smurfslayer
Be vewwy, vewwy quiet. We’re hunting sasquatch77
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2016
- Posts
- 17,565
- Reaction score
- 27,048
Installing LED light bars behind the grill, as somewhat alluded to here: http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f265/led-light-bar-behind-grill-51331/
Gather your $hit. tools - you need 11mm and 8mm sockets, extension, flat head screw driver / knife, etc to pop the push pins beer, and patience. You’ll also need some wiring tools, pliers, electrical tape, wiring connectors of your choice, some 1” wide aluminum plate - steel if you want, it doesn’t have to be super thick, just enough for a brace x2 about 15” long on each side, a drill, drill bits, and assorted bits and bobs.
confirm that the light works when connected to the battery. No sense going to all this trouble for nothing.
The grill and shutters come out as a unit. I found 2 instruction sets on the internet describing how to remove the current model F150 grill here: http://www.putco.com/documents/instructionfile/270545BI.pdf and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnGfSdS30Y0 . The latter is a little long winded but illustrates what needs to happen for you visual peeps.
pull up the push pins with a flat head, knife etc. and remove the top flap.
disconnect the 3 connections at the hood latch area. One is a small hose with a clamp around 75% of it. pry the clamp loose and pull out the connection.
The other 2 come loose just by squeezing and pulling.
on to the headlight trim pieces. These have be loosened by prying the pieces out from the top, moving down. Pop one clip at a time by gently wiggling and pulling the trim piece. Once the top one comes loose, the rest become easier, just don’t overdo it, I can envision how this would possibly become an expensive fix.
The headlight trim also has a clip that just pops out. Once. After that, it’s apparently useless. Both of mine no longer attach at the light. It doesn’t appear to be an issue, they’re loose but seem to stay oriented correctly. I’m not sure what the issue is here, but be aware of this.
by now, it’s time to open a beer. Pace yourself, this job will entail the consumption of numerous beers.
Now, you have the liner to pull off the sides of the grill assembly. The flap has 3 “Christmas Trees” as I’ve heard Ford Mech’s call them. You just push them in / pry them out. Next, get an 8mm socket / head and pull the 2 bolts out pictured ; one on each side. you have to lift up the headlight trim to access these and you’ll probably need an extension for this.
Now pull out the 4 x 11mm bolts from the top; these hold the assembly to the truck. The grill should now be “free” of securing hardware. To remove the unit, you will need to lift up on both sides, about 1/2”, then pull out from the front. Watch your headlight trim.
here’s why you have to lift up to get the grill in/out - the grill has some “tension” making plastic tabs that push against the frame tabs, at an angle.
Now, you have the unit out, take it an open work area.
There are 4 heavier duty push pins across the top of the assembly, they can come out now. Pry up on the upper “head” first and lift them out. be patient.
With the front of the grill facing down, you will need to remove 3 metal clips that look like nuts and can be removed with a socket and optionally pulling on them.
4 nuts and one small bolt remain. The small bolt in the center can be pulled out easily.
The 4 nuts should unscrew from their respective studs. If you find the stud comes out, you will have work to do before reassembly. The 4 nuts are at 4 corners of the assembly.
There’s a wire loom that fastens to the grill that can be disconnected to get everything fully apart. The connect can just be pulled (straight) out of the grill. Now you have them separated / grill assembly and shutter assembly.
Beer.
This section took me a while because I did not have a plan before starting. Originally, I was going to try and fab like http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f265/led-light-bar-behind-grill-51331/index2.html#post1092707
However, upon review it looked to me like a great deal more fabrication than I’d hoped for. I decided to try and run them above the “FORD”, fastening into the top of the shutter assembly. Since it was plastic, I decided on bracing with some 1” wide aluminum plate. I fastened with 2x 1/4x20 screws / washers, then drilled the 2 support holes. Stagger the bolts to hold the bracing and the light mounts. Here’s what I did, there may be a better way, but this is what worked for me. I put the lights into the holes for the 4 push pins in the shutter assembly with 2 holes drilled for these holes - you need the holes regardless so the push pins will work, so assemble the light into the shutter assembly through the bracing bar. the bar should follow the contour of the shutter assembly. Once secured, evenly drill holes to secure the bracing material- drill through the top of the shutter assembly and the bracing material. put the nuts/bolts through to secure the bracing bar. Now, remove the lights, and select a location for 2 more mount holes through the shutter assembly and bracing bar. drill them out, orient the light mounts to them, test fit and make sure your light orients reasonably close to straight ahead. Test fit the grill and confirm your pieces fit back together and the shutter assemblies move freely or are not obstructed by the lights. I had about 3/8” clearance.
