Close call!
 

While driving early in the morning all of a sudden my head lights went out... I couldn't see anything as it was dark. I worked the light switch knob and nothing. I ended up pulling over, all of a sudden the lights came back on. I never turned the truck off the entire time. The sun was coming up at that point and I could see a little bit. I decided to drive the truck and the lights didn't go out. That was a really close call, :o The question I have is why did that happen? Is there a relay maybe? Who ever had the truck did install halogen bulbs and they're extremely bright. I'm thinking something got hot?

I'd check the head light switch and the harness connector at the switch, also the grounds.

Mine did this to me while dragging my jeep around late at night once. Fortunately it was nearly a full moon and I was close to home, so I just toughed it out. They were flickering though and not just completely out.

As soon as I got home I converted over to relays to get the load off the stock switch, hasn't happened since.

common for head light switch going out. but check the connections

When mine was acting up they would go out when switching from low to high beam, changed the multi function switch and all is well.

Light gage wire.
Hocking up to a trailer with a ton of lights does not help, over loads the fuse box heats up the plug connections on the head light switch and things get well not good.
Relays is the fix for this and bigger wire.
You can get a kit with relays and plugs for the head lights wire the hole deal.
Ron Francis makes a kit

>>> always have a back up plan <<<
 

Head-lights suddenly going out was a real common occurence back in the early 80s when manufacturers began using an integral self-resetting circuit-breaker within the head-light switch; the Fords were the worst.


They must have under estimated the heat generated within the switch and used too low amperage of breaker.



Regardless of what type of head-light system one has, it is good common sense insurance to have an independently switchable set of driving-lights installed that are wired in a bullet-proof manner = BIG WIRE, independent GROUND wires, NO RELAY, BIG heavy-amp toggle-switch, and all connections crimped and soldered.

I have my driving-lights and fog-lights double-wired (independent of each other, of course), with one side directly wired through the top half of a SPDT toggle.

The bottom half of the toggle gets it's power from the hi-beam side of the dimmer-switch and triggers a relay, such that head-lights on BRITE turns ON the auxilliaries and head-lights on DIM turns them OFF. :)

Guess I need to trace the wires and see where they go. probably should put in a backup system for lights.

It's happened to me a couple times and every time was a burned up headlight switch in the dash. After the first time, I added relays for the headlights. After the second time, I added a relay for the trailer lights so they weren't all pulling through the HL switch. No problems since.

Pull the headlight switch out and see if the connector is melted or discolored and start with that.

Go buy a new headlight switch. Then throw yourself a new wiring harness together with the use of relays and install. All the info is right here under the sticky to do it.

Looks complicated, where does it tie into the existing wires coming from the light switch?

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=176263

Basically just copied the above article. I put it off too due to it looking complicated, until I burned out my 2nd new headlight switch. If you have any electrical skills it's a piece of cake to build. The best part is that you can build the harness right on your bench and install on your truck whenever. It ties into your old headlight plugs on the rear of your headlight bulbs. I built mine with 3 relays so my low stay on with my high when on high beam. -Kevin

Good advice above. Powering your headlights through a relay is a must if someone has added more powerful bulbs.

It is a must regardless, as even with regular bulbs they become bright and not dim!

I got lucky there was a guy selling these kits at a swap meet for $40.00.. Installed it in about 1 hour. Lights are brighter and no more heat at the switch.