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How to Replace Headlights 2014-15 Chevy Silverado 1500

Created on: 2019-05-06

Learn how to upgrade and wire new performance LED headlights or install standard headlights. The 1A experts also explain how to aim your new replacements

  1. step 1 :Removing the Exterior Bumper Trim and Grille
    • Pry up the twelve push-pins from the upper shield with a trim tool
    • Remove the shield
    • Remove the four bolts from the grille
    • Remove the 10mm and 7mm bolt from the fender well on each side
    • Unclip the side of the front exterior trim out
    • From behind the exterior trim, pry out the clips
    • Remove the 10mm bolts from beneath the grille
    • Lift the grille up and off
  2. step 2 :Removing the Headlight
    • Remove the 10mm bolt from beneath the headlight
    • Remove the three 10mm bolts from the headlight (two on top; one underneath)
    • Slide the headlight forward
    • Disconnect the wiring harness
  3. If installing an exact replacement, skip to step 4

    step 3 :Preparing the New LED Headlight Wiring
    • Run the red wire through the slot, along the front, and to the opposite side of the vehicle
    • Run the additional wiring to the fuse box
    • Cut the end and strip the end of the wire
    • Twist the stripped end of the wire together
    • Attach a fuse tap and butt connector to the end of the wire
    • Squeeze the butt connector tight
    • Prepare to insert the fuse tap to the trailer fuse slot (20 amp)
  4. step 4 :Installing the Headlight
    • Connect the red wire from the connector on the LED light to the new wiring in the vehicle (only applies to LED headlight)
    • Connect the electrical connector to the headlight
    • Tighten the four 10mm bolts to the headlight
    • If installing an exact replacement, skip to step 5
    • Insert the fuse tap to the trailer fuse slot (20 amp)
    • Pry up part of the fuse box cover seal with a pick
    • File this section to create room for the wire
    • Run the wire through the fuse box cover
    • Replace the fuse box cover
    • Bunch and wire-tie excess wire along to the side of the vehicle
    • Wire-tie the wire along the front of the vehicle
  5. step 5 :Installing the Exterior Bumper Trim and Grille
    • Insert the grille into place
    • Tighten the four 10mm bolts to the top of the grille
    • Tighten the four 10mm bolts to the bottom of the grille
    • Insert the exterior trim into place
    • Tighten the 10mm and 7mm bolt to the fender well on each side
    • Insert the upper shield into place
    • Press the push-pins to the shield
  6. step 6 :Aiming the Headlights
    • Locate the axis of the headlights, the center point of the headlight bulb
    • Transfer the mark to a vertical wall
    • Mark the wall at the height of the axis mark
    • Back the vehicle up 25 feet
    • Locate the adjusting screw
    • Turn the headlights on
    • Rotate the screw until the passenger beam is two inches below the mark on the wall
    • Rotate the screw until the driver side beam is four inches below the mark

Tools needed

  • Wire End Cutters

    File

    Socket Extensions

    Butt Connectors

    Pry Bar

    Fuse Tap

    7mm Socket

    Wire Ties

    10mm Socket

    Ratchet

    Pick

What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. Here, I have a 2015 Chevy Silverado. We want to give it an updated look. We're going to put these new style headlights in it over the stock ones. If you want this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1aauto.com.

We want to take this cover off. We have 12 push pins to take off. I'm just going to use this trim tool, remove these. We sell this trim tool 1aauto.com. Now we've got them all out, just grab the panel, and slide it out. Now, I want to take these four bolts out. I'm going to use a 10 millimeter socket and a ratchet. We need to take this panel off, so I'm going to use a seven millimeter socket and a ratchet, take this screw out. There's a bolt that goes up right here, just going to use the seven millimeter socket. I'm going to use an extension so that I can access it, and a ratchet. So take both of those screws out for the other side.

Now we need to pull this panel off. I'm just going to use a little pry bar, get underneath here, pry this out. There's some clips that are held in right there, so just be careful; try not to break them. That's clipped in right there and right there. That actually came out pretty easily. Just pull it forward. Now it's clipped in right here on the front. I'm going to release the clips from underneath, so I'm going to grab this from the outside, this trim piece, and then from the inside I want to release it. There's clips right here, so I'm just going to use a trim tool. There's one back here you got to get. Once you get the first one out, the other ones come out pretty easily. Now try to pull from outside the vehicle; you should be able to grab it and just slide it up, just like that.

So I'm going to take these four bolts out of the vehicle; they're right in front of the grill. I'm using a 10 millimeter socket extension and a ratchet. This is another one over here. I'm going to grab the grill, slide it up, pull it out.

All right, I want to take this fastener out right here. I'm going to use a 10 millimeter ratchet wrench because this bracket's in the way. Then I want to take this bolt out and then these two up on top. I'm going to use a 10 millimeter socket extension and a ratchet. All right, with those all out, I'm just going to slide this forward, disconnect the connector right here, push down on the lock, and slide the whole headlight out.

Here's the old headlight. Here's the new headlight from 1aauto.com. This is the upgraded one with the LED strips. The mounting brackets are the same as the original, it just has an upgraded new look. The connector's the same, although there is an extra wire that you do have to do a little bit of wiring, but the headlight bulbs are in the same spots. Get yours at 1aauto.com, and you'll be ready to rock and roll.

