Raptor Style Grille Lights for Superduty

Have you seen the Ford Raptor driving around, or on a video somewhere? One of the things I like about those Raptors, is the sharp looking LED lights. I have a 2005 F250 Superduty, and thought to myself, wouldn't it look cool if I could have those 3 LED clearance lights in the grille, just like the Raptor? Well that got me thinking, what would be the easiest way to accomplish this? I could do a couple different things, I could try and find some real Raptor LED clearance lights somewhere, I could buy a clearance marker light bar for a trailer and mount it behind the grille... Oooorrrrr, I could do something cool, and make them from scratch. Obviously I chose the last option, otherwise we wouldn't be here... as with every instructable, do this at your own risk, I am not responsible for any damage or injury occurring as a result of trying to replicate this instructable.

Step 1: Design Stage

First things first, I figured I would model up the ideal part to suit my needs. I designed this part to fit the honeycomb holes in my Superduty grille perfectly, I modeled in a little tab at the back so when I push it in, it would lock into place. I had a handful of 12V amber LED's that I had purchased off Ebay years ago, so I modeled the holes in the part to receive the LED's perfectly.

Step 2: Print / Fit

After completing the design stage, I proceeded to go ahead with a print. Using my Ultimaker 2, I printed 3 pieces in about 2 hrs. They looked perfect. I did a test fit, and they snapped right into the grille like they came from the factory.

Step 3: LED's

After doing a test fit, and everything working out great, I went ahead and installed the loose, prewired 12V Amber LED's into the newly printed pieces. I soldered all the leads together leaving a single pigtail to supply the 6 LED pod. I sanded the face of the 3D printed piece, with the LED's slightly protruding. This sort of "frenched" the LED's into the part. You could leave that part out, the difference being that if you leave the LED's protruding, you will get more glow around them. I sanded them smooth to get a distinct 6 LED look rather than a big orange glow.

Step 4: Removing the Grille

On my 2005 F250 Superduty, it is pretty simple to remove the entire grille assembly. First using a 7/32" socket, you will need to remove the 4 screws from the top plastic. Once all 4 screws are removed, you can gently pull on the top of the grille assembly. When you look down behind the grille assembly, at the very bottom you will see 5 clips (2 are shown circled in red) they hold the bottom of the grille in place. Gently push a flat head screwdriver and pop the clips out, they should go pretty easy once you figure out the technique. With all 5 of those clips popped out, you can now gently remove the grille assembly.

Step 5: Installing the LED "pods"

With the grille removed, you can now easily insert the LED pods, feeding the wires through the grille in equally spaced and centered holes in the grille. Push them till they snap in. Then proceeding to wire the lights, first doing a test run before soldering the wires together, because once soldered together, they can't be removed without breaking the joint. In the next version, I'll try to find some small connectors and build a nice harness for them.

Step 6: "Tie In"

I wanted my LED clearance lights to come on any time the clearance lights of the truck were on. The easiest way to do this was to route the wire back behind the driver side headlight. On the back of the headlight, I have a small marker light mounted to the side of the headlight assembly. I tied in to the two wires that run that small lamp. It worded best to remove the headlight assembly with the grille off. again using the 7/32" socket, remove the 4 screws, 2 on top, 2 on the bottom and gently pull the headlight assembly out. The back of the grille assembly has nice clips that hold the honeycomb pieces to the big chrome pieces, the work perfect as wiring clips to keep the wires neat and tidy. Now you can reinstall the grille assembly in the reverse order it was taken off. Push the bottom clips in place, give them a firm push till the click in. Tilt the grille assembly forward and install the 4 screws in the top of the grille assembly.

Step 7: Enjoy

Once everything is bolted back into place, go ahead and turn the headlight switch to the park lamp setting, step back, and enjoy the Raptor-esq styling of your F250. Hope you enjoyed this instructable, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below!