On Thu, 23 Dec 2004, I love Edsels wrote:

> I have a 97 Ford Ranger and don't like the headlights. I've been told
> that replacing them w/ lights 01 or newer will make a big difference.
> Do they just bolt right into place like the existing ones? Or do I
> need to make some alterations?
> TIA
> Tom
> Seattle

They will bolt in. You must use the newer headlamps *and* the newer corner
lights. The park/turn function is located within the main headlamp body on
the newer lamps, not in the corner lamp as with the old lamps. Therefore,
there is a separate sidemarker bulb in the new-style corner lamp. This
must be wired in, which is not difficult to do. You can either wire it to
burn steadily whenever the parking or headlamps are on (one wire to
parking lamp feed, one wire to ground) or you can do the smart thing and
wire it to burn steadily when the parking or headlamps are on *and* flash
with the turn signals (one wire to parking lamp feed, one wire to turn
signal feed, diagram at
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...rkerflash.html )

Ford's marginal headlamp wiring has been starving bulbs and producing dim,
brownish light from the headlamps for several decades now. They've finally
(in the last three years or so) started equipping their cars with decent
optics, and that's a big improvement over the badly-focused beams produced
by virtually all pre-'01 Fords, but the too-thin wires still starve the
bulbs. Put relays in, see
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html

DS