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Headlight protection

74 Bronco Billy

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Jul 4, 2016
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I recently saw a bronco with wire mesh head light protection, had small clips holding in place, circa '70s. Does anyone make them now? Who? Sorry, no pics

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74 Bronco Billy

74 Bronco Billy

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Thx guys. Now I gotta make a decision, black, flat black, or chrome!
d3390839788a27dc2ff5db1c797d54c3.jpg


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DirtDonk

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Forget chrome. If they're stainless, then that's a different story. But the chrome ones even back in the day hardly ever lasted a full season without visible rust starting to take over.
The powder coated black ones lasted longer, but faded out after a few years. Not a huge deal though with black, as you could easily touch them up on a regular basis with a rattle can.

Paul
 
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74 Bronco Billy

74 Bronco Billy

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Forget chrome. If they're stainless, then that's a different story. But the chrome ones even back in the day hardly ever lasted a full season without visible rust starting to take over.
The powder coated black ones lasted longer, but faded out after a few years. Not a huge deal though with black, as you could easily touch them up on a regular basis with a rattle can.

Paul
Good to know, as the front bumper will be flat black. I bought chrome headlight rings, do they rust too or should I go black as well for touch up? Paul?

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DirtDonk

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The rings are fine either way. The chrome will eventually start pitting like just about any chrome item. But they seem to last a long time.
Even longer I'd be willing to bet, if you wax them now and then.

Paul
 
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74 Bronco Billy

74 Bronco Billy

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Makes you wonder if those new specially formulated paint treatments that require no waxing for 5 years would work well on chrome parts.

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Steve83

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Memphis, TN, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Those mesh covers are useless - the only thing they can stop is something too light to damage the headlight anyway. The only real protection is a grill guard with some distance between it & the truck body, and enough strength for you to tackle it & not make it move (not even bounce). If it's not that strong, it's dead weight, and will likely cause MORE damage than not having anything. I always laugh when I see the chrome ones on the highway flapping in the breeze.
 

Speedrdr

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Nov 27, 2017
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Paris, MS
Those mesh covers are useless - the only thing they can stop is something too light to damage the headlight anyway. The only real protection is a grill guard with some distance between it & the truck body, and enough strength for you to tackle it & not make it move (not even bounce). If it's not that strong, it's dead weight, and will likely cause MORE damage than not having anything. I always laugh when I see the chrome ones on the highway flapping in the breeze.

Yeah, and that’s why I bought a Ranchhand knockoff that you could hook a tow strap to and pull my 2013 F-150 4X4. A deer at highway speed would wreck the radiator, trans cooler, AC cooler, turbo intercooler, not to mention all the plastic on the front end. The shop said a rough estimate would be 4K$ to repair. I figure that $750 was reasonable “insurance” for peace of mind.
As to the wire mesh light guards, in my experience, if a rock or other debris is big enough to NOT pass through the holes in the mesh, it has enough mass to basically flex the grill in to a point where it hits the light and damages it anyway. Just my 2cents worth.
Randy
 

DirtDonk

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I disagree, but not heartily.
Of course something can hit it hard enough to push back and maybe even break it, but mine have taken plenty of hits over the years to the point I have to pull them back out and realign them on the clips, but with no damage to the headlight lens.
And there are some lights out there that are either hard to find and expensive, or like one of mine, made of unobtanium unfortunately.
So for me, the ten bucks spent (old times) on stone-guards was worth the possibility of saving the glass.
Had plenty of broken lamp experience before the guards. None after.

Not sure what a grille-guard will do for small stones, but for sure it's the only cure for a tree branch or deer-in-the-headlights (literally) issue.
I'm a fan of grille guards, but use stone guards in addition to, rather than instead of.

Basically for me then, even if the stone guards can't work every time (what does?) they were still worth the investment in insurance (which does not work every time either!) and that just-in-case occurrence.
And for most of us these days, they're just old-school-cool!

Paul
 

nvrstuk

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Just a Bronco driver for over 50 yrs!
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Jul 31, 2001
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We put the chrome headlight guards on my Dad's... like Paul mentioned... dents are easier to pull out than replacing headlights where there aren't any hdlts to buy- least where we used to fish for 1-3 months at a time. Yes, rust started forming on them before we got out of the driveway I swear!! lol

We had a huge, I mean huge wire mesh radiator protector when we went up to Alaska on the AlCan... back when it was gravel for a huge % of it. (Pre Bronco trip) Heck, it was a strange trip that we didn't spend most of our time on gravel roads in BC, NW Territories and the Yukon. 2 water bags always hung from the boat rack...
 

DirtDonk

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I had always envisioned a fold-down heavy mesh screen attached to an external cage to protect the windshield on an epic trip up the Al-Can. Oh well, I guess it's not much needed anymore now that it's practically paved the whole way!
Still in my dreams though...

Paul
 

nvrstuk

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Just a Bronco driver for over 50 yrs!
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Fun trip...like a freeway now compared to crawling along the cliffs along the Fraser River. Spent every summer camping dor months at a time up North. Bella Coola, BC. Tuktoyuktuk, NWT... all over. Heck of a childhood... ;)

Ask for time off and GO Paul. Never regret it!!
 

nvrstuk

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Just a Bronco driver for over 50 yrs!
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I thought it was normal till about HS... had no idea how lucky/blessed our family was/is. Thx. I really have nothing but good memories from childhood...
 
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