Wish I would have known about the difference in the older and newer model lenses. I guessed I wont trust what the dealer tell me anymore,not that I ever did.I wonder if the new style lights will work in place of the older style if you have already have the older ones installed.Can anyone tell me for sure?

 

Good link.

Is it better to get the older kit with the triangle lights for a 2002 2500? If I am right, the pros would be a correct template and a direct plug-in for the wiring harness. Con would be the triangle lights. It sounds like from reading the links that one could just replace the triangle lenses with the low-profile ones. Has anyone done this yet?

I was thinking of letting the dealership do this but I am not sure now. They told me I needed the newer kit. When I asked them how that kit could fit both a 2002 and 2003 with different sytle roofs, I got the "i dunno" it is what the computer says. So, I may just do these myself. Anyone apply rust treatment to their newly drilled holes? I am curious if 10 years down the road I will be driving along and my roof falls apart due to rust.

thanks,

 

Thats a fine step by step, Aggie Phil!!
I was thinking about mounting an antenna on the roof of my '98.5' but worried about pulling the headliner, not so bad now that you explained it.

My truck must be the transition period... plastic mirrors (tilt & heated) but still has the old style cab lights.

 

I would get the new kit. The fact that the template won't work is no big deal, just do the job like I did it. I wouldn't advise getting an older kit just for the template. The template is pretty useless and honestly, even if the template DID "fit" whatever truck I was working on, I wouldn't use it for drilling the large holes. Too great a chance they'll be slightly off from the holes on the inside of the roof. I say get the new kit! :-D

Glad that it helped you! Regarding your truck, it's also possible that the person before you had those lights put on (if you aren't the original owner), or that the dealership installed them and used the older kit. On the other hand, I'm no expert in the lineage of Dodge trucks, so I'm not exactly sure what years had what.

 

I was checking out your installation page and read the part about the LED bulbs. Don't know if you found them yet, but superbrightleds.com has clear LED 194/168 bulbs. They've also got the ambers, and I couldn't really tell a difference in the color of the regular clear bulb and the amber LED when I was testing my string of lights. The LED bulb is a bit more "directed" to a single point, though.

 

I bought 5 chrome covered amber bulbs, they appear chrome until lit up. I wonder how bright the LED bulbs would be? They'd surely never need replacing that way. I bought the clear clearance lights about a month ago but the guy on eBay sent me the smoke kit and was being very difficult about exchanging them. Long story short PayPal refunded my money and I went elsewheres to buy the same thing cheaper. Every morning when I leave for work, every truck I see out there with clearance lights makes me want mine in, but they're on the way now so....

 

If anybody wants the template from my mopar kit PM me. I saved it incase someone else needs it.

 

Thanks for the info. I have found them online, but I have been trying to find them locally, to give them a try with the ability to easily return. I have been seeing various different types of 194 LEDs, including some that supposedly put out light to the sides also, due to how the LEDs are arranged. I just hate to pay 6-10 bucks per light to get 3 or 4 different styles and colors and have to return what I don't like. On the site you recommended I count 6 different styls of 194 bulbs. It's confusing.
Of course, in the case of the cab lights, side view of the lights isn't a real big issue, and I would actually think that the defraction of the light by my amber lenses would take care of side view (another one of those things I want to test....)

Thanks,
Chris

 

A lot of places charge a ton of money for them, that's true. The superbrightleds folks are pretty reasonable, though. If this link works, scroll to the bottom of the page, the single LED 168 bulbs are 79 cents each. If you go to the next page, the 4 LED 168s are $1.59 each. I don't remember how much they charged me for shipping, but it wasn't that much.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...gi?product=CAR

 

ALL 1998's had the old style lights, I have one with the factory installed setup. I believe it was 2001 when they changed!!

 

I'm getting the 5 element LED's for my clearance lights... Those are showing as the only "wide-angle" bulb except for the single element LED. all the others show as having ~35° angle of view, too narrow for the application IMO.

 

LEDs? You guys are nuts! They're clearance lights!

 

I stopped by the local dealer today and ask about the new style lamps only....they are almost $15 each and was told that they may not be direct replacement for mine...bulbs and plugs different?
He suggested the kit and it was less than $20 more.

 

Yeah, but we (well I) are trying to address the problem some trucks have of melting the headlight switch. This makes LEDs a legitimate consideration since they draw significantly less power.

Chris

 

Plus, I don't ever want to have to replace another bulb.. silly-cone up there real well to seal 'em, and be done once and for all..