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Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

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emunder

Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

Love the way this came out. Before I swapped them out I could barely see anything at night. Went with the ice blue I found off of eBay.

1986 Ford F150 XLT 4X4. 300 I6 w/ 4 speed manual.

Gary Lewis

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

Administrator

I do like that/those! Mine are way too blue, but the Ice Blue appears to be just right.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

emunder

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

Thx Gary. They had another blue but it was more of a darker/richer looking blue in trying to describe it. This one is def easy on the eyes without it being too bright. Wish I could have matched the headlight/wiper switch lights like this but it is a totally different bulb.

1986 Ford F150 XLT 4X4. 300 I6 w/ 4 speed manual.

Frank Wyatt

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

Mine were dim as well and hard to see at night but after changing my headlight switch they were much brighter and very easily seen at night now. I had been thinking that the rheostat in the headlight switch had developed too much resistance with age and contemplated changing the switch but had not gotten to it yet but got motivated to do so after the lights went out momentarily on a dark back road a few weeks back. Lookin good by the way, a nice shade of blue.

1981 F 150 Custom 300 ci with a fully rebuilt 1968 240 head Carter YFA T-18 3.25 9" rear 2WD
dual gas tanks
1990 Lincoln Town Car 5.0 AOD
Home town Mc Kenzie, TN

grumpin

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

Good find Frank!

Dane
1986 F250HD SC XLT Lariat 4x4 460 C6-Sold
1992 Bronco XLT 4x4 351W E4OD
1998 GMC Sierra SLE K1500 350 4L60E
Arizona

Rembrant

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

In reply to this post by emunder

Hey Emunder, I ordered a set of the Ice Blue LED's right after you did, and I'm very happy with them as well. I don't have a real good picture of them, but they'd be the same as yours.

1994 F150 4x2 Flareside. 5.0 w/MAF, 4R70W, stock.
1984 F150 4X2 Flareside. Mild 302 w/ 5spd. Sold.
1980 F150 4X4 Flareside. 300i6 w/ 5spd. Sold in 2021.
1980 F100 4X2 Flareside. 351w/2bbl w/NP435. Sold in 1995

emunder

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

Nice! They look great!

1986 Ford F150 XLT 4X4. 300 I6 w/ 4 speed manual.

Danny G

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

This post was updated on .

Man those look good. My eyes don't do well with blue but that is more if the lettering/numbers are directly lit in blue. I was thinking about looking for some green back lighting myself.

I wish I could find a dimmable LED, sometimes the full on power of these are just too much as well. Have you tried them at night yet?

1986 F-150|Standard Cab|4x2|300Six|C6Transmission w/3.08 rear|Name:TBD
2021 Ranger XLT Super Crew

fords4life

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

Do you guys have a link to the ones you bought on ebay?

1986 F-150 SC 2wd 4spd 302EFI Base Model all OEM motor/trans/emissions equipment.

Rembrant

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

fords4life wrote

Do you guys have a link to the ones you bought on ebay?

These are the ones in my picture above, but the seller has them in several different colors/shades I believe...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/80-86-Ford-F100-F150-F250-F350-Truck-Gauge-Cluster-LED-Dash-Kit-Ice-Blue/273534768705?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Danny G

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

In reply to this post by fords4life

fords4life wrote

Do you guys have a link to the ones you bought on ebay?

I couldn't find his but found several on Amazon by searching: 194 LED bulb. There are a couple that offer "Ice Blue" more than likely one of them is the same seller.

https://www.amazon.com/DODOFUN-Ceramics-Interior-Exterior-Bright/dp/B07L8CXYKV/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=194+led+bulb+ice+blue&qid=1572964249&s=automotive&sr=1-5

https://www.amazon.com/YITAMOTOR-Reading-Doorstep-Courtesy-License/dp/B00YWXSL7A/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=%22Ice+blue%22+194+led+bulb&qid=1572964437&s=automotive&sr=1-6

https://www.amazon.com/iBrightstar-Extremely-Interior-Courtesy-License/dp/B07SW5FTYC/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=194+led+bulb+ice+blue&qid=1572964249&s=automotive&sr=1-9

1986 F-150|Standard Cab|4x2|300Six|C6Transmission w/3.08 rear|Name:TBD
2021 Ranger XLT Super Crew

emunder

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

These are the ones I bought (sorry Rembrant just realized this is the same link you posted). They are not too bright at night IMO & they will dim using the headlight switch.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/80-86-Ford-F100-F150-F250-F350-Truck-Gauge-Cluster-LED-Dash-Kit-Ice-Blue/273534768705?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Oh one thing to note...when you pull the instrument cluster there are blue plastic covers inside that shield the stock bulbs, I pulled those out. When I left them in the new LED's were too dim IMO. Took them out and it looks great. Not sure if this is the same for all the trucks but wanted to throw that out there.

1986 Ford F150 XLT 4X4. 300 I6 w/ 4 speed manual.

Danny G

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

emunder wrote

they will dim using the headlight switch.

This is good to know, I think I will have to pick some of that brand up myself.

1986 F-150|Standard Cab|4x2|300Six|C6Transmission w/3.08 rear|Name:TBD
2021 Ranger XLT Super Crew

Rembrant

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

In reply to this post by emunder

emunder wrote

These are the ones I bought (sorry Rembrant just realized this is the same link you posted).

I got the link/recommendation from you in the first place, so I have to give all of the credit to you for finding them in the first place.

Danny G

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

In reply to this post by Danny G

noticed he had other colors but nothing pops like that Ice Blue. I am glad he has pictures of what they look like installed and on.

1986 F-150|Standard Cab|4x2|300Six|C6Transmission w/3.08 rear|Name:TBD
2021 Ranger XLT Super Crew

emunder

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

In reply to this post by Rembrant

Lol...thx man.

1986 Ford F150 XLT 4X4. 300 I6 w/ 4 speed manual.

emunder

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

In reply to this post by Danny G

I thought the green ones looked pretty cool too. Maybe a tad bright but probably look pretty cool dimming them down just a hair.

1986 Ford F150 XLT 4X4. 300 I6 w/ 4 speed manual.

Danny G

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

Maybe Ill get both and test them out. But I think that Ice blue looks pretty crisp, and you get the nice orange needles as well because it has just enough white light to it.

I have some white 194 LEDs laying around, I could also try those with the stock teal filters.

1986 F-150|Standard Cab|4x2|300Six|C6Transmission w/3.08 rear|Name:TBD
2021 Ranger XLT Super Crew

Gary Lewis

Re: Replaced My Instrument Bulbs With LED's

Administrator

I'm sure you are aware of this, but if you try to take comparison pics of the different lighting you'll have to put your camera into manual mode and use the same shutter and aperture settings for all pics. Otherwise the camera will adjust the settings and try to make them all come out at the same brightness.

The way I've done it is to take a gauge cluster into a dark room with the camera on a tripod. Power the cluster will 14v and take one pic on Automatic. Find the shutter and aperture settings in the picture's metadata and then dial that in on Manual mode and take the remaining pics.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile