Well I started working on my retrofit this weekend. I have approx. 5 hours in it right now. I got the projectors mounted in my housings and all thats left is to get them put on my truck. Heres some pictures of what Ive done so far.
awesome!! good to see another retro! What shroud are you going to use? I would also suggest making your own clear lenses if your projectors are not protruding past the housing. The glass will greatly distort your color and cutoff, i have some pictures i took when i did mine to prove it glass my homemade lexan clear lens
i'm loving the tape. if i ever get frustrated in a build, i might ask mom for some aircraft grade stuff she uses on the parts she builds for airplanes.
Im curious, they look like they stick out the back of the housing pretty far, is that going to be a problem?
The plan was to make a lexan lens and I might try it in the future. I ran into issues cutting the lexan and the projector extends about 1/4" past the housings. The shroud I will be installing eventually will the Gatling gun, but it has to be modified a little it sticks out too far and im planning to have about 1/2" from the base of it. The kit was $320 from the retrofit source, the foil tape was $10, and the housings were me $31. I got the foil tape idea and most of my build plans from link. The tape holds the projector in place really well and it also waterproofs everything. The projectors extend about 3 inches past the headlight brackets so I will have issues on the battery side. I was thinking of a few inches toward the motor. Ill post what I do when I get there.
i used the tape as well, but not to hold it in just to seal it. The trick to cutting lexan is to score it not cut it. They sell a tool for it but i just used a good utility knife, scored it and then you snap it. I cut out a square then just used a dremel to round off the corners to fit for my lens. I used the Mini H1 because of the size issue, I got lucky that I have an Optima battery because with the bulb it might have been too long, but it sits in between the groove of the Optima cells giving me just enough room.
the back of the headlight shouldn't have an issue with our rad supports... it looks like there's plenty of space, but i could be wrong. Shouldn't a clear glass lens be fine?
No it shouldn't. And from what I heard the glass distorts the light a bit. The clearer the glass the less distortion is what I'd assume.
no it fits just fine, the only issue is clearance for the bulb with the battery and windshield washer tank. I removed my windshield washer tank here is a pick what i was talking about with the bulb
Its also the fluted lens that those headlights have that throws it off and that the glass is significantly thicker than the lexan, your going to loose allot of sharpness, but from going from halogen to a retro you won't even care!!
Well I continued working on my retrofit today. got them mounted an tested them out. Now I just need to figure out how to mount the battery 6 inches over.
Well I only have one issue so far, the highs dont turn on. Does that mean I need to add a resistor and if i do how would i go about it?
resistor? how did you hook up the high beam pigtail to your highs? Did you buy a harness from TRS? or just splice it up on your own?
I got the harnes and hooked it up. no brights at all. The brights light in the cab also doesnt light up as bright. I heard that is cause you need some resistance. Any ideas on what my problem might be?
Did you check the solenoids before you installed the projectors? I have a power supply i used to check them but you can use a 9v battery. The solenoid should open as long as you have power supplied to it...Unhook your harness from the high beam solenoid and see if you can test it with a battery or power supply..like i said the shield should open and close as you apply power and take it off..Lets start there
I'd check the harness now...don't plug in the high beam part though..activate your high beams and check the harness high beam pigtail to see if you have voltage with a meter..If you don't make sure you have it plugged in right on the OEM plug..you can probably find the pin outs online, or in a manual if you have one
Yeah Ill give it a shot next week. I got to work all weekend so I dont have anymore time. So far I love my retrofit and am glad I did it. they make the truck look alot better.
Agreed! I had a "kit" in before..I was amazed at the difference when I did it right!! Good job on yours BTW, looks good! I'm thinking of updating mine, maybe painting something or adding some LEDs or a CCFL ring behind the shroud..I don't know yet we'll see Let me know how it goes when you have time to look at it some more