[Hemi2003]

Anyone ever change head light bulbs in a 03 Ram 2500? It looks brutal but theres probably an easy way. Our dealer here said they wer not sure and asked the "grease monkey"who said you have to pull the inner wheel well liners...I'm calling Bull @%*!. Could it be that bad?

 

[Evildriver-3]

Lmfao it could be, i would have to look at my brothers truck

 

[doug3968]

I guess my 04 is the same, I want to switch to silver star lites becuase the stock ones are very poor. the right bucket isn't too bad, take out the 3 torx head bolts, don't know what size metric hex, maybe a 10 mm, then take there is the plastic self locking peg at the back of the bucket, it goes into the inner fender panel, squeeze it and pull out the bucket.
The right bucket has the same set-up but the square peg, that needs to be compressed to remove, is behind a bunch of plastic parts like the air box and computer hook up. I guess the plastic inner fender panel will have to be removed. btw this may be different for something other than a hemi.
If you do find a quick and dirty way to change the bulbs, please pass it along. Sad to say but I don't believe that the new aftermarket halogens will be as good as the lights on my 86 r/c!

 

[Guest]

That could be right, I have to take out the inner fender to replace the battery in my 99 Stratus, it comes out easy thought. No tools requried.

 

[Hemi2003]

Well I'm going to go take a run at it now. Since the baby is asleep I can take the monitor to the garage lol. I'll have an update later tonite. I am also installing the Silver Stars Doug and my 03 is a Hemi. I agree the factory head lamps are brutal! I have a set of 250W Cepek spots but can't afford $1200 for a bull bar to mount them on lol.
Wish me luck and not too much blood loss!

 

[SeahawkDodge]

According to the FSM I had for my 2000 dakota, you had to remove the whole assembly from the truck. So I don't doubt you have to go in through the wheelwell liner. Good luck

 

[Hemi2003]

Well it was not so bad after all...I oughta go slap the service manager at the dealer. There are 2 plastic retaining screw/anchors that hold the rubber seal on the front inside edge of the headlight to the fender, ya remove those, then 2 bolts that clearly come from the light to the support beam come out, then theres one more at the bottom of the light between it and the bumper near the back under the orange"reflector"part thats easy to get with a 1/4 inch drive ratchet and a 3"extention. I gave er a yank and the whole assembly popped out. Piece of cake right? Wrong. I hit a deer last year and that light had to be replaced. When I tried the passenger side it all went well untill I gave it a yank and nothing budged! The body shop didn't seat the upper snap lock anchor all the way when they replaced it, the factory one on the passenger side was WELL seated. However the engineers at Dodge were nice enough to leave a hole in the plastic wheel well to allow a screw driver thru directly to that little bastard clip and a 12"long slender screw driver did the trick.( I suspect you could even use a piece of coat hangar in a pinch) Re-assembly took less than 2 minutes a side. If you guys think this project is worth posting in the How To section I took digital photo's at each step just in case >:-{)> Oh ya Doug was it worth it...well...they are a fair bit brighter and whiter than factory for sure. The Silver Stars are $24.00 each CDN here at Canadian Tire...so...worth it... I guess as long as they don't burn out in 6 months.
Brad

 

[doug3968]

On my 86, I ran the silver stars directly to the battery with a relay triggered from the dimmer switch. The light is very, very good but I am not gutsy enough to try this with the 04. I have visions of a melt down of the wiring and dread the look of the insurance adjustor's face when he spots the extra wires. But if anyone has any ideas how to wire the lights directly to the battery on an 04, I would at least look at the diagram.

 

[Hemi2003]

The Silver Stars are working fine on the factory wiring.

 

[SeahawkDodge]

On my 86, I ran the silver stars directly to the battery with a relay triggered from the dimmer switch. The light is very, very good but I am not gutsy enough to try this with the 04. I have visions of a melt down of the wiring and dread the look of the insurance adjustor's face when he spots the extra wires. But if anyone has any ideas how to wire the lights directly to the battery on an 04, I would at least look at the diagram.

