Replacement Driving lights for stock lowers

[allmyEXes]

My wife just got notification from work that her work times are changing next Monday. They will be working 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. 4 days a week. The PTB think that they can save a lot of money closing for a 3 day weekend instead of two. Maybe...
The time for her to be driving to work will be 100% in the dark. She drives through some of the most deer populated region in this part of the U.S.
I need to replace the lights below the bumper down in the plastic valance. I would prefer to go ahead and purchase something LED vs the little halogen bulb type fixture. There are several options and questions.
*Do I need 3"x5" or something X"x7"?
*Need to be able to directly mount in/on the original bracket without modification
*A single circuit design
*Uses a 4 pin relay to carry the load
*Amber or clear?
*Not expensive and near readily available in event that one would need replace
Feel free to chime in with ideas including pictures and links, options, opinions etc
I want to order some tonight (Thursday) to get them on the way so that I can install as soon as they arrive.
I can do my relay wiring this weekend to be able to get started on this.
2 weeks ago my Wife was diagnosed with stigmatism in one eye, so I want to help her see better. Thanks.

 

[J_C]

I doubt you're going to come up with something inexpensive that works well in that location. Even the short LED light bars that claim a narrow beam, aren't all that narrow, don't provide enough throw to help at normal driving speeds. The reflector is just too small and shallow.

Amber is most useful for fog penetration, clear is better for driving otherwise but don't get too cold a color temp or the glare will start increasing without providing any more usable light.

Mounting on the original bracket without modification, I'd expect at a minimum you'll have to drill some mounting holes in it, as it is doubtful anything will have a clip with a stud and nut like the originals do. Hmm, I better check myself and see how different your '97 lights look compared to my '98, which had both fog lights fall off recently due to those brackets rusting out.

Yes the '97 Rock Auto lists are the same as mine, see the pictures of what this bracket looks like:

More Information for TYC 19534701

I could be wrong, wouldn't surprise me if someone has replaced theirs with something better, but I imagine it will require fabricating some sort of adapter or mounting plate either to replace, or in addition to the stock mounting bracket.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

My wife just got notification from work that her work times are changing next Monday. They will be working 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. 4 days a week. The PTB think that they can save a lot of money closing for a 3 day weekend instead of two. Maybe...
The time for her to be driving to work will be 100% in the dark. She drives through some of the most deer populated region in this part of the U.S.
I need to replace the lights below the bumper down in the plastic valance. I would prefer to go ahead and purchase something LED vs the little halogen bulb type fixture. There are several options and questions.
*Do I need 3"x5" or something X"x7"?
*Need to be able to directly mount in/on the original bracket without modification
*A single circuit design
*Uses a 4 pin relay to carry the load
*Amber or clear?
*Not expensive and near readily available in event that one would need replace
Feel free to chime in with ideas including pictures and links, options, opinions etc
I want to order some tonight (Thursday) to get them on the way so that I can install as soon as they arrive.
I can do my relay wiring this weekend to be able to get started on this.
2 weeks ago my Wife was diagnosed with stigmatism in one eye, so I want to help her see better. Thanks.

big $ but Stage Series 2" SAE Yellow Sport Standard LED Pod (pair)
very good at night, and the fog style meets the regs to be street legal (not a huge deal in bama though) combined with LED in the headlight housing, it shines really far at night.

 

[Lee's Automotive]

big $ but Stage Series 2" SAE Yellow Sport Standard LED Pod (pair)
very good at night, and the fog style meets the regs to be street legal (not a huge deal in bama though) combined with LED in the headlight housing, it shines really far at night.

I have some extremely bright led headlights on my X and stock fogs I try my best to stay away from deer prone arears just because I don't want Bambie riding on the hood

 

[Fix4Dirt]

I have some extremely bright led headlights on my X and stock fogs I try my best to stay away from deer prone arears just because I don't want Bambie riding on the hood

got bright LED and fogs, and a winch bumper

 

[Lee's Automotive]

View attachment 435020got bright LED and fogs, and a winch bumper

If I see Bambie he gonna be a hood ornament especially if i can't stop in time

 

[J_C]

big $ but Stage Series 2" SAE Yellow Sport Standard LED Pod (pair)
very good at night, and the fog style meets the regs to be street legal (not a huge deal in bama though) combined with LED in the headlight housing, it shines really far at night.

Those look nice, though I wish they offered something between 6K white and amber, and cost about $100 less. Typical mounting on those. I grabbed one of my replacement brackets and looked it over. It's skeletonized, there are large stamped out holes on all 3 sides of it, so might need a flat plate added to the bracket, then mount the light on that plate. Looks like plate dimensions of roughly 2" x 4" would work (but I'm stating bare minimum here, 3" x 5" plate would be closer to best size) and give some overhang past the holes in the original bracket, to bolt it on after drilling holes in the original bracket.

Here's a crude mock up of what I mean, though I haven't had a chance to measure that bracket to see if it would really fit as shown. I mean I think it would be *close* to what is pictured, that the particular example light that Fix4Dirt linked would fit, but before choosing a specific light, I'd want hard numbers to be sure. To clarify, to get the right height through the front you might need some spacer washers, depending on the particular light bracket height. If your original bracket and housing are intact then you can just remove that assembly and compare how the new light sits relative to the old housing.

