98 Beaver Ticonderoga headlight

[Richard Good]

I am trying to confirm if the 98 Patriot headlights were the same as a Ford Bronco headlights from 87 to 91. I see some replacement headlights have an LED running light built in. I am guessing that these require extra wiring. Has anyone switched their headlights to LED bulbs? I need to replace my headlights as the chrome reflecting surface has gone dim. I would like to upgrade to LED bulbs at the same time. I did do the electrical upgrade to make the lights brighter a few years ago.

[Eric Maclean]

Richard
It's funny you bring up this conversation as I just did this very conversion a couple of weeks ago
I like you got sick of the lack luster light out put from the old halogen bulbs my first upgrade  was to clean and polish the lenses on the old headlights and install LED bulbs the result was nice clean lenses but the replacement LED bulbs although they made for a little bit better or at least whiter light they would no longer focus properly a d left a lot to be desired on high beam .

So I went on line and researched new light assemblies .
I wanted something with clear lens and settled on the units you described with the built in Day time running lights.
Knowing that the stock LED bulbs wouldn't be much better in the new headlights so I opted to remove the lenses from the new light assembly cut the bulb lock of the back off the reflector and installed a set of BI LED projector units .
While I was at it I installed a pair of LED strips behind the chrome  DRL brackets inside the headlight assembly which are also DRL units but will flash orange with the turn signals.

If you aren't up to the work of cutting up a new set of headlights there is a company out there that has done the work for you for a price ( the headlights your looking for were originally from a 1987 to 1991 Ford F150.or Bronco
They were also used in the Provost buses.
The DRL units we are talking about off of Amazon come with the mounting bracket headlight adjusters and turn signals .
You won't use the mounting plate and the turn signals are different than the ones mounted in your Beaver.
You will reuse the headlight assembly the new adjusters and reuse the old turn signals ( to clean up the old turn signals wet sand them with 5000 grit paper till they are good and clean and then spray them with a 2k clear coat and they should look like new).

Here is a link to the premade units with projectors for the Prevost ( they are the same )

https://youtu.be/uOWCLLN-8oA?si=Bg6ZDTABOabiEoaO


Here are the units I used

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLV94S34/ref=twister_B0BPBS9YQW?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

These are the projector units I installed

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WY6QT7F?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

These are the LED strips I installed inside the reflectors

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GL9CDWW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Hope this helps
Eric

[Carl Boger]

OK Eric,

As usual I am at least a few dozen steps behind you.  Do you happen to have any pictures of your set up.  How you removed and installed the new units.  My turn signals seem to be a different housing from my headlights, not sure if they are one piece or not, but there is a fiberglass bar in the front cap that separates  them.

Adding projection headlights to the back of the new lenses doesn't bother me, but how do the old units come out?

Thanks

[Eric Maclean]

Carl
The Ford headlights where mounted to a molded plastic mounting plate along with the turn signal, when Beaver designed the front fiberglass cap they molded the cap to accommodate the headlights and turn signals separately.
The turn signals are bolted in from behind the cap just as the would have been mounted to the Ford mounting plate.
The headlights are mounted via their alignment screws you will have to unscrew these screws all the way out to remove the head light assembly.one from the rear and two from the front.
The new headlights come with new alignment screws and the base plate ,you will remove them from the base plate and reuse them

The headlights I used where clear with the LED day time running lights built in but those have a different turn signal shape so I used the original turn signals.

[Carl Boger]

Thanks Eric,

How much better are the projector headlights over the LED bulbs in the original headlights?  My LED's are much better than the factory bulbs, but still nothing to brag about. 

The only reason I haven't looked into this more seriously before now is I try my best not to drive at night. If the projector bulbs make a decent difference I guess I'll have another project to do on the motorhome.

Thanks for the instructional!

[Eric Maclean]

Carl
I haven't yet had a chance to drive at night with them because like you I don't drive at night very often .
I usually only drive during the dark on our first day out when we get up early and head south to try to get far enough south to find an open campground in November.

The biggest problem I found with the replacement LED bulbs was that when I went to aim the headlights they had no defined hot spot to aim with .
The new projector units have a defined straight cutoff line making the headlight aiming much easier and they are designed to cut off to the left to avoid blinding on coming cars.

The picture below where taken at the campground we are currently in Georgia they really don't do the lights justice because of the terrain and vegetation in front of the coach but you can see the cutoff line and how it drops off to the left by about 4 inches the second picture shows the high beam where the cutoff line is not present.

[Richard Good]

I have ordered replacement housings and some LED 9004 replacement bulbs. I will test both old and new bulbs to see how much difference there is if any. I may try your upgrade if this doesn't work well.