I own a 97 F150 XLT which was manufactured on 06/96. i bought a pair of 1pc projector headlights off of ebay a while back. when i got them in i tried to install them. wasn't happening. the headlights had like 3 or 4 bolts coming out of the back, adjustment screws i'm assuming. they wouldn't fit in the housing that the other headlights are in that is pulled out when you pull those keys out and there was no place to mount them if i didn't put the housing in. is this a common problem? if so what do i need to do to make them work? i sold them on ebay after spending countless hours trying to figure it out. i am looking to purchase some more, just don't want to run into the same problem. i see many of f150s with the headlights that i had. i think i heard somewhere that i may need a new header panel since the truck was manufactured in 96 but don't remember where i read that and never got anymore detail about it. these are exactly what they looked like. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/97-03...75835845QQrdZ1

 

no one has experienced this problem or knows what i need to do to fix it?

 

I went from stock to lightning headlights, and i just reused my mounting hardware on my corner lenses, b.c they werent fitting like i wanted them to.

 

that's what i was also wondering. if i tried going with 2 pc headlights would i have the same problem?

 

probably. I cant say for sure, but maybe you should think about upgrading to the 99-03 front end with the larger grill

 

You need a 98-03 header panel to install any aftermarket lights for your truck. I had the same problem. I bought my new header from Ebay.
And it went together great. You can get the new header for less than $70.00 shipped out. When I did this it cost right at $100.00 to do it. It real easy to do, just take yout time to do it right.
Lariat#1

 

I had this problem with my 97 Ford F150 also. Normally if you are purchasing the headlights, you can tell the company you are buying it from that your build date and they have the headlights you need.

 

The previous two responses are the key, while searching for a set of black out lightning headlights, i found that for the first six months of production the header panel they talked about is completely unique, if your change it to a 98-03 it should fix the problem. There are very few aftermarket possibilites for that manufacturing time slot, sorry can't remember where they were, but there are a couple out there.