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- Jun 29, 2010
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- Ram Year
- 2019 1500 Laramie Sport Crew, 2019 1500 Big Horn Sport Crew & 2016 Charger SRT Hellcat
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Took a few pics tonight of our drop in HID kit for the 2013 Ram bihalogen projector lights.
For pricing, please see here - http://shop.retroshop.us/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=4G.13.HIDs
The kit will come with the following:
- 2x Ballasts
- 2x Bulbs (9006, which are interchangable with the OEM's HIR2 bulbs)
- Ram specific wiring harness
First off, to get the light out of the truck:
First of all, pop the hood and remove the insulator thing that runs across the top of the radiator, it uses six of the plastic push pin things:
One in each fender, two near the front (grill) area, and two large ones at the back of radiator:
What I do is pull up the five on the right, leaving just the one on the passenger side fender and rotate the insulator thing so that it sits on top of the engine:
Now, you have to remove the grill assembly. The grill uses four 10mm bolts along the top of the radiator support, remove these:
**NOTE: The outer two and inner two bolts are different. The outer two have threads spaced out much further since they bolt into plastic. The inner two have very close threads (and are shorter) since they bolt into metal.**
Once you have the four bolts removed, the hard part of removing the grill is next. You have to pull the grill straight out. On both sides, at the bottom of the grill (where it meets the bumper) there is a tab and insert. You have to gently, but firmly, pull on the grill straight out. Be careful as you WILL damage your paint/chrome. Here are the tab inserts:
Now, like the 3rd gen Rams, each headlight has two bolts (10mm) on the inboard side of the headlight. These are hidden by the grill. Remove them:
Next, the biggest improvement over the 3rd gen Rams is that there is no third bolt to try and access without damaging your front bumper's paint. But you do have to release the back of the headlight in order to remove it. If you look inside each front fender well (easiest to turn the front wheels fully one direction or the other) you will see a small access cover held in place by another small plastic push pin:
If you reach inside, there is a tab you have to push up to release the back of the headlight. It's a pain to find the first time, but if you use your flash light and look, it's very obvious. Push this up and then simply pull the headlight assembly forward.
Headlights are removed, now here's the back of the 2013 headlights:
Remove the 5 bolts to pull the cover off.
Here's what you will see (bulb already removed)
Close up of the stock low beam connector
To install HIDs in these, you'll have to drill a 7/8" hole in the dust cap. A hole saw works best for this.
Dust Cap:
Here's one drilled:
Here's the bulbs we are going to install, first - right out of the package:
and unwravelled
Put the bulb in
Connect the plugs (ensuring black goes to black!)
Fill hole in the dust cap with the grommet, and reinstall the dust cap
Next up.....find a place to mount your ballast. It really doesn't matter, as long as they have room to reach to the bulb wires.
Here's what comes with each ballast:
close up of the bulb connections
the bracket, use the supplied screws to hold it on
Next up, wiring harness. This is the part that confuses most......but, lay the booger out on the table, and it all becomes clear.
I missed a pic of the full 2013 harness setup, so bear with me here.....the 2013 basically uses a 09-12 quad light harness, with a splitter and resistor link added in. So.......lets start with the 09+ Quad harness here:
add in the closeup shot of where the resistor and splitter stuff is:
close up of the splitter
So.....basically.......what you have here? From the back of the headlight when we put in the grommet with the wires coming out, you have 3 connectors. 1 has 2 wires going to it. That plug on the DRIVERS side goes to the splitter. That is your "input". Mount the gold resistors ON METAL, they will get REALLY freakin' hot. They will melt plastic FAST. Ground the other end. Ground the capacitor link, and the ballast. Yes, they can all go to the same ground, and no - I don't recommend using a factory ground. Make your own! Its easy........drill a hole, sand the paint off, self taping screw to ground it all.
On the PASSENGER side of the 2013 headlights, remember we have that same plug coming out (the one with 2 wires). This gets plugged in there:
And ground it.
Plug in the HID bulb to the ballast. Plug your ballasts in, run your 12V to the battery (or fuse box). And.......fire it up!
