Hey, guys.
Joe from American Trucks, and today I'm going to be showing you how to install and my review
of the Raxiom Raptor Style STX/Special Edition Honeycomb Grille Light Kit, fitting all '18
and newer F-150 XLs with the STX package, XLTs, and Lariats.
This kit is going to be awesome for any F-150 owner out there that's looking to add some
Raptor styling to the front end of their rig for an extremely reasonable price.
It is manufactured with a clear lens bright amber LED that is then mounted to a CNC machined
and then black powder coated piece of aircraft grade billet aluminum that mounts right to
the front of the STX front grille.
Those LEDs are also 100% waterproof and then DOT approved for use in all 50 states.
Another great thing about this kit is it features all plug-and-play wiring harnesses that go
into the parking lights, so there's no wiring, or any modifications in fact, that need to
be done, and this kit is easily reversible as well.
Now the story behind these lights is actually pretty interesting, and they're not just there
for looks on the Raptor.
The federal government actually mandates that any trucks that are over 80 inches wide has
to have these marker lights up front and another three set of marker lights in back.
Now, I guess that makes it easier to see if a big truck is coming over a hill and crested,
you would be able to see these lights first, but I'm not exactly sure what they're there
for.
But anyways, that same rule goes for any truck that's over 80 inches wide.
So 18-wheelers, box trucks, the Raptor for instance, are all required to have at least
three lights up front and another three lights in back.
Coincidentally enough, our regular F-150 STX package here, the width of this one is 79.9
inches, so under 80 inches, legally not required to have these lights on it from the factory.
So the Raptor took something that was going to be a federally mandated law and turned
it into one of the styling features that are so distinct and make the Raptor so cool.
So if you're looking to bring some of that awesome Raptor styling down to your regular
F-150, this is a great kit to do it with, and it's not even that expensive.
We're looking at around 100 bucks for the set.
That's the plug and play harness, the bracket, and the four LED lights.
And for what it adds to the front of our 2018 in lead foot gray with the STX package, it's
a lot.
As you could see, this improves the look of the front end of the truck tremendously.
So if that wasn't enough for you, Raxiom also includes in that price a full two-year warranty.
Now before we move on to the install, I just wanted to make a quick note that this kit
is going to be specific for the STX grille, but we do have another kit that's intended
for the sport package grilles as well.
Install for this is going to be a little bit more difficult than you'd expect.
What we're going to be doing is completely removing the grille and shutter assembly and
then separating the two so we can get our lights installed.
With that being said though, I'm gonna give it a harder 1 out of 3 wrenches on our difficulty
meter, but you should be able to get it done in around half an hour to 45 minutes.
So let me show you how it's done.
For this install, you will need an impact, at least a 6-inch extension, ratchet, trim
panel removal tool, 10-millimeter socket, 8-millimeter socket, 7-millimeter socket,
and a Phillips head screwdriver.
So for the first step of our install, we're going to pop the hood and grab the trim panel
removal tool or a flathead screwdriver and pop open some clip.
So we're going to remove our radiator cover by removing the 14 push pin clips on it.
Be careful with these two near the intake if you don't want them to drop down in there.
So with all those push pins out, we can now pull that cover out from underneath the intake
and off the truck.
So while we have our trim panel removal tool, we're going to use it to unclip the Christmas
tree clips holding the wire harness on.
They're in there pretty good.
And then we're going to unclip the wiring.
Next, we're going to grab the impact gun and a 10-millimeter socket.
There's four 10-millimeter bolts across the top of the grille that we're going to be removing.
So for the next step, there's two bolts on the bottom of the grille that we need access
to.
In order to get at those, we have to remove this body piece here.
So there's two 7-millimeter bolts, right here and right here, that we're going to be removing,
peeling that piece back, and that's going to allow us to get at the last two bolts on
the grille.
And same thing for the other side.
So next, we can peel back the edges of that panel, and there's only a couple body clips
holding it on.
It should peel right off.
And that gives us access to the last two bolts.
They're 8 millimeters, and there's one on either side.
You most likely are going to need an extension for this.
Six inches would do the trick.
And with those two bolts out, you should be able to lift up on the grille and then pull
straight out.
So now we have our grille and shutter assembly off the truck and on the table.
Now we do have to go a little bit further.
We have to separate these two to get our Raptor lights in between them, and we're going to
start by removing the four 10-millimeter bolts on each corner of the shutter assembly.
So for these bolts right here, they're actually a little bit of a weird design.
When you put your socket on this and spin it, it's going to feel like it's free spinning.
That's exactly what you want.
There's some threads on the bottom of that that are connected to the grille, but as you
can see with that little bit, they're now separated.
So we're just going to do that on the other three as well.
Next, there's going to be an 8-millimeter bolt right in the middle, behind the emblem.
Next, we're going to undo these five push pins along the top of our grille here, and
around the middle one, you can actually see the two holes we're going to mount our Raptor
lights to.
So at this point, the grille and shutter assembly are disassembled enough to peel them apart
and prop it open with a socket.
Then we can grab our Raptor light, slide it in, and we're going to secure it with the
two included Phillips head screws in the kit.
Those screws, we're not going to tighten down just yet.
If we did, it with impact this lip right here, so we need to leave them loose until we drop
the shutter assembly back onto the grille.
Before we do that, also, we're also going to have to route this wire.
That's going to go through the driver side headlight area.
So where I found it's best to do this, if you go around to the driver side and kind
of fish it above the grille slats, and then come down around where we loosened up that
10-millimeter bolt like so, and we'll have a nice weatherstripping here.
That's the only thing that's going to impact our wire, and the wire will be hidden in the
grille, tucked away up front, so you won't see the wiring when you look at the front
of the truck.
Now I'm going to remove the socket and drop the shutter assembly back down, and tighten
down those screws.
So at this point, we're just going to run through and reassemble our grille, starting
with the push pin clips up top.
And next, we're going to do the 8-millimeter on the back of the emblem.
Next, we're going to hit those four 10-millimeter bolts around all four corners of the grille.
So now we're just about ready to reinstall our grille, but before we do, we have some
easy access to the wiring, so we're gonna do that right now.
I have our harness right here off the lights, and I have this little piggyback connector,
so I'm gonna plug that in like so.
Then this end is going to go to our wiring harness off the truck, and this end is going
to plug into the back of our running light.
So if you reach back in here and peel this plastic back, you can get to your running
light.
Once it's all the way extended, it should be right about there, and then we're going
to plug that piggybacker into that, and then this end is going to go into the back of our
running light.
So next I'm going to push this wiring behind the headlight, and reinstall the grille.
Next, I'm going to reinstall both of the 8-mils on either side of the grille, and then reinstall
the body panel
and secure that body panel with the two 7-millimeters on either side.
Next, we're going to reinstall the four 10-millimeter bolts across the top, plug our shutters back
in, put the cover back on, and reinstall all the push pins.
And you should have two push pins left over, because the holes that were here, occupied
with push pins, are now occupied with our screws for the Raptor lights.
And lastly, we can shut the hood and check out our new Raptor lights.
And that is going to do it for my review and install of the Raxiom Raptor Style STX/Special
Edition Grille Honeycomb Light kit, fitting all '18 and newer F-150 XLs with the STX package,
the XLTs, and the Lariats.
Thanks for watching.
I'm Joe, and for all things F-150, keep it right here at americantrucks.com.