Ron's Ram Instructables

One of our most well-liked customers wrote a step by step guide to installing lights on a 2013+ projector Ram. We would expect some of these steps to be self evident for anyone with the skillset to attempt this on their own. AbsoluteHID nor the author of this text accept any liability whatsoever related to its use, and it has not been indepently tested by AbsoluteHID. Having said that it is too great of a resource not to share. Installation on your vehicle may be slightly different.

To access the headlamps, you must first remove the front grille from the truck.

• Once the hood is open, remove the plastic cover from the front of the engine bay. This is held in place by a set of six friction-fit pins. 
• Once the cover is out of the way, you will see four 10mm bolts that hold the grille in place. Remove all four (two are longer, two are shorter).
• Now pull the grille straight outward to remove it. Be careful not to rock it back and forth too much as that can break the tabs that hold it in place at the bottom. It may take a bit of force to get the connectors at the two bottom corners to let go.
• Once the grill is out of the way, you can access the headlamps to change out the bulbs. Remove the headlamps by taking out two bolts that hold them in place. The headlamps are held in place at the back by a clip that you have to disengage by reaching up through an access panel in the front wheel wells. 
• Find the access panel above the front tire and remove the friction pin from the bottom of the panel.
• Reach up into the access panel and feel for a thin plastic tab. Push up on the tab until it clicks—that will release the headlamp. (If you have trouble, watch a video or two on YouTube—it can be tricky to find the tab if you’ve never done this before.)
• Before you pull the headlamps out from the front of the truck, have a small flat-head screwdriver handy. 
• Pull the headlamps out from the truck—they aren’t heavy, but they are large, and there are wires attached. Don’t let them ‘dangle’ on the wires! Squeezing the clip on the side of the electrical connector should allow it to pull out of the headlamp. If you have trouble, the screwdriver can help to press the small clip and release the connector.

Note that many of the connections described below have to fit inside the headlamp assembly. The factory power connector puts the power for the low beam, high beam, daytime running lamps, marker lamps, and signal lights into a single connector, which then splits out into several connectors inside the headlamp assembly. 

Hint: the instructions below, and the ones that come with the HID and LED kits, require you to drill a one-inch hole into the back of the headlamp assembly dust cover. It’s going to be a problem if you make that hole too big. Find a small piece of plastic (even a yogurt-container lid will work) and drill a hole into that first. Then, try to see how the rubber grommet (in the HID or LED kit) fits. If it moves around in the hole, you will need to use a smaller hole saw. It’s better to make that hole slightly too small and struggle a bit to get the grommet to fit, than to make the hole slightly too large and allow dust to get into the headlamp assembly.

Replacing the Low Beams with HID bulbs

If your kit did not ship with a “Relay Harness”, you can skip down to step 3.

1. You need to spend a few minutes understanding how the “Relay Harness” is installed, and how to work out the various plug-in points. None of the connectors on this harness go inside the headlamp assembly—this harness is “plug-and-play” once it’s laid out correctly. Note that there will be a “loose” gold-colored component, not connected to the relay wiring harness. Keep that to the side—you will need it later.
1. The black box in the harness is a relay. Its job is to sense when the truck is sending power to the low beam lights. Once it senses power, it will send battery power directly to the HIDs. You will need to find a spot to wire-tie that relay to a spot somewhere near the battery, and somewhere near the headlight on that side of the truck.
2. The red wire coming out of the harness will go to your battery. That’s the last connection you should make, but it will help you figure out where you can put the relay. Make sure that you don’t mount the relay too far away for that wire to reach one of the bolts that’s on the side of the battery’s positive terminal.
3. There are two wires coming out of the relay that end in a headlight connector, that have a black ground wire on them. Those are going to be the wires that send battery power to the HIDs. The ground wire will have to be screwed to something metal near the headlights on both sides of the truck. 
4. There is a wire “loop” that has a gold-colored component on it, coming out of the relay box. This MUST eventually be attached to something that is metal. Make sure that you find a spot away from hoses and other wires where this can be screwed down onto something metal. This gold-colored component is a resistor that mimics a working low-beam bulb to the truck’s computer. When everything is eventually hooked up, the truck’s computer will sense that it has good working low beams, but what it’s actually checking is this resistor. When the low beam lights are on, a small amount of electricity will flow through these resistors—that makes them get HOT. If you don’t mount them onto anything, they will get VERY HOT—they need a metal surface to radiate their heat into.
5. That leave one last wire coming out of the relay—this is going to be the wire that picks up the power from the truck and sends it to the relay. That wire has to reach in behind the headlamp assembly on the battery side of the truck.
2. Lay out the relay harness on the truck and work out how you’re going to route the wires:
1. You need the red wire to reach the battery. 
2. You need the gold resistor to sit on a metal surface.
3. You need the short wire with the connector and the ground wire to reach behind the headlamp assembly on the battery side of the truck.
4. You need to short wire without the ground connector to reach behind the headlight assembly on the battery side of the truck.
5. You need the long wire with the ground connector to reach all the way across the front of the truck and get behind the headlamp assembly on the other side of the truck. If you look carefully, there will be a large bundle of wires that already crosses the front of the truck. You can route the long connector alongside that one and wire tie them together. Make sure there’s no way that wire can touch fans!
6. Don’t screw the ground wires into anything just yet. You might need to move these connectors around a bit before you decide where you want to put your ground screw.
3. Now that the relay harness is installed in the truck, you can start installing the bulbs into the headlamp assemblies. This is done on your workbench, not in the truck. The instructions below are for one headlamp assembly; simply repeat them to get both assemblies done and ready to reinstall in the truck.
1. There are five 8mm bolts on the back of the headlamp assembly that hold a “dust cover” in place. Remove all five bolts and take the dust cover off. This is the dust cover that you will drill a hole into. Note that if you’re also installing LED high beams, you will need to drill TWO holes into this dust cover—each new bulb assembly requires its own hole.
2. There are two bulbs inside the headlamp assembly. Identify the low beam bulb—it’s the one that goes into the “bigger” socket in the assembly. Gently twist the bulb to remove it and unplug the connector. 
3. Carefully unwrap one of the HID bulbs, insert it into the socket (where the low beam bulb you just removed came from) and twist it into place to secure it. Pay attention to the warnings about touching the bulb or getting dust on it!
4. Hook up the power connector that was attached to the low beam bulb you removed, and attach it to the connector on the HID bulb wiring. If you follow this wiring, you will see that this will route the power that the truck would have sent to the low beam bulb to the outside of the headlamp assembly, through the grommet that will fit into the back of the dust cover.
4. If you are also installing LED bulbs into your high beam bulbs, follow those instructions now. Be careful about where you drill the hole for the grommet—if you’re also installing LED high beams, you will need to allow space for two holes—be sure you lay this out carefully before starting to drill.
5. Drill a hole (using a hole saw) at a spot on the dust connector that lines up nicely with the place that the wires that come from the back of the HID bulb. 
6. Slip the wires through the hole, and get the grommet squeezed into place. When you’re done, the grommet should be tight enough to keep dust out of the headlamp assembly.