For this orientation, this is the widest pair you could fit into the upper area without mods. You will need to orient the lights and “aim” as best you can before reassembly because post assembly you won’t be re-aiming without disassembly. Also, you can see that the lights aren’t perfectly level. I can anyway, and putting a washer under the grill on the respective high sides would even them out. I did not find this until after full reassembly and by that time, I’d had enough of this mod for the night.
Beer.
The orienting and aiming needs to be test fit a few times. Once you’re happy, it’s time to wire. These lights are rated at 108w per light so I ordered a wiring kit with relay. I think this was a smart choice but I suppose you could wire direct, but at 12v. these should draw 9 amps. The wiring loom has everything ready to go. Take some time to connect, insulate / wrap and route the wires, trying to keep them out of the way of the shutters and not rubbing anything. I connected the 2 lights and connected to the harness, following the grill contour out the passenger side top of the assembly. Reassembly now and again check things out for fit, then if it all lines up, CHECK THE LIGHTS. you don’t want to get this put into the truck to find out something isn’t right ! The harness has 2 battery connections and a switch. Confirm both your lights work and if so, time for final reassembly.
Reassemble in reverse order of disassembly. Ideally, there should be no parts left over when complete. Since you have to get the wires outside the grill assembly, fit may not be perfect or the same as before. I ran my harness wire under the foam on the passenger side of the assembly. Once again, if you pulled out the studs on the disassembly, you will have a ***** of a time reassembling until you reseat them in their “anchors”.
Rant: Whomever designed, convinced Ford, went along with and implemented the concept of these fasteners should be fired and banned from working in the automotive industry for life. Additionally, all of their immediate family should also be banned from automotive employment for life and the entire family line henceforth should never work in the automotive industry. The studs all came out when I disassembled, and the 4 posts have a plastic plate that lightly slots into place but is easily knocked out of place, falling into the hollow post. Good luck getting them back out.
/rant
here’s the clip with the stud out.
If any of your studs unseated:
get the rectangular slot that the stud screws into and pull it from the post.
disassemble the stud from the shutter assembly
Put stud “screw end” into a vice and tighten.
screw the stud and slot together until snug.
slide the slot / stud into the post until it clicks into place.
repeat as needed.
add back the bottom clips in the shape of nuts.
From the top, put the large push pins back into the assembly until they click into place.
Take your assembly to the truck and before yo do anything else, once again check your lights by connecting to the battery. Once confirmed, lift the assembly into the grill slot. Remember, there are side clips that you need to clear vertically and lower the assembly into place. Route your wiring. You may need to move the assembly once or twice depending on what you do with the wires. Note: The harness for these lights comes with a relay already installed. If you’re too lazy to remove the relay, your routing options are limited. it might look like you can either squeeze through right beside the passenger headlight or drop down and up right next to it. You can’t. I ended up fishing the whole assembly a little bit rear of the light assembly next to the battery. Of course, you could be less stubborn than me and remove the relay, adding it back once you run the wires. once this chore is complete, you can start buttoning things up.
Ensure your holes line up from the top, and if so, reinsert / tighten the 2 lower bolts, 8mm. Keep your headlight trim clear of the socket or nut driver. While you’re there, reinsert the push connectors (Christmas trees) for the flaps. Insert / tighten the 4 11mm bolts across the top. Once solid, reassemble your headlight trim. start from the bottom and pull the trim piece inward toward the center of the truck to click the trim pieces together. Work your way up the trim piece patiently. Mine would not click into place for the top tabs, I had to brace the tabs with my hand to get both the top slots to pick into place.
