Hey, guys.
It's Joe from AmericanTrucks.
Today we're gonna be taking a closer look at the Axial LED Fog Lights, fitting all '15
and newer F-150s excluding the Raptor models.
Now this is gonna be a great option for any F-150 owner out there that's looking to change
their fog lights over to LED with a cost-effective and high-quality upgrade.
So what do we have going on here with the Axial LED fog lights?
Well, first off, let's dive into what this thing is made out of.
Around back, we have an aluminum housing, up front, a nice polycarbonate lens on there
that's gonna be clear and very resistant to shatter in its nature.
Now all of this comes together to make these IP67 waterproof which means the housing and
the plug and play connector for this thing are gonna be able to withstand up to a meter
of water for half an hour which is way more abuse than it should ever see on the front
end of your F-150.
Even when these are off, these are looks upgrade, right?
We're gonna put these side by side next to our reflector style factory housings in just
a second here and you can see even with the clear lens on there, this is gonna give you
a little bit more of a blackout look which frankly looks a lot more modern than that
old school reflector style housing, so even when they're off, again, a huge upgrade in
the looks department.
Once you turn these on though, things get even better.
These are 5,000k color temperature, so that's gonna be your nice crisp, bright white color
in there.
And theoretically, we have a focusing lens behind our polycarbonate lens, so this should
focus the light a little bit better where you need it rather than that reflector style
housing which just scatters light in all directions, a little bit inefficient, this is gonna be
a huge upgrade over those.
Now another huge benefit with these, completely plug and play.
That's right, these plug right into the harness on our F-150, no wiring knowledge necessary,
that's just good design from Axial.
Well done guys.
Other than that, obviously these are also DOT and SAE compliant, so again, Axial, well-engineered,
no matter what state you live in, these are always going to pass inspection on the front
end of your F-150.
So, all in all, a great set of performing fog lights.
And honestly, I thought these were gonna be more expensive than the price tag that they
sit at, we're only looking at around 100 bucks.
And for your 100 bucks this is gonna be a giant upgrade if you're looking to mess with
the fog lights.
Again really, really easy to install, we're gonna show you how it's done in just a second.
A really high-quality piece that's gonna provide a nice bright white light on there and high-quality
materials and build quality to boot.
So really can't beat it at 100 bucks for the pair here, that is a great price to pay.
So install for these is going to be really easy, plug and play obviously, right.
So these are gonna drop in with no modifications in place of our factory fog lights.
Now one thing we are gonna do to get these installed today is remove the bumper.
It is possible to install these without removing the bumper but for video purposes and to show
you exactly how it's done, we're gonna take the bumper off again.
If you wanted to pick up with us once we get this bumper off of our truck and try to skip
a few steps, leave this on your truck, it is definitely possible.
However, you're working in some tight spaces here, so just keep that in mind.
If you do have to resort to taking off the bumper, you can pick up with us right now.
At most, I think this will take us an hour to get installed.
So let me show you what tools you'll need and how it's done.
Tools required for this install, you'll need either an impact gun or ratchet, small extension,
21-millimeter socket.
I used a couple of different trim panel removal tools as well as a Phillips and flathead screwdrivers.
So for this install, we're gonna have to loosen up and take off our front bumper here.
And for that, we're gonna need a 21-millimeter socket and a small extension.
We're gonna loosen up some nuts underneath our front bumper and unplug our fog lights
to start off.
And the nut we're looking for is just gonna be toward the outside edge of the frame rail.
And again this guy is a 21-millimeter.
Now we're just gonna come to the left a little bit here and we're just gonna grab our fog
light and twist it out.
Now we're just gonna reach up to our fog light and we're gonna pull the two tabs on the back
of the harness to release it and then we can pull that wiring harness away.
Now we can come over to the other side, do the same thing, we're gonna remove that nut
and then unplug our fog.
So now we can attack the hardware from the front here and it is hidden behind these plastic
pads that are held in with some metal clips.
So I'm just going to pry on them with a trim panel removal tool, you can also use a flathead
screwdriver here.
Just be careful of the paint on your truck, maybe wrap it in some electrical tape, something
like that.
But with that said, I'm just gonna take a trim tool, get underneath, give that a good
pry, it should pop right off.
Now I'm gonna come over here, do the same thing for the other side.
This corner right here is a good place to pry as well, it's kinda got a notch cut out
of it that's perfect to get underneath of.
Now we're gonna remove those four nuts, two on each side, and again, 21-millimeter socket
here.
And as you're doing this last one here, this is the last thing holding on your bumper,
so put a knee on it and then you can remove that as well and pull the bumper away.
All right, we have the front bumper off of our truck here, we're gonna grab the Phillips
head screwdriver and get rid of these alignment screws on our fog lights so we can pull them
out.
So we can remove the screw, get rid of the spring.