Tip? Please don't let the harness and its octopus of wiring overwhelm you. Its not as crazy as it looks, especially after its layed out and you can see where it all goes.
For pricing, please see here - http://shop.retroshop.us/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=4G.13.HIDs
The kit will come with the following:
- 2x Ballasts
- 2x Bulbs (9006, which are interchangable with the OEM's HIR2 bulbs)
- Ram specific wiring harness
First off, to get the light out of the truck:
First of all, pop the hood and remove the insulator thing that runs across the top of the radiator, it uses six of the plastic push pin things:
One in each fender, two near the front (grill) area, and two large ones at the back of radiator:
What I do is pull up the five on the right, leaving just the one on the passenger side fender and rotate the insulator thing so that it sits on top of the engine:
Now, you have to remove the grill assembly. The grill uses four 10mm bolts along the top of the radiator support, remove these:
**NOTE: The outer two and inner two bolts are different. The outer two have threads spaced out much further since they bolt into plastic. The inner two have very close threads (and are shorter) since they bolt into metal.**
Once you have the four bolts removed, the hard part of removing the grill is next. You have to pull the grill straight out. On both sides, at the bottom of the grill (where it meets the bumper) there is a tab and insert. You have to gently, but firmly, pull on the grill straight out. Be careful as you WILL damage your paint/chrome. Here are the tab inserts:
Now, like the 3rd gen Rams, each headlight has two bolts (10mm) on the inboard side of the headlight. These are hidden by the grill. Remove them:
Next, the biggest improvement over the 3rd gen Rams is that there is no third bolt to try and access without damaging your front bumper's paint. But you do have to release the back of the headlight in order to remove it. If you look inside each front fender well (easiest to turn the front wheels fully one direction or the other) you will see a small access cover held in place by another small plastic push pin:
If you reach inside, there is a tab you have to push up to release the back of the headlight. It's a pain to find the first time, but if you use your flash light and look, it's very obvious. Push this up and then simply pull the headlight assembly forward.
Headlights are removed, now here's the back of the 2013 headlights:
Remove the 5 bolts to pull the cover off.
Here's what you will see (bulb already removed)
Close up of the stock low beam connector
To install HIDs in these, you'll have to drill a 7/8" hole in the dust cap. A hole saw works best for this.
Dust Cap:
Here's one drilled:
Here's the bulbs we are going to install, first - right out of the package:
and unwravelled
Put the bulb in
Connect the plugs (ensuring black goes to black!)
Fill hole in the dust cap with the grommet, and reinstall the dust cap
Next up.....find a place to mount your ballast. It really doesn't matter, as long as they have room to reach to the bulb wires.
Here's what comes with each ballast:
close up of the bulb connections
the bracket, use the supplied screws to hold it on
Next up, wiring harness. This is the part that confuses most......but, lay the booger out on the table, and it all becomes clear.
I missed a pic of the full 2013 harness setup, so bear with me here.....the 2013 basically uses a 09-12 quad light harness, with a splitter and resistor link added in. So.......lets start with the 09+ Quad harness here:
add in the closeup shot of where the resistor and splitter stuff is:
close up of the splitter
So.....basically.......what you have here? From the back of the headlight when we put in the grommet with the wires coming out, you have 3 connectors. 1 has 2 wires going to it. That plug on the DRIVERS side goes to the splitter. That is your "input". Mount the gold resistors ON METAL, they will get REALLY freakin' hot. They will melt plastic FAST. Ground the other end. Ground the capacitor link, and the ballast. Yes, they can all go to the same ground, and no - I don't recommend using a factory ground. Make your own! Its easy........drill a hole, sand the paint off, self taping screw to ground it all.
On the PASSENGER side of the 2013 headlights, remember we have that same plug coming out (the one with 2 wires). This gets plugged in there:
And ground it.
Plug in the HID bulb to the ballast. Plug your ballasts in, run your 12V to the battery (or fuse box). And.......fire it up!
Tip? Please don't let the harness and its octopus of wiring overwhelm you. Its not as crazy as it looks, especially after its layed out and you can see where it all goes.