Okay, this light has these LEDs in it, and we have to wire those up. It does come with this wiring harness. The factory wires would be connected right there. That gray wire on the other side hits the purple one. So normally this red wire would go right in that spot there, but they don't want you to wire it. My guess is because this wire is too thin, you're not going to get enough amperage out of that, so they want you to wire this in yourself.

So we'll take this wire, and you're going going to run this through here. Grab it from the back, run it right there, and you're going to run it along here. Now, you can be creative with this, just make sure the wires aren't anywhere where it's going to rub on anything or mess anything else up. Take the wires, run them here. We are going to use some wire ties to secure these down right here, and here's the other connector for the other side. So you run it on this side of the washer bottle, and then we can have that come out right here, right there. We're going to put some wire ties right there. We want to run it up here, and we'll tie it up somewhere nice over there.

And then we're going to position this in the fuse box. I'm going to use it where this trailer fuse goes. So the trailer fuse on this Chevy Silverado is right here next to this 10 amp fuse. It was a 20 amp fuse, so we're just going to use this little fuse jumper. Take some wire strippers. I'm just going to cut the end so I get a fresh cut, and strip the end of the wire. Twist this a little bit. Now the kit doesn't come with this. You're going to have to get this separately. Just slide this into here and we can crimp these together. Take some wire crimpers, squeeze it real tight; and that's nice and tight. Just grab the wires and wiggle them back and forth, and that works good. Now I'm not going to plug this in yet even though I don't think there's power going to it yet. I am going to hook the lights up first just so I don't arc out anything by accident if this hits any metal.

All right, so we'll take our headlight. We're going to hook this wire up. If you're just replacing an OEM headlight, you're not going to have this extra wire. Take this connector. Plug this in. All right, that's good. Tuck that out of the way. Go ahead and slide this headlight in position. Take these bolts. I'm going to get all the bolts started before I tighten them down; there's four that hold this headlight in. I'll take a 10 millimeter socket and a ratchet, and I'm going to tighten these down. I am going to push on the headlight a little bit when I tighten these down. This one right here, I'm going to use a ratchet wrench because it's easier to get to. Then I can do the same with the other side.

With this wire hooked up in here in the fuse box, we want to run the wire outside of the fuse box. So in the cover right here, I'm just going to make a little slot in the cover, but there's this seal right here. I'm just going to take a little pick, get underneath the seal, pull the seal up a little bit. Let's just take a file. I'm just going to file the box a little bit right here, that way I can have some room where the wire's going to go, and then I can stick the seal back there, and the seal is going to still do its job. That little area where I filed; that's where the wire's going to go. Slide it through like that. Make sure you lock it in place.

I can slide this wire right in these little clips right here and here. And there's a bunch of extra wire right here, so I'm just going to take some wire ties. You could trim this wire down. You don't have to use all this wire, or you could leave it. If you wanted to, you could go through the firewall and wire it in somewhere so that you could switch it on and off. So now I'm just going to go around and try to wire this; use some wire ties, secure this so that it's not chafing on anything. Then I'll just go back with some cutters, trim all these up so it looks nice and pretty.

All right, now we're going to take the grill, gently line everything up, make sure the wiring harness goes through there. There's a little pin right here; line that up with that bracket. Then there's a couple of push pins right there. You push those in right there. Right, now we're going to take these four screws up top the bolts, get these all in up here. Before I tighten those up, I'm going to install the bolts down here. There's four bolts that go in here: one here, here, there, and there. I'm just using a 10 millimeter socket and an extension; then I'm going to use a ratchet. Now I'm going to tighten all of these bottom bolts, and then I'll tighten the same ones on top.

Next, I'm just going to take this bumper trim, line this up in the front, get it centered in the front, like that. You come over to the side, push this side in; then we'll do the same with the other side. There we go. Take this screw; get this screw started. And then there's another screw that goes through here. Once those are started, take the seven millimeter socket and a ratchet, and tighten these down. Then do the same for the other side. Take this panel; it's going to slide in up top. We'll take all these push pins, reinstall them.

After you're done installing the headlights, you're going to want to adjust them. Take a screwdriver, and down in this hole it's going to look like a little gear, and there's a slot. It's kind of hard to see on film; so you can see this better, we're just using this borescope. And there's the screwdriver and the gear, and you just twist the Phillips head screwdriver back and forth, and that's what makes the headlight go up and down.

So check it out. We got our new lights in, we put a new grill in, too. The thing looks awesome. Get yours at 1aauto.com.

This is a basic tutorial on how to aim the headlights on your vehicle. Find the axis of your headlights; this is usually indicated with a small dot or the headlight bulb size on the lens. If not, it's the actual center point of your headlight bulb. Transfer this mark to a vertical wall with a preferably dark color that'll allow you to back up 25 feet. Pull up and find the center line of your vehicle as well as the center line of your headlight axis. Mark the wall with the height of the headlights and a straight line going across at that axis height.

Back your vehicle up 25 feet from the wall to the front edge of your vehicle's headlights. Turn your headlights on and locate the adjusting screw, usually on the backside of your headlights. You'll want to rotate this until the passenger hotspot or focus of the beam is approximately two inches below the line and the driver's side is four inches below the line. We change the heights on each side so you can still get a good beam to the offside of the road on the passenger side, and have the driver's side low enough to not blind oncoming traffic.

Thanks for watching. Visit 1aauto.com for quality auto parts shipped to your door; the place for DIY auto repair. And if you enjoyed this video, please click the subscribe button.


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