Headlight Removal, pics

What's this glass coat on the lens you speak of?

 

A known issue with aftermarket headlights is the seals fail causing the inside of the lens to get condensation, or worse fill with water. A method to try and prevent this is to use silicon around the headlight seal, where the lens attaches to the body. Nothing goes over the actual lens itself.

 

Here is the product. It's designed to prevent fading and UV damage. I coated the actual lenses (clear plastic).



As far as the silicone, I put a bead all the way around the lenses where they connect to the housings to help prevent moisture.

 

Sub'd

 

One must also keep in mind (when applying a sealant around the headlight lens) that over a period of time (even after sealant is applied) while driving, vehicle vibrations (rough roads, pot holes, rough terrain, etc.) and a combination of changes of weather temperatures (high temp, excessive heat index and low cold temps) the headlight lens and housing will expand and contract, so when applying a sealant spread a good amount (not globs or excessive) around the entire areas where the lens and headlight body make contact.

Do this to help prevent moisture and or water from entering the headlight housing. Because if sealant is not applied thoroughly, over a period of time, moisture and or water will eventually make it's way inside the headlight unit.

 

Sub'd

 

Just following up after almost a week of having my new DEPO headlights installed. I'm running a job in downtown Austin and we start everyday at 6am so my commute into town of course is before the sun comes up.

Overall I'm very happy with the look and more importantly the light output, especially after aiming the lights. My factory headlights had the hair line crack issues on the inside and now having a new set I realize how much better my visibility is. My hi-beams are also very noticeably better which is great for where I live coming into town.

Only time will tell if I have any moisture issues with these headlights but as previous stated, I took extra precaution by sealing the lenses with clear silicone all the way around before installation.

 

Holy crap was this a pain in the balls

 

X100000

I spent 3 hrs trying to get that last bolt out on the passenger side headlight. Tough to get to and rusted af. At this pace I should be all set by the weekend.

 

That #!?¥&$ bolt is a pisser! For me it was the driver side. Passenger side I was able to get my hand with the 10mm rachet wrench pretty good but had to peel back the wheel well liner. Anyway before and after pics. Not sure if you can tell I went with the black housing.

 

I'm thinking about replacing my factory headlights with the Lumen blackout clear lens headlight as I don't want to mess with taking apart the factory lenses, sanding, repainting. What do you guys think about Lumen's blackout clear replacement headlights?

 

Here's a great video I found. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNo__Lx20y0

 

That last bolt was easy to get to from below. I just laid on my back and worked on it from below.

 

Resurrecting an old thread, be prepared...
so I just found a new mod I’m itching to do, retrofitting 7” Jeep led headlights into my headlight housings. I wanted to use oem headlights but I didn’t want to use my housing Incase something went wrong. I found a set of oem headlights off a 2005 on Craigslist for $50 that would work great for my application... I have a 2015. My question is, are all headlights 2005-2015 interchangeable? I know theyr different colors, but are all the bolts the same and everything? Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

No, headlights off of an 05 will not work on your truck. You would need 12-15.

 

Weird. That same idea popped into my head yesterday.

In order to use headlights from 2005-2011, you'd also need to swap the hood, grill, bumper and those fill-in pieces.

 

How important is it to put that pain-in-the-a$$ bolt back in?

 

I haven't. Haven't had an issue.

 

Anyone have a link for those push pins? I suspect some of mine will be brittle.

In studying the OP's detailed instructions I noticed that there were four attachments on the underside of the bumper cover that were missing. These don't need to be removed in order to change the headlamp housings, but since mine were missing I started searching for what type of "clip" these were. I found this video on YouTube that identifies these clips.
They are the same clips that hold the top of the bumper cover as well as the two for the grille.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgGvdKexBqY

 

Installed new headlamp housings Saturday. Accomplished in ~2.5 hrs. No problems encountered. The hardest part(which really wasn't all that hard) was removing/replacing those aforementioned pain-in-the-a$$ bolts. Found I had at least one burned out parking lamp. Also, replaced some of my old and brittle push pins.
Thanks to the OP Chris(NJ) for the write up!



Clear as a bell!