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1997 - 2003 Ford F150 General discussion on the Ford 1997 - 2003 F150 truck.

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Old 09-01-2014, 08:19 PM
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Originally Posted by blupupher
Look on e-bay or amazon for "lightning" or "Harley" headlights. Several styles to choose from (all chrome or ones with black in them). Stay away from the once piece "halo projectors" with LED's in them. Light output is crap, halos and LED's go out in no time and fitment is very poor. Also you need to know the build date of your truck, early '97's have a different mounting for the headlights and the regular ones out there won't fit it, not sure on the month cut off for it though.
I think trucks built before July of 1996 have the different headlight mounts. My 97 was built in December of 96, and it has the newer style of headlight mount that the 98-03 trucks also have.
Old 09-01-2014, 09:19 PM
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How do I know what style I have? Are there any pictures out there? I have had the headlights out to put new bulbs in. You lift up on two locks and pull the headlight right out. The lamp has three studs that screw through a plastic/rubber mount. The mounts lock into the lock bars. I just made up the names of the parts. I hope I described them ok.
Old 09-01-2014, 09:24 PM
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Originally Posted by blupupher
Look on e-bay or amazon for "lightning" or "Harley" headlights. Several styles to choose from (all chrome or ones with black in them). Stay away from the once piece "halo projectors" with LED's in them. Light output is crap, halos and LED's go out in no time and fitment is very poor.
Also you need to know the build date of your truck, early '97's have a different mounting for the headlights and the regular ones out there won't fit it, not sure on the month cut off for it though.
I thought all 97s and 98s had different head lights and grills
Old 09-01-2014, 09:25 PM
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Originally Posted by red 97
How do I know what style I have? Are there any pictures out there? I have had the headlights out to put new bulbs in. You lift up on two locks and pull the headlight right out. The lamp has three studs that screw through a plastic/rubber mount. The mounts lock into the lock bars. I just made up the names of the parts. I hope I described them ok.
look in your door for the build date. It'll say the month and the year I believe.
Old 09-01-2014, 09:56 PM
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The build date is 4/97. I will have to take a picture of the headlight and show it to you guys to compare what is in your trucks.

I looked at ebay and the number of choices is huge. I am leaning towards the ones with black in them. Do you have a ebay seller you recommend?
Old 09-01-2014, 09:59 PM
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Originally Posted by red 97
The build date is 4/97. I will have to take a picture of the headlight and show it to you guys to compare what is in your trucks. I looked at ebay and the number of choices is huge. I am leaning towards the ones with black in them. Do you have a ebay seller you recommend?
you could get yourself a headlight restorer kit by mothers did mine last year and they are still crystal clear. ( yes I do wax)
Old 09-01-2014, 10:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Jackedup00
I thought all 97s and 98s had different head lights and grills
They have a different grill and bumper (and lower valance, fog lights are in the bumper, not the lower valance), but only the early build '97's have a different headlight mounting system than the later trucks.

[MENTION=174898]Cmanjr[/MENTION], yes, your right, it is after 7/96, so red 97, you can get any of the ones on e-bay/amazon that have the 3 mount tabs.
Old 09-02-2014, 04:20 AM
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Originally Posted by greenheadkiller98
I would do spindle lift, 265 or 285s, roof rack on the cap
265's for sure
Old 09-02-2014, 01:03 PM
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So I have a start to my upgrade list. The first item is "Lightning Style" headlights.
Since we are talking about the front end I want to put a new grill in there. I would like to replace the bumper cover and valence with something like the units on the 4X4. I want to eliminate the chrome and paint the bumper and valence to match. Has anybody done that before?

There doesn't seem to be any love for my engine tick post in the engine section. Any suggestions for locating an exhaust manifold leak? I don't want to blindly replace things.

red 97
Old 09-02-2014, 06:42 PM
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Originally Posted by red 97
So I have a start to my upgrade list. The first item is "Lightning Style" headlights.
Since we are talking about the front end I want to put a new grill in there. I would like to replace the bumper cover and valence with something like the units on the 4X4. I want to eliminate the chrome and paint the bumper and valence to match. Has anybody done that before?

There doesn't seem to be any love for my engine tick post in the engine section. Any suggestions for locating an exhaust manifold leak? I don't want to blindly replace things.

red 97
the manifold leak will most likely be due to an old gasket between the manifold and the motor. so hopefully you should just have to replace the gaskets.


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