Hit a deer in my Dodge Ram

drkelly

drkelly

Dipstick who put two vehicles on jack stands
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Oak Ridge/Stokesdale, NC
I hit a deer on the way to work yesterday morning. He was a monster size deer. Biggest one I have ever seen. I had the cruise control set at 60mph, and saw him about 1/100th of a second before impact.

I have always thought the headlights in my Ram were very dim compared to other vehicles. I would like to upgrade to some brighter headlights since the LF is broken. Anybody have any suggestions?

I am also considering replacing the front bumper with something aftermarket. I don't want a 1,000 lb bull bar ranch style bumper, but maybe something stronger and better looking than stock. Anybody have any suggestions for this too?

Thanks,
Danny
 

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Dang, glad you're ok.
You could probably put some reinforcement behind the stock one if you like that look. A few pieces of plate and/or c-channel.
 
Yeh, I am fine. I hit him, then ran over him with both left side tires. He was probably killed instantly. He had a big rack too, which somebody cut off some time during the day yesterday because it they were gone when I came back by yesterday afternoon. His body is laying on the East side of hwy 158 just north of the Quality gas station about 1 mile north of Walkertown 158/66 intersection.
 
Glad you're OK, get a nice aftermarket bumper and be sure to put a jager
sticker on it. That will show'em next time...:driver:
 

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EasySteve said:
You might consider a pair of factory sport headlights, although I don't know what it would take to change the wiring.
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Yeh, I guess the 'Sport' headlight setup uses two bulbs instead of one. I guess I'll investigate that. I've also been reading about the HID conversion kits.
 
drkelly said:
Yeh, I guess the 'Sport' headlight setup uses two bulbs instead of one. I guess I'll investigate that. I've also been reading about the HID conversion kits.
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It's not the number of bulbs in the Sport that makes it better, it's that the reflector does the aiming instead of the fluting in the headlight lens. Your lenses were also kinda yellowed, which didn't help.

Just doing the "sport" lights and upgrading the wiring / relays to them will be FAR better than what you had. skip the silverstar bulbs and all that crap.. marketing hype.

HID conversions can be quite blinding to other drivers, especially when you don't see a shield over the bulb as you look into the headlight. Can't remember off-hand if the low beam on the sport headlights have that shield. If you do go HID, try to stay around 4500K - That's closest to daylight.
 
The only HID kits worth spending any money on will include an HID-specific lamp housing, bulb, and ballast. You don't want anything that puts an HID bulb into a halogen housing.
 
UNBREAKABLE said:
you need a bumper like I built for my g'pas
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Picture?

I found some good info on DTR about the Sport headlight upgrade along with wiring all four bulbs on relays. I think I am going to go that route.
 
saf-t scissors said:
The only HID kits worth spending any money on will include an HID-specific lamp housing, bulb, and ballast. You don't want anything that puts an HID bulb into a halogen housing.
Click to expand...


Ideally, yes. However, the retrofit bulbs into my Avalanche made a BIG difference, and don't glare at oncoming traffic. But the low beam housing also has the shield over the bulb to prevent the direct light from being seen.
 
saf-t scissors said:
The only HID kits worth spending any money on will include an HID-specific lamp housing, bulb, and ballast. You don't want anything that puts an HID bulb into a halogen housing.
Click to expand...


Idk, ill have to disagree here. Ive sold many kits and they all replace standard bulbs, with very good results. I have them in my truck 8k and they make a noticable difference. The 4500 or 6k s do have more of a daylite look though.
 
Rich, I still think it's funny as hell that you used to drive an Avalanche. :flipoff2:
 
My '02 CTD was a factory sport truck, at some point it was changed over to look like an SLT but the sport lights were left in place. The low beams are marginaly better than a clean set of SLT headlights but the high beams are were you really notice the difference.
 
I am a big fan of buck stop bumpers on a 2nd gen dodge. This is the best picture I have of the bumper on my truck.
 

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you escaped with less damage than my 96 toyota corolla i had to replace the hood grill and both headlights and that car has almost 250,000 + on it with the original engine
 
I like the buck stop bumpers, but don't like the price, lol.
 
saf-t scissors said:
Rich, I still think it's funny as hell that you used to drive an Avalanche. :flipoff2:
Click to expand...

Yup.. second ugliest vehicle next to an Aztek... But other than being spoiled by the Allison in the 2500 which makes me dislike the 4L85E, I love it.
Good power, comfy, quiet, tows well, and the other weekend I was too lazy to set up the tent for an overnight at Rausch, so I just dropped the rear seats, opened the midgate, inflated the air mattress, and slept in the truck while it poured rain.. dry, and noise-insulated.
 
I ended getting a stock chrome bumper from Tri City Auto Salvage junk yard for $300. It came with the tow hooks which my truck didn't have, so that was cool.

I bought a set of Dodge Ram 'Sport' headlights off ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/99-0...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item1e59065e7a

I then bought a wiring harness from SUV Lights:
http://www.suvlights.com/product_info.php?products_id=116

The headlights are MUCH brighter. The difference is incredible. The sport headlights have four bulbs (two 9004's and two 9007's) compared to two bulbs in the old ones. Both bulbs light up during low beam and high beam and each bulb is powered by its own relay. It was well worth the cost of the upgrade.
 
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