The lighting is set up exactly as you would wish it to be. The only reason to install the headlight relays on the older trucks is because the wiring is old and can cause the lights to be dimmer than they would normally be. With newer wiring this is not an issue.

 

[Dork]

On my 86, I ran the silver stars directly to the battery with a relay triggered from the dimmer switch. The light is very, very good but I am not gutsy enough to try this with the 04. I have visions of a melt down of the wiring and dread the look of the insurance adjustor's face when he spots the extra wires. But if anyone has any ideas how to wire the lights directly to the battery on an 04, I would at least look at the diagram.

The lighting is set up exactly as you would wish it to be. The only reason to install the headlight relays on the older trucks is because the wiring is old and can cause the lights to be dimmer than they would normally be. With newer wiring this is not an issue.

I thought it had more to do with shortening the path of the Voltage to limit the drop than it does with old wiring

 

[SeahawkDodge]

On my 86, I ran the silver stars directly to the battery with a relay triggered from the dimmer switch. The light is very, very good but I am not gutsy enough to try this with the 04. I have visions of a melt down of the wiring and dread the look of the insurance adjustor's face when he spots the extra wires. But if anyone has any ideas how to wire the lights directly to the battery on an 04, I would at least look at the diagram.

The lighting is set up exactly as you would wish it to be. The only reason to install the headlight relays on the older trucks is because the wiring is old and can cause the lights to be dimmer than they would normally be. With newer wiring this is not an issue.

I thought it had more to do with shortening the path of the Voltage to limit the drop than it does with old wiring

If you follow the wiring in any newer vehicle, the battery goes into the fuseblock and then to each circuit (i.e. headlights). The switch in the cabin just closes the relay, then it goes to the headlights straight from that relay.
The older the wiring gets, the higher the resistance becomes across the same stretch of wire, so in older vehicles it becomes more important for shorter (and thicker) wire.
So yes, you are correct. The way the older dodges were, there was a lot of extra wire, going back to the switch and then to the lights. Newer vehicles eliminate that problem.

 

[Hemi2003]

I have to confess, I have now removed the Silver Stars, after driving a couple times I didn't think they were much of an improvement after all. I pulled the hearlights again (which I have down to about 5 minutes a side lol) and sold them to a guy at work. I have decided to go with the PIAA 55/85 ultra's and I am very pleased. These are a HUGE improvement over the factory and the Silver Stars. A little pricey though @ $145.00 for the pair.

 

[SeahawkDodge]

I have to confess, I have now removed the Silver Stars, after driving a couple times I didn't think they were much of an improvement after all. I pulled the hearlights again (which I have down to about 5 minutes a side lol) and sold them to a guy at work. I have decided to go with the PIAA 55/85 ultra's and I am very pleased. These are a HUGE improvement over the factory and the Silver Stars. A little pricey though @ $145.00 for the pair.

I am honestly amazed that you couldn't tell the difference. I have run silverstars in everything I owned for the past couple years. The difference is astounding to me, in my wife's car, my 85 and my old ZX2. I would definately hope the PIAA's were better than the silverstars...they cost five times as much.

 

[doug3968]

got to agree, the halogen bulb silver stars were not that big of an improvement over stock. Stock is a yellowish light and the silver stars are white but the brightness improvement is not what the advertisement promises. this is just the opposite of what happened with the silver star halogen sealed beams that are in my 86 r/c.
the piaa headlights that you installed, are they available over the counter? there are thousands of headlights available over ebay but I am not up to buying electrics this way. Is the price you quoted for the halogen bulbs only? I realize they are electric but was there any type of warranty?

 

[SeahawkDodge]

got to agree, the halogen bulb silver stars were not that big of an improvement over stock. Stock is a yellowish light and the silver stars are white but the brightness improvement is not what the advertisement promises. this is just the opposite of what happened with the silver star halogen sealed beams that are in my 86 r/c.
the piaa headlights that you installed, are they available over the counter? there are thousands of headlights available over ebay but I am not up to buying electrics this way. Is the price you quoted for the halogen bulbs only? I realize they are electric but was there any type of warranty?

Nope prescription only Sorry, couldn't resist. http://www.truckperformance.com sells them