Replacing the High Beams with LED bulbs

1. There are five 8mm bolts on the back of the headlamp assembly that hold a “dust cover” in place. Remove all five bolts and take the dust cover off. This is the dust cover that you will drill a hole into. Note that if you’re also installing HID low beams, you will need to drill TWO holes into this dust cover—each new bulb assembly requires its own hole.
1. There are two bulbs inside the headlamp assembly. Identify the high beam bulb—it’s the one that fits into the “smaller” socket in the assembly. Gently twist the bulb to remove it and unplug the connector.
2. If your LED kit shipped with an extra component—a simple “black box” with two wires that end in connectors, that entire component has to end up inside the headlamp assembly. (This is labelled as a “Canbus” adaptor.) Plug the power connector that was connected to the high beam bulb into the connector on the adaptor.
3. Take one LED bulb out of the package and look at it carefully. When it’s installed in the headlamp assembly, it will need to have the two yellow LED panels facing sideways not up and down. If you install the bulb into the assembly, and it’s facing the wrong way, take it out and realign the bulk to the connector.
1. You will need to unscrew the collar that holds the connector to the bulb.
2. Rotate the bulb 90 degrees and screw the collar back down.

Use clean gloves to do this! The LED bulb is not quite as sensitive to dust and skin oils as an HID bulb, but keeping it clean is still important.

1. Insert the bulb into the socket that you took the high beam bulb out of, and twist it into place. Look through the front of the headlamp assembly to confirm that the LED panels on the bulb are facing sideways.

1. Plug the power connector (or the remaining connector on the “Canbus” adaptor) into the LED bulb. 
2. Carefully work out how you’re going to get the “Canbus” adaptor to fit inside the headlamp assembly. It’s a good idea to use wire ties to keep things neat and tidy.
3. There are no wires that come out of the back of the dust cover for the LED bulbs, but the bulbs do come with a thick set of mesh ribbons that radiate heat, created by the bulbs, out of the back of the headlamp assembly. Drill a hole (using a hole saw) at a spot on the dust connector that lines up nicely with the place that the wires that come from the back of the HID bulb. 
4. Get the mesh ribbons pushed through the rectangular holes in the grommet that came with the LED bulbs—don’t cut the holes to make them bigger! Just work at it and get the mesh ribbons to poke through the grommet.
5. Slip the mesh ribbons through the hole in the dust cover, and get the grommet squeezed into place. When you’re done, the grommet should be tight enough to keep dust out of the headlamp assembly.