 

[Turdle]

My wife just got notification from work that her work times are changing next Monday. They will be working 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. 4 days a week. The PTB think that they can save a lot of money closing for a 3 day weekend instead of two. Maybe...
The time for her to be driving to work will be 100% in the dark. She drives through some of the most deer populated region in this part of the U.S.
I need to replace the lights below the bumper down in the plastic valance. I would prefer to go ahead and purchase something LED vs the little halogen bulb type fixture. There are several options and questions.
*Do I need 3"x5" or something X"x7"?
*Need to be able to directly mount in/on the original bracket without modification
*A single circuit design
*Uses a 4 pin relay to carry the load
*Amber or clear?
*Not expensive and near readily available in event that one would need replace
Feel free to chime in with ideas including pictures and links, options, opinions etc
I want to order some tonight (Thursday) to get them on the way so that I can install as soon as they arrive.
I can do my relay wiring this weekend to be able to get started on this.
2 weeks ago my Wife was diagnosed with stigmatism in one eye, so I want to help her see better. Thanks.

I've seen on several occasions , light blinded deer turned 180 degrees when they here a double tone car horn. It unfreezes them well.
I think a timer relay wired to horn relay to sound horn every 2 seconds would really work good. Of course you'd want a switch to turn feature off in traffic.

But on those deserted dark stretches, I use horn often

 

[J_C]

^ lol, I'd almost rather hit a deer than have my horn honking every 2 seconds.

Maybe instead of the factory horn, have it trigger an aftermarket horn that produces a frequency above human hearing range, though my brief research indicates they only hear 10KHz higher than humans so maybe a frequency near the upper end for humans, close to 15-20KHz. Then again, older deer may lose their higher freq. hearing too.

 

[toypaseo]

Rigid Industries spot mounted in stock bracket. Trimming of valence required.

 

[toypaseo]

 

[toypaseo]

 

[toypaseo]

Couple holes on top, one hole needed on back of bracket to allow plug to be plugged into back of the light.

Wiring harness is connected to OEM harness. OEM dash button controls light on and off just like stock light.

I only have a single unit installed.

 

[allmyEXes]

I see what you guys are doing with the plate on the bottom of the bracket. It kind of looks like it might need a little top plate and a bottom plate. I see how the originals had the bolt coming out of the back.
QUESTION: Is there a relay in the stock Driving light circuit?

 

[J_C]

Yeah the originals were an odd looking setup, maybe designed to reduce vibration to get more life out of the incandescent bulb (??) with a T-shaped bolt slug "thing" holding a springy tab, with two mounting points on the plastic light housing.

There is a relay. See attached diagram.

If you need any specific measurements of the brackets I can do that since I still have these new, though TYC brand instead of Motorcraft, brackets sitting around till I get around to installing them.

 

[RangerX]

Couple holes on top, one hole needed on back of bracket to allow plug to be plugged into back of the light.

Wiring harness is connected to OEM harness. OEM dash button controls light on and off just like stock light.

I only have a single unit installed.

View attachment 435044

Do you have a part number so I could look those up? What kind of beam does it put out? I’m guessing if you only have one, it’s pretty decent. I’m looking for more light at night...

 

[allmyEXes]

@RangerX @J_C @toypaseo From the schematic it looks like the fog lamp switch can be turned on and then when you have the high beams on, the fog/driving lights are on and when you switch to low the fog lights go off. That is how I would want it to work. I have never owned an Explorer that the lower under bumper light worked on. I stripped them off of my MM because the lower valance was trashed along with one light assembly.
Thanks to everyone.

 

[J_C]

It is the opposite, fog lights won't run with high beams, has to be low, or parking lamps I think allows running them too but it's on a different diagram.

There's options. A couple are rewire relay pin 1 to the high beam wire instead of low beam, or connect relay pin 3 to relay pin 1 so they come on independent of the headlights, but if done by connecting the relay pins together then you have to use the fog light switch to shut them off.

If you can live with needing to use the switch, that's the route I'd go because it doesn't necessarily have to alter the vehicle wiring. I mean the relay coil only uses a tiny amount of current so you could take a very tiny, like enamel rather than vinyl insulated wire, and solder that directly to the base of the relay pins, then if you want to un-do the mod, you just replace the relay or cut the wire. You'd just have to be quick about soldering it so it doesn't conduct too much heat up into the relay and cause damage. On the other hand that leaves the potential for draining the battery if you forget to turn the fog lights off, more elaborate would be tap into another circuit only powered in ignition on or accessory ignition switch position and run that to relay pin 1, I mean the relay box contact/wire for it.

Fog lamps

I found a how to thread on here that showed the procedure for rewiring the fog lamps so that they are on with the parking lights as well as the brights. I am a novice when it comes to electrical. Could someone give me a simplified version of how to do this? I have a 99 xlt 4dr. Thanks

www.explorerforum.com

 

[Eric1971]

I used these and they work great. I did have to clip the plug off the stock lights to re-use and then rig up a custom nut, bolt, washer setup to get it to work with the stock bracket but they've been in for 2 years and haven't moved at all.

Amazon product ASIN B07KXKY393

 

[toypaseo]

I am unsure on part number. They are the older model though. Spot, not fog, not hyper spot. I’ll see if i can dig up exact model number.

Yes, I did the mod where they can be turned on regardless of high beams and low beams…

I only did a one due to low money at the time. It’s kinda like having more headlight brights. Mine is on the passenger side, so it lights up more area on that side.

Two would be better. I might add a Rigid Industries cube to other side since I have one extra…