over load. I have seen this even with a starting circuit when the starter starts to go bad causing an over load.(In Freightliner class 8 trucks NOT IN THE RAM ) The old days it would just crank slow, cables get hot etc. Which is a good reason Ram offers the up fitter switches. Just my 2cents. Looks like a good idea just don't want to see you left in the dark literally

 

[hoefler]

Great write up!! I went to the website to check it out. I had picked out what I wanted and noticed they are offering 30% off the entire site. Then they have a deal where you can get an additional 10%, awesome!! Then customer service gets online and upped it to 15%!!! Well, when I get to the check out and pull out the credit card for payment, I start going over the figures, it turns out after all the discounts, it is only 30% off list. My $540 order comes to $382, should be $321. They don't seem to know how to work a calculator.

 

[szewczyk_john]

As emm states, the lighting is computer controlled so in 2006 I tried the brite box which is supposed to let your low beams stay on when you activate the high beams. This did work but the brite box malfunctioned in about 6 months. They replaced it and the new box went in 3 months so I went back to stock. I bought the best head lights and have been living with them and the fog lights. The same company makes a "fogster" that allows the fog lights to stay on when high beams are on. Brite box now has the brite box which allows high, low and fog lights all at the same time. I have not done any research since the end of 2006 but I just looked at Geno's garage latest catalog and they do not even list the brute box for any truck newer than an 2002, but they do carry the fogster up to 2009 model years.
Without doing more research, I remember that the ECM monitors the draw, so that s what the problem was. Some folks were doing the brute boxes with bulbs that caused a higher draw and some boxes fried themselves. the company did stand behind them and replaced mine. The second box did not fry or smoke like the first one but the light switch would no longer control the lights until i unplugged the box. After that I just let it go. I always meant to wire some auxiliary lights and mount them on my ranch hand bumper but I never have.

 

[BHEWITTJR]

Great write up and very detailed with pictures. I converted my 2006 F250 in 2008 and have not regretted it. You will come to realize that all trucks should at least have these as an option. I thought my headlights were bright until a friend of mine put them in his truck, once I saw the difference I had to have them. They are really helpful getting into campgrounds off the beaten path.

 

[DesertThumper]

Thanks for the comments. Another notation I want to add here is the HID conversion kit is heavily purchased and used in CA. The few I know including local shops in the city have had great success with them. The success rate with most electronic parts you buy is a 99% success rate. You will have failure but the majority of them seem stable.

The canceller and ballast addresses those issues with flickering, electrical circuit enhancement and error cancelling - etc. I hope my investment stays working. Like I mention above, there are quite a bit of HID kits for different vehicles driving around and they all work. I will take my chances.

Some corrections and add-ons to my original post:
There are 4 screw bolts on top to remove your front grill. I listed six.
Once you get both headlamps modified, one of them may need to use reverse polarity by just doing a 180 degree re connection for your headlamp connector. It is listed with the set of instructions and points which wire to reverse if one HID does not come on. I had to do this for mine. Test the lights once you have all your wiring done before fastening back into the truck lamp area.

 

[greatwhitenorth]

Thanks for the comments. Another notation I want to add here is the HID conversion kit is heavily purchased and used in CA. The few I know including local shops in the city have had great success with them. The success rate with most electronic parts you buy is a 99% success rate. You will have failure but the majority of them seem stable.

The canceller and ballast addresses those issues with flickering, electrical circuit enhancement and error cancelling - etc. I hope my investment stays working. Like I mention above, there are quite a bit of HID kits for different vehicles driving around and they all work. I will take my chances.

Some corrections and add-ons to my original post:
There are 4 screw bolts on top to remove your front grill. I listed six.
Once you get both headlamps modified, one of them may need to use reverse polarity by just doing a 180 degree re connection for your headlamp connector. It is listed with the set of instructions and points which wire to reverse if one HID does not come on. I had to do this for mine. Test the lights once you have all your wiring done before fastening back into the truck lamp area.

Congratulations, you have succeeded in installing headlight bulbs that blind everyone on the road, while you believe you can see better. If you are going to install HID's why don't you get the proper housings for the bulbs instead of stuffing them in the stock housings. Putting HID's in stock housings creates a starburst effect for on coming drivers, if put in proper projector housings ( like the ones that come from the factory with HID's) there is a cutoff of the light which eliminates the starburst effect. But' like you the majority of people that do HID's just ram them into stock housings & could care less about blinding on coming traffic. Don't even get me started on driving with fog lights on 24/7, let alone putting HID's in there as well.

 

[alex00]

Congratulations, you have succeeded in installing headlight bulbs that blind everyone on the road, while you believe you can see better. If you are going to install HID's why don't you get the proper housings for the bulbs instead of stuffing them in the stock housings. Putting HID's in stock housings creates a starburst effect for on coming drivers, if put in proper projector housings ( like the ones that come from the factory with HID's) there is a cutoff of the light which eliminates the starburst effect. But' like you the majority of people that do HID's just ram them into stock housings & could care less about blinding on coming traffic. Don't even get me started on driving with fog lights on 24/7, let alone putting HID's in there as well.

Looks to me like the projector lense of the stock bi-xenon does a pretty good job of keeping the light out of the eyes of oncoming drivers. Look at the photo from the driver seat and notice the light on the trunk of the car parked in front.