And the kit actually comes with some new springs in there and we can put those aside.
So now what we're gonna do here is release these tabs that hold in the fog light to this
sort of outer housing here.
Now the way I like to do this is I'm gonna pry up on this tab with the flathead screwdriver.
And then from the other side, I have this really flat and wide trim panel removal tool,
I'm gonna sort of fight against this to release this tab.
So that's one done, now we're gonna jump over to the other side and do the same exact thing.
First thing we're gonna do is remove the alignment screw and spring.
Then we can come from this side with the flathead screwdriver, pry that up.
Trim panel removal tool from the other side, to sort of pry away from the wall, and that
should pop right out.
Let's hit the other side too.
And after that should pop right out.
So now that we have the factory fog lights off of our F-150, I figured now will be the
perfect time to put them down next to our Axial fog lights and point out some of the
key differences between the two while they're turned off on the table here.
Let's start in the looks department.
So similarities between these two.
Both clear lens, both a black housing behind it.
However, with our new LEDs, we do have that focusing lens behind our polycarbonate lens
just to get some more light output and focus our beam versus the factory ones which sort
of give that old school reflector housing vibe.
So even when these are off, there's gonna be a noticeable difference with how they look
installed on the bumper of your F-150.
Moving behind the lights here, some obvious differences.
Our LEDs have some aluminum fins on there just for cooling purposes versus the plastic
housing on our factory ones.
We also have some wires on our LEDs to plug into rather than directly into the bulbs themselves.
Now once we get these plugged in, you're gonna see some more differences as well, mainly
the color temperature, factory, you know what those look like, standard reflector housing
a little bit toward the yellow side.
These LEDs are gonna be that nice, crisp, clear white that looks so good on the F-150.
On top of that, with the focusing lens for our new LEDs in there, that's usually a little
bit more efficient in terms of light output than this reflector housing which has a tendency
to scatter light in each direction.
So theoretically you should get a little bit more light where you want it with the LEDs.
Now other than that, these are gonna be pretty similar as [inaudible 00:09:35] makes no difference.
Both of these are waterproof.
Our LEDs are IP67 rated which means they can withstand up to a meter water for half an
hour, that's more abuse than they should ever see on the front end of your F-150.
And both sets of these are DOT and SAE certified, so no matter what state you live in, you will
always pass inspection with the Axials.
So without any further ado, let's get our bumper back up here and we could drop in our
new fog lights, re-install that to the truck, plug them in and we'll be good to go.
So now all we have to do, grab a light, this is just gonna drop right in from the front
and click in with those tabs that we pried up earlier.
Once that clicks into place, this will now hold it still long enough for you to get this
threaded insert in and then we could push in our alignment spring and this is a pretty
tight fit.
And then we could come up with the alignment screw and get that started into that plastic
portion.
And we're just gonna dial this in with the Phillips head screwdriver.
And once you get this installed on your truck, if the alignment is not quite right, you can
always come back later and adjust this.
Now we're gonna jump over, do the same thing on the other side.
Now, at this point, I just want to address something.
This might be doable with the bumper still on the truck but we feel that it's easier
to show how to do this once the bumper is off the truck just for video purposes.
If you wanted to leave this on, you might be able to get away with it, let's say for
instance you have small hands and smaller tools, you could probably do it.
But just for video sake, we're taking the bumper off for this one, that's really a judgment
call on your part.
Save yourself some time, try to get it done with the bumper on the truck but if not, you
might be taking this off like we did.
Now one thing I do want to note is really the only thing that gets in your way is the
crash bar will be right in this area and really limits access to this tab over here.
So that's really the only consideration that I could think of if you did want to leave
the bumper off.
And with all that sorted, we can now drop our bumper back onto our truck
and then we can reinstall our 21-millimeter nuts and align our bumper and lock these in
with the impact gun.
And we're gonna do the same thing for the other side.
Now while we still have this cap off, you got to install these guys right here, so we're
going to reach in and I'm just gonna leave that started for now, once we go underneath
our truck, we'll put a nut on that and tighten it down.
Same exact thing goes for the other side.
Once we have all our hardware installed, we can then put these caps on and they're just
gonna press back into place.
So then we put that last nut on this side, tighten it down.
So now that we have that nut installed, we can come over here to our fog light plug and
we're just gonna drop that right onto our truck's harness.
We can wrap this one up by doing the same thing for the other side.
Now all that's left for us to do is just pull our F-150 up to a flat wall here on flat ground
and dial in the adjustment with those Phillips head screws.
But that's gonna do it for me, it's also gonna do it for the Axial LED Fog Lights, fitting
all '15 and newer F-150s excluding the Raptor models.
Thank you guys for watching.
Subscribe for more videos like this one.
Keep it right here at AmericanTrucks for all things F-150.