I was led to believe there are 2 bundles of wires for the up fitter switches. My truck has one and only one. I searched for 30 minutes, but fortunately a simple hook up to one of the 6 available was all I needed. Since I had a relay / harness, all I needed was the switch leg wire from the harness and I connected that to my up fitter wire. The pictures in this thread http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f265/upfitter-switches-request-help-52168/index3.html accurately show where they are at. I had leads for battery positive and negative, and the switch leg to the up fitter switch wire. Power up the truck and now it’s time for the smoke test.
Hold my beer. Watch this.
If you end up on youtube with a spectacular truck fire as a result of trying all this don’t blame me. If you don’t end up on youtube, it’s time for another beer. Clean up the routing of the wires, and put your insulating cover over top of the radiator/grill assembly. Fit all the push pins, clear the truck of any remaining tools, or parts. Connect your 3 connections - hose, and 2 connectors.
If you get this far, remember: Pictures. or it never happened.
I had to go see if the new hardware would further impress the unwashed heathen stbks baristas. I had to cruise the all parking lot several laps before I could score an up front parking spot. I sent my peeps in for my mocha. I did get some scowls from prius drivers who expected to be able to park up front but I could not tell a difference from the baristas. the customer base was horrified, of course and as soon as the Raptor pulled in the front parking space a few dove for cover.
If you’re thinking of a light bar on the bumper, no other mods, here’s what you’re looking at mount wise if you want to avoid drilling the bumper:
small bolts are only on the driver’s side.
Maybe I have to fire the lights up into the starbucks to get the baristas’ attention? anyway, my peeps got back with my mocha and I headed back.
After dusk, I set out to get a comparison. cops at the local park so I found a street with less ambient light.
high beams only:
I had to move further up the street and tested again, with the new LEDs
Topping this job off with some bourbon
lights used: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YOQ0OBQ/?tag=fordraptorforum-20
harness
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YC04DZW/?tag=fordraptorforum-20
Gather your $hit. tools - you need 11mm and 8mm sockets, extension, flat head screw driver / knife, etc to pop the push pins beer, and patience. You’ll also need some wiring tools, pliers, electrical tape, wiring connectors of your choice, some 1” wide aluminum plate - steel if you want, it doesn’t have to be super thick, just enough for a brace x2 about 15” long on each side, a drill, drill bits, and assorted bits and bobs.
confirm that the light works when connected to the battery. No sense going to all this trouble for nothing.
The grill and shutters come out as a unit. I found 2 instruction sets on the internet describing how to remove the current model F150 grill here: http://www.putco.com/documents/instructionfile/270545BI.pdf and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnGfSdS30Y0 . The latter is a little long winded but illustrates what needs to happen for you visual peeps.
pull up the push pins with a flat head, knife etc. and remove the top flap.
disconnect the 3 connections at the hood latch area. One is a small hose with a clamp around 75% of it. pry the clamp loose and pull out the connection.
The other 2 come loose just by squeezing and pulling.
on to the headlight trim pieces. These have be loosened by prying the pieces out from the top, moving down. Pop one clip at a time by gently wiggling and pulling the trim piece. Once the top one comes loose, the rest become easier, just don’t overdo it, I can envision how this would possibly become an expensive fix.
The headlight trim also has a clip that just pops out. Once. After that, it’s apparently useless. Both of mine no longer attach at the light. It doesn’t appear to be an issue, they’re loose but seem to stay oriented correctly. I’m not sure what the issue is here, but be aware of this.
by now, it’s time to open a beer. Pace yourself, this job will entail the consumption of numerous beers.
Now, you have the liner to pull off the sides of the grill assembly. The flap has 3 “Christmas Trees” as I’ve heard Ford Mech’s call them. You just push them in / pry them out. Next, get an 8mm socket / head and pull the 2 bolts out pictured ; one on each side. you have to lift up the headlight trim to access these and you’ll probably need an extension for this.
