10.26.05

Mopar 82207252 Overhead Clearance Lights Installed

This project was the result of a day of boredom. One of my buddies has overhead clearance lights on his truck and likes them, so this has always been in the back of my mind. These lights come standard on the 1 ton trucks and are a factory option on the 3/4 tons. Because of this, it also isn't very hard to add the kit after the fact. That's what I did.

I first went to the Dodge dealership to buy the overhead clearance light kit for my truck, a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500. The Mopar catalog lists years 94-02 as using light kit #82205120. However, once I got this kit home and opened it up, I realized it was the wrong one. The 82205120 kit includes triangle shaped lights that were actually only used on the earlier 2nd generation trucks (1994-1997, I believe). The later 2nd generation body style trucks (1998-2002) actually used a differently shaped light. So I went back to the dealership and had them pull the kit that was listed to be for the 03-06 trucks. The product number for this kit is 82207252. It turns out these are the correct lights for years 1998-2002 (despite what the Mopar catalog says). Note: I might be slightly off on the years that the "later" 2nd generation trucks were made, but you can tell which yours is because the earlier 2nd generation trucks have metal side mirrors while the later ones have black plastic side mirrors.

Anyway, I got the 82207252 kit home and took everything out. Here's what you get: 5 amber overhead clearance lights, 1 wiring harness, 5 bulbs, 10 screw anchors, 1 hole drilling template, and 1 set of instructions. Around the base of each of the overhead clearance lights is a gray foam rubber gasket that looks like it will do a pretty good job of keeping water out. However, I wanted to do even more to ensure that water didn't leak in, so I also picked up a tube of Permatex Clear RTV Silicone Sealant.
The only other item that I needed was a 7/8" drill bit. Lowe's had a 7/8" hole saw for about $9, which was a lot better than anything I could find at Home Depot. A 1/4" drill bit is also needed for the two screw holes that go with each light. Now, with all the supplies in-hand, the next step was to remove the headliner from the inside of the truck.
Removing the headliner basically involves removing anything in and around the cloth liner. The mirrors, overhead console, dome light, overhead grab handle, clothes hooks, and plastic covers around the rear door latches all have to be removed. Some require a Philips screwdriver while others require a Torx driver. Seen in the photo to the right is the overhead console area with the console removed. It comes out by depressing two latches located on the inside of the garage door opener compartment, then sliding the whole console rearward (there are two notches at the back that have to come out). The grab handle and clothes hooks are a bit tricky, but insert a flat blade screwdriver around the base of them and pry outward. They'll come off from there.
Once all these pieces have been removed and the tops of the four pillar covers have been popped off somewhat (be sure to loosen the passenger side grab handle before prying the top of the pillar cover off), the headliner will come right on down. This is where it gets a bit tricky. With both side doors fully open, I was able to get the headliner out by bringing it toward me, then lowering it down to the ground right against the cab. Basically, it just slides out and down. Then, with it between the doorframes, it can be pried out somewhat and freed. Be careful not to bend it too much or it could crease.
With the headliner removed, the five round clearance light holes in the lower roof that are there from the factory (in case clearance lights are requried or requested) are clearly visible. My first thought was that I would use the template that was supplied with the kit. I followed the directions and had the template laid out on the roof of the truck, but something about all the measuring and maneuvering that's required to get this part right made me nervous. I finally decided to use the factory holes in the lower roof as a guide to drill up through.
The factory holes in the lower roof are quite a bit bigger than the called for 7/8", so I just got right under the holes, put the drill bit in the center of the hole, and went straight up. As you can see in the photo, this worked pretty well. After all five holes were drilled, I put the template back on the roof to check and see if I would have been right and I was shocked. The template was WAY off. I would have been drilling my holes in completely wrong locations if I'd gone by the template. Then it dawned on me...the template is made for the 3rd generation (2003+) trucks, which have a different roof than the trucks like mine. So while the lights themselves in this kit were correct, the template was WAY off. So a word of caution: DO NOT use the 82207252 hole template for drilling the large holes in a 2nd generation truck roof!
All hope was not lost though. I still needed a way to know exactly where to drill the two smaller holes that go with each light, which are for the two screws that actually hold the light down to the roof. I knew that if I just guessed at it, I would probably wind up with clearance lights pointing in all different directions. And the intact template did me no good because the spacing was all off. So I decided to cut the template apart and use the individual light outlines as templates. I centered them over the large holes I had just drilled, then got in the bed of the truck to make fine adjustments to the aiming of the templates. I also viewed them by standing on the front bumper and comparing their orientation.

Once I was satisfied that they were all lined up properly, I used an awl and the palm of my hand to lightly tap marks onto the metal right where the center of the screws was to be. Then I removed the templates and used a black marker to better mark these points. Then I just drilled right where the marks were with the 1/4" drill bit. I then pulled each bulb holder up through the holes and plugged the bulbs in. The bulb holders are then inserted into the lights and twisted clockwise until the length of the bulb holder is inline with the length of the light. The bulb holder is now locked in place.

Next, I grounded the ground wire on the lower roof using the supplied self-tapping screw. This is the black wire with the yellow ring terminal in the photo to the left. Also, I secured the other wires in the harness using a previously-run radar detector wire. Zip ties or electrical tape will also do the job.
For the power wire (green wire), the best place to tap into the electrical system is the parking light wire located behind the headlight switch. The dashboard trip piece is just popped off by hand, then the headlight switch can be unscrewed. The parking light wire is the black wire with a yellow stripe. The green wire can be spliced into it using a T-tap or by soldering it in, which is the method I prefer. This wire carries the power for the overhead lights though, so I recommend using a good strong connection for it. Also notice in the photo that the green wire was routed down the length of the A pillar and into the rear of the dash through the hole that is already there once the A pillar cover is removed.
With all the wiring complete, it was time to test the lights for the first time. One half turn of the headlight switch quickly revealed that they were in fact working. Also, be sure to ensure that the lights don't dim as you adjust the dashboard/domelight dimmer dial. If this happens, you have tapped into the wrong wire.
Once I knew that everything was working right, it was time to apply the clear RTV sealant and screw down the lights. First, you have to insert these white plastic screw anchors into the smaller holes. Then, I put a bead of silicone around the middle of the gasket. It was hard to get it to come out since one hand was trying to hold the light up (which was hard because the wires are pretty short). Also, I didn't want to use too much silicone, since I didn't want to have any seep out around the edges.
I then made sure that the tips of the screws were right on the middle of the screw anchors and then tapped on the end of my screwdriver with the palm of my hand to get the screws started down in the plastic anchors. Took a few good strikes before they'd start and the threads would take, but it wasn't too bad. Then I screwed down each side to just the point that felt like it was as tight as it was going to go before it stripped. I'd read in a few places that you should tighten them down as much as you can until the metal starts to bend, but I believe that with these plastic screw anchors, you should not do that. In fact, on a few of them, I felt them start to get easier to screw down, as if they were beginning to strip. So while you won't get the edges of the plastic cranked ALL the way down against the metal, it's alright cause you'll still have a really strong seal and you don't want to strip those anchors.

And here's the finished product! All five lights look great, work great, and are positioned just right. And boy do they look especially great at night! Getting the interior reassembled was somewhat of a bitch, but I'm very anal about things like positioning and measuring, so this project probably took me a long longer than it'd take most people. Also, I was a bit thrown off by the template dilemma. Hopefully, with this page as a resource, you'll be able to pull it off in no time at all. If you have any questions or comments about this page, please email me at phil@phildorsett.com. I'd love to hear from you if this page was of help to you in any way. Thanks!