Final hookup and testing

1. Reinstall the dust covers onto the back of the headlight assemblies. Don’t over-tighten the bolts since they are just threading into plastic. Double-check that the grommets are still placed correctly. 
2. If you only installed LED bulbs, you’re almost done. Take the headlamp assemblies back to the truck and plug in the power connectors. Carefully set the headlamp assemblies back into place, and check to see that the high beams work. 
3. If you installed HID bulbs, you now have to install the ballasts and get the wiring ready for the headlamps. The following instructions are for one side of the truck—simply repeat the instructions for the other side.
1. Take out the ballast with its wiring. You will need to find a location for the ballast that keeps it away from the space where the headlamp assembly will have to be reinstalled. The ballast is too big to fit behind the headlamps.
2. The ballast has two sets of wires, one with a single connector, one with a ‘double’ set of connectors (two smaller circular connectors). Find a spot that you can mount the ballast so that the ‘double’ connector will easily reach into the space for the headlamp assembly. The two smaller connectors coming from the HID bulb will plug into this connector.
3. Mount the ballast securely. You can use the metal mounting plates and clip the ballasts into it. You can use the adhesive pads provided.
4. If you did not use a “Relay Harness” as part of the HID installation, you’re almost done. Plug the small connectors from the headlamp assembly into the ‘double’ connector coming from the ballast. Plug the power connector from the HID bulbs into the matching connector on the ballast. Pay attention to the markings on the ballast-side of that connector. Line up the red wire coming from the HID bulb with the “+” indicator on the ballast plug. Carefully set the headlamp assemblies back into place and check to be sure that the low beam headlight work. If they don’t work, you will need to flip the power connector over—the one that connects the HID bulb to the power connector of the ballast. This connector has a clip mechanism on both sides, so it will fit either way. 
5. If you DO have a “Relay Harness” as part of the HID installation, the connections are a bit different. 
1. Start on the “battery side” of the truck. First, hook up the power connector coming from the HID bulb to the power connector on the harness—the connector that goes to the relay. 
2. Hook up the wire coming from the relay, the one that has the ground wire, to the power input connector on the ballast.
3. Hook up the two wires coming from the HID bulb to the ‘double connector’ coming from the ballast. 
4. Now find a spot to attach the ground wire to a metal component on the truck.
5. Locate the gold-colored resistor (the one attached to the relay, not the loose one). Find a place to attach it to the truck—this has to be a spot on metal, an inch or two away from wires and hoses. Screw it into place with two screws.
6. Now, move to the other side of the truck. Wiring on this side is similar to the battery side, with the exception of the gold-colored resistor. On this side of the truck, you will need the loose resistor. Plug the loose resistor into the power connector coming out of the back of the HID bulb (coming through the grommet on the back of the headlamp assembly).
7. Mount the gold-colored resistor on metal, following the instructions you used on the battery side of the truck.

The resistors are hooked to the power connectors coming from the back of the HID bulbs, but if you look carefully at the way those connectors are wired, you will see that power, coming from the truck, flows into the headlamp assembly, where it’s connected to the wiring that comes back outside of the headlamp assembly. Plugging the gold-colored resistor into that connector “fools” the truck into thinking that a working bulb is connected the wires it uses for the low beam lights.

1. Hook up the wire coming from the relay, the long wire that you routed from the battery side of the truck to the power input connector on the ballast.
2. Now find a spot to attach the ground wire to a metal component on the truck.
3. Hook up the two wires coming from the HID bulb to the ‘double connector’ coming from the ballast.
4. Finally, it’s time to hook up the red power wire coming from the relay to the truck battery. This wire has a built-in fuse so it’s not necessary to connect it to the fuse box. The best option is to remove the 10mm nut on the center connection on the battery itself, slip the connector over the threaded stud, replace the nut and tighten it securely.

1. Turn on the headlights and verify that everything works. If the HID bulbs don’t work:
1. Check to see that the power connector (the red wire) is hooked to power.
2. Check to see that the ground connectors are connected to a good ground. If one HID works, and the other doesn’t the ground connection on the side that’s not working is not working.

Reinstalling the Headlamp Assemblies

1. As you gently maneuver the headlamp assemblies into place, pay attention to the wiring and the connectors. You will have to find a way to locate the connectors in places where they don’t interfere with the headlamp assembly. 
1. Align the ‘ball and socket’ joint at the back of the headlamp assembly with the fitting on the truck and align the square stub with the plastic clip you reached through the wheel well.
2. When the assembly is in the right spot, loosely reinstall the 10mm bolts into the front of the headlight assembly. (The long bolts go on the bottom, the shorter ones on the top.)
3. Now, reach through the access panel in the wheel well and pull the clip downward to lock it into place. It will “snap” when it’s aligned correctly. (Again, YouTube can help here if you’re having trouble.)
4. Once the clip is secured, tighten the two bolts.
2. When both headlamp assemblies are installed, pay attention to the wiring. Use wire ties to keep things neat. Make sure wires aren’t interfering with anything that gets hot, or anything that moves. 
3. At this point, it’s wise to double-check to see that the headlights are still working. It’s possible that a connector came unplugged when you installed the headlights.
4. Now reinstall the grill; the long bolts go into the two outside positions, the shorter ones go in the two inboard positions.
5. Finally, reinstall the plastic cover, pressing the fasteners into place.

If you used a “Relay Harness” in your installation, double-check to be sure that the gold-colored resistors are not touching the plastic cover. You will have to relocate them if they are.