Now pull out the 4 x 11mm bolts from the top; these hold the assembly to the truck. The grill should now be “free” of securing hardware. To remove the unit, you will need to lift up on both sides, about 1/2”, then pull out from the front. Watch your headlight trim.
here’s why you have to lift up to get the grill in/out - the grill has some “tension” making plastic tabs that push against the frame tabs, at an angle.
Now, you have the unit out, take it an open work area.
There are 4 heavier duty push pins across the top of the assembly, they can come out now. Pry up on the upper “head” first and lift them out. be patient.
With the front of the grill facing down, you will need to remove 3 metal clips that look like nuts and can be removed with a socket and optionally pulling on them.
4 nuts and one small bolt remain. The small bolt in the center can be pulled out easily.
The 4 nuts should unscrew from their respective studs. If you find the stud comes out, you will have work to do before reassembly. The 4 nuts are at 4 corners of the assembly.
There’s a wire loom that fastens to the grill that can be disconnected to get everything fully apart. The connect can just be pulled (straight) out of the grill. Now you have them separated / grill assembly and shutter assembly.
Beer.
This section took me a while because I did not have a plan before starting. Originally, I was going to try and fab like http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f265/led-light-bar-behind-grill-51331/index2.html#post1092707
However, upon review it looked to me like a great deal more fabrication than I’d hoped for. I decided to try and run them above the “FORD”, fastening into the top of the shutter assembly. Since it was plastic, I decided on bracing with some 1” wide aluminum plate. I fastened with 2x 1/4x20 screws / washers, then drilled the 2 support holes. Stagger the bolts to hold the bracing and the light mounts. Here’s what I did, there may be a better way, but this is what worked for me. I put the lights into the holes for the 4 push pins in the shutter assembly with 2 holes drilled for these holes - you need the holes regardless so the push pins will work, so assemble the light into the shutter assembly through the bracing bar. the bar should follow the contour of the shutter assembly. Once secured, evenly drill holes to secure the bracing material- drill through the top of the shutter assembly and the bracing material. put the nuts/bolts through to secure the bracing bar. Now, remove the lights, and select a location for 2 more mount holes through the shutter assembly and bracing bar. drill them out, orient the light mounts to them, test fit and make sure your light orients reasonably close to straight ahead. Test fit the grill and confirm your pieces fit back together and the shutter assemblies move freely or are not obstructed by the lights. I had about 3/8” clearance.
For this orientation, this is the widest pair you could fit into the upper area without mods. You will need to orient the lights and “aim” as best you can before reassembly because post assembly you won’t be re-aiming without disassembly. Also, you can see that the lights aren’t perfectly level. I can anyway, and putting a washer under the grill on the respective high sides would even them out. I did not find this until after full reassembly and by that time, I’d had enough of this mod for the night.
Beer.
The orienting and aiming needs to be test fit a few times. Once you’re happy, it’s time to wire. These lights are rated at 108w per light so I ordered a wiring kit with relay. I think this was a smart choice but I suppose you could wire direct, but at 12v. these should draw 9 amps. The wiring loom has everything ready to go. Take some time to connect, insulate / wrap and route the wires, trying to keep them out of the way of the shutters and not rubbing anything. I connected the 2 lights and connected to the harness, following the grill contour out the passenger side top of the assembly. Reassembly now and again check things out for fit, then if it all lines up, CHECK THE LIGHTS. you don’t want to get this put into the truck to find out something isn’t right ! The harness has 2 battery connections and a switch. Confirm both your lights work and if so, time for final reassembly.
Reassemble in reverse order of disassembly. Ideally, there should be no parts left over when complete. Since you have to get the wires outside the grill assembly, fit may not be perfect or the same as before. I ran my harness wire under the foam on the passenger side of the assembly. Once again, if you pulled out the studs on the disassembly, you will have a ***** of a time reassembling until you reseat them in their “anchors”.
Rant: Whomever designed, convinced Ford, went along with and implemented the concept of these fasteners should be fired and banned from working in the automotive industry for life. Additionally, all of their immediate family should also be banned from automotive employment for life and the entire family line henceforth should never work in the automotive industry. The studs all came out when I disassembled, and the 4 posts have a plastic plate that lightly slots into place but is easily knocked out of place, falling into the hollow post. Good luck getting them back out.
/rant
here’s the clip with the stud out.
If any of your studs unseated:
get the rectangular slot that the stud screws into and pull it from the post.
disassemble the stud from the shutter assembly
Put stud “screw end” into a vice and tighten.
screw the stud and slot together until snug.
slide the slot / stud into the post until it clicks into place.
repeat as needed.
add back the bottom clips in the shape of nuts.
From the top, put the large push pins back into the assembly until they click into place.
Take your assembly to the truck and before yo do anything else, once again check your lights by connecting to the battery. Once confirmed, lift the assembly into the grill slot. Remember, there are side clips that you need to clear vertically and lower the assembly into place. Route your wiring. You may need to move the assembly once or twice depending on what you do with the wires. Note: The harness for these lights comes with a relay already installed. If you’re too lazy to remove the relay, your routing options are limited. it might look like you can either squeeze through right beside the passenger headlight or drop down and up right next to it. You can’t. I ended up fishing the whole assembly a little bit rear of the light assembly next to the battery. Of course, you could be less stubborn than me and remove the relay, adding it back once you run the wires. once this chore is complete, you can start buttoning things up.
Ensure your holes line up from the top, and if so, reinsert / tighten the 2 lower bolts, 8mm. Keep your headlight trim clear of the socket or nut driver. While you’re there, reinsert the push connectors (Christmas trees) for the flaps. Insert / tighten the 4 11mm bolts across the top. Once solid, reassemble your headlight trim. start from the bottom and pull the trim piece inward toward the center of the truck to click the trim pieces together. Work your way up the trim piece patiently. Mine would not click into place for the top tabs, I had to brace the tabs with my hand to get both the top slots to pick into place.
I was led to believe there are 2 bundles of wires for the up fitter switches. My truck has one and only one. I searched for 30 minutes, but fortunately a simple hook up to one of the 6 available was all I needed. Since I had a relay / harness, all I needed was the switch leg wire from the harness and I connected that to my up fitter wire. The pictures in this thread http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f265/upfitter-switches-request-help-52168/index3.html accurately show where they are at. I had leads for battery positive and negative, and the switch leg to the up fitter switch wire. Power up the truck and now it’s time for the smoke test.
Hold my beer. Watch this.
If you end up on youtube with a spectacular truck fire as a result of trying all this don’t blame me. If you don’t end up on youtube, it’s time for another beer. Clean up the routing of the wires, and put your insulating cover over top of the radiator/grill assembly. Fit all the push pins, clear the truck of any remaining tools, or parts. Connect your 3 connections - hose, and 2 connectors.
If you get this far, remember: Pictures. or it never happened.
I had to go see if the new hardware would further impress the unwashed heathen stbks baristas. I had to cruise the all parking lot several laps before I could score an up front parking spot. I sent my peeps in for my mocha. I did get some scowls from prius drivers who expected to be able to park up front but I could not tell a difference from the baristas. the customer base was horrified, of course and as soon as the Raptor pulled in the front parking space a few dove for cover.
If you’re thinking of a light bar on the bumper, no other mods, here’s what you’re looking at mount wise if you want to avoid drilling the bumper:
small bolts are only on the driver’s side.
Maybe I have to fire the lights up into the starbucks to get the baristas’ attention? anyway, my peeps got back with my mocha and I headed back.
After dusk, I set out to get a comparison. cops at the local park so I found a street with less ambient light.
high beams only:
I had to move further up the street and tested again, with the new LEDs
Topping this job off with some bourbon
lights used: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YOQ0OBQ/?tag=fordraptorforum-20
harness
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YC04DZW/?tag=fordraptorforum-20
