superbrightleds.com has led bulbs for this truck. It claims 4000 lumens. Searched for halogen bulbs I used so far, and they usually range from 700-1200 lumens. LED bulbs seem to be brighter for these old eyes. I was wondering, though, if brighter bulbs in original housing will blind cars. I'm in nj and there probably are restrictions.

 

The restrictions in the US are for Watts (power, assuming halogen bulbs) - not for brightness. Of course, any headlight bulb mfr. wants to over-rate the brightness of his bulbs, so I wouldn't necessarily trust that unless they're a US name-brand (like GE or Philips) that truly follow industry standards for testing & advertising. But the COLOR is at least as important as the brightness. Ford LEDs are usually in the 2700~3000K range, which is close to daylight, so that's what I prefer. LEDs up to maybe 5000K are OK to me, but any higher gets stupid (green, pink, purple, blue).

And no; modern bulbs will not perform well in original headlights. I like these projectors, which are ~$200/pr on eBay (and more elsewhere, for the exact same set, often under the name Anzo).

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Thank you for reply. Yeah, looks like there is no diy article for 96. I saw those projector type housing. Just wasn't sure about them.

 

Saw the anzo and ebay and they are still halogen, led halo only. Maybe clear housing helps. I'm at the end of rope. I read led discussion (blackboost) but they have recent year trucks, and not sure if diy choices they made applies to 1996 housing which, I think, is made to scatter the light. I'm wondering if I should try those led bulbs and change the housing to clear lens. Retrofit Source and Diode Dynamics don't list led headlight bulbs at all, maybe hinting that they can be used as headlight bulbs.
Do you mean that led bulb will fit into anzo projector housing?
Also, if you can, would you explain why led bulbs also need canbus connector? 96 truck is obd, so wondering if canbus connector is needed?

 

All the discussions about pattern, color, & brightness apply to any LED in any (DOT-legal) projector housing. Any projector housing will specify the bulb number that it's designed for, which applies to any halogen and SOME newer-tech bulbs. It does not necessarily apply to the additional wiring required by an HID, or the cooling fan on some LED bulbs. Any bulb of the specified size will physically fit & lock into the housing & reflector, but its back end may not fit inside the housing's access cover (sealing boot). I recommend you just run the bulbs included with the projectors - they're fine, and a BIG improvement over the stock headlights with ANY bulb.

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CANbus-compatible bulbs are only relevant/necessary for vehicles that use a CAN bus (Controller Area Network) communication network to control & monitor the lights. These trucks have NO network for anything. And although your '96 technically complies with OBD2 standards, it is NOT what most people & manufacturers mean when they say OBD2. It's still an antique, and most OBD2 accessories will not work on it (or at least, not to the extent that they're marketed).

 

Excellent. Thank you for the info. I saw your photos. Last question about projector housing. I also have 98 camry. I changed its headlight with morimoto 30w modification projector in clear housing. It is improvement but it doesn't light the side walk. I often see the joggers at the last minute. How about the projector housing you have? I expect it is better in bronco or f150 than very low camry. Thanks again.