Not trying to be obtuse but why should one not drive with fogs 24/7? Seems that lights on in the daytime enhance visibility. Again not trying to be funny but I don't see the argument that "fogs" should only be on in poor atmospheric conditions.

 

[DesertThumper]

Congratulations, you have succeeded in installing headlight bulbs that blind everyone on the road, while you believe you can see better. If you are going to install HID's why don't you get the proper housings for the bulbs instead of stuffing them in the stock housings. Putting HID's in stock housings creates a starburst effect for on coming drivers, if put in proper projector housings ( like the ones that come from the factory with HID's) there is a cutoff of the light which eliminates the starburst effect. But' like you the majority of people that do HID's just ram them into stock housings & could care less about blinding on coming traffic. Don't even get me started on driving with fog lights on 24/7, let alone putting HID's in there as well.

Don't be so quickly to judge.... These are projector headlamps (stock) for HID low beams. Your diagnosis are incorrect. If you were to install HID lights in a non projection headlamp, then the light beams will be like a starburst effect and blind on coming traffic. And yes, most of us are considerate of others....... You could use some mannerism adjustments.

 

[jimtoo]

OK,,lets all backoff, take a deeeep breath and relax for a while.

Jim M

 

[Silverado23]

John ... can you elaborate on your failure? I am considering a much simpler lighting route ... Sylvania Silverstar ultra but don't want to waste the money if it's doomed for failure. Thanks

Although, I don't have a dodge, I do use the Sylvania Silverstar Ultra bulbs in my Silverado and will say so far they have been worth the money. Simple upgrade, with bright, white light. Much better than standard bulbs and not as expensive or complex as installing HID.

You might consider the Silverstar Ultras before spending the extra money on HID. They may not be 100% as bright as HID but certainly worth at trial.

 

[1_oldgoat]

Nice write up and information, i recently bought a new 2013 3500 dually, leftover stock, it has non projector headlights, stock 4 bulb set up. I was considering changing to projectors but after reading your experience with them while driving at night have decided to do HID conversions in the stock headlamp housing. If you look at the factory housing, non projector lights, the reflectors are huge, my personal opinion as to why lighting is so poor with my truck. The day i bought the truck on the way home, i had to stop after it got dark to make sure the lights were on. It sounds like you had similar issues with the factory projectors as well.
Seeing some remarks here from other drivers and there dislike of the HID light kits, there are several kits and light colors wattages ect to choose from. I ordered 10K blue 35 watt lights for both high and lo beams. When adjusted properly oncoming traffic should not be affected. I was told the 6 and 8K lights were actually brighter because of color being more white, 10K is more blue and 12K purple. If i find the light from the kits to be to spread out like the stock is will change to a projector housing.
I installed the 10K bixenon kit in my 07 ram 3500 headlight and fogs. After adding a resistor it resolved the flicker issues and worked excellent on the headlights, fogs were never an issue. The difference in night driving is amazing, and as some mentioned with fogs on, the side vision is extremely enhanced and when on during freeway driving i did get flashed by oncoming traffic a few times, so out of courtesy for oncoming traffic i only used my fog lights on surface roads and turned off when encountering oncoming traffic. With lo beams on only i never had problems being flashed by anyone. Again i believe because the lights were properly adjusted and the darker blue color.
HID light kits have come a long ways since they first came on scene, new Canbus ballasts work excellent in newer and older Dodge trucks, no error cancelers or resistors are needed and no light codes will.show when using them.
Not trying to stir the pot and cause problems here but for me being able to see while driving at night the light conversion kits are well worth the investment.
I'll post after i install the new kits into the stock light housing to let anyone else interested know if i will need projector housings.

 

[1_oldgoat]

John, i installed HID light kits in my '07 Ram 3500, fog light kits are simple plug and play, the headlight kit needed a relay harness and resistors. Without the resistors my lo beams would shut off and i had to reset the light switch to turn them back on. The newer HID light kits available with Canbus ballasts do not require error cancelers or resistors as that is built into the ballast, however they do still require a relay harness so ballast power is directly from the battery. I am installing sets in my 2013 Ram now, after driving with and without, i believe it is much safer being able to see at night. Headlights on the 2013 are self adjusting as well so no need to adjust with fw hooked up, the '07 needed adjusted down so oncoming traffic wouldn't be blinded by the lights

 

[Bohemian]

Don't be so quickly to judge.... These are projector headlamps (stock) for HID low beams. Your diagnosis are incorrect. If you were to install HID lights in a non projection headlamp, then the light beams will be like a starburst effect and blind on coming traffic. And yes, most of us are considerate of others....... You could use some mannerism adjustments.

Well, stuffing HID projector bulbs into non-HID projector housings is also illegal. Yes, wrong pattern because of the different shape of the light source. Some people aim these HID setups low to avoid the extra high pattern light. It seems to me that defeats the purpose and is still illegal.

 

[1_oldgoat]

I am using non projector HID light kits for my non projector headlights, they have seperate kits for each, if i find the reflectors on my stock light housing still disperse the light to much, i plan on switching to projector lights but will also install HID kits into them as well. The new LED lights are nice, light bars for fogs are incredibly bright, but illegal for anything but off road use only, however i have been seeing them alot on rigs driving on the freeway and have yet to see anyone pulled over because of them or HID lights either, so while some states may enforce light laws more than others, being able to see is worth the risk of a ticket. Just my 2 cents