[The Low Ranger]

great job & pix @Racenut!

only thing i didn't like was seeing the camp chair off to the side by the garage.
19" of snow here during the super bowl. doing installation stuff in the winter where i am is only partly fun - even in the garage... :smile:

BTW:
this may have been mentioned in some thread before, but i found the rola rack at walmart for $129. free shipping to store & pay sales tax, of course.

ordered it - supposed to be at my local store tomorrow.
i'm a big fan of amazon, but it's easier to just drive back to walmart and get all my money back if i don't want to install it.

 

[mtudb24]

Wiring...

Went through the back hatch for now. Will see how this goes. I may go through the roof at the rear foot of the factory rails, but even then I'm hesitant to drill a hole in the roof lol.

Through the grommet

Ran it down the rear door channel...

Down to the floor and then easy to push it under the plastic past the carpet to the front.

Wire from rack down between the seem in the rear. I put a lil clear tape on there to make sure the paint doesn't get chaffed. If the tape take any wear, I'll reconsider going through the roof.

Under the rear hatch.. I left some extra slack here in case I find some issue and have to reado anything.

You've done great stuff here. My question is what gage of wire are you using to run to the fuse block. I assumed you solider the pigtails from the lights to a long wire that goes all the way to the fuse block? Looks like some sort of mesh sleeve you used to act as "flat profile conduit". What size fuse did you use? Also, what mounts did you use to hold the lights to the bar?
Thanks

 

[Meeko]

When you get around to driving it more, let us know what your fuel milage impact is with the basket up there.

 

[Racenut]

only thing i didn't like was seeing the camp chair off to the side by the garage.
19" of snow here during the super bowl. doing installation stuff in the winter where i am is only partly fun - even in the garage... :smile:

That was my wife's supervisor seat lol. And yeah, you're lucky, you actually get a Winter. Stupid 75F weather here....

You've done great stuff here. My question is what gage of wire are you using to run to the fuse block. I assumed you solider the pigtails from the lights to a long wire that goes all the way to the fuse block? Looks like some sort of mesh sleeve you used to act as "flat profile conduit". What size fuse did you use? Also, what mounts did you use to hold the lights to the bar?
Thanks

Wire is 16 gauge. The pigtails off the lights are only 18, so figured that would work. 10amp fuse, though a 7.5 probably would be sufficient but I don't have one and 16G is OK for 10A.

I used the mesh sleeve and heat shrink because it's black and gives it an OEM look. The flat profile where it goes between body panels is because I used 4 wire trailer wire because it's made that way.

Mounts are KC mounts from Amazon. They're a lil chunky but they work. [ame]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002MAFR4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]

 

[mtudb24]

That was my wife's supervisor seat lol. And yeah, you're lucky, you actually get a Winter. Stupid 75F weather here....



Wire is 16 gauge. The pigtails off the lights are only 18, so figured that would work. 10amp fuse, though a 7.5 probably would be sufficient but I don't have one and 16G is OK for 10A.

I used the mesh sleeve and heat shrink because it's black and gives it an OEM look. The flat profile where it goes between body panels is because I used 4 wire trailer wire because it's made that way.

Mounts are KC mounts from Amazon. They're a lil chunky but they work. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002MAFR4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thank you
Where did you ground the wire for the lights? Up on the rack or light mount and just run 2 power lines back through the grommet or did you run all power and ground wires wires through the grommet? I assume you grounded the front pair to the light bracket and the rear pair to the to the rear mounts and just ran 2 power cables (1 for front lights and 1 for rear lights) through the grommet down to the switches?
Thanks again.
Todd

 

[jrenda]

Looks great, but can I ask a stupid question? What do you use the front and rear lights for?

I keep seeing everyone adding a bunch of lights to their Jeep but I am not sure why. I understand needing some additional light up front if you are offroading at night. But I just want to see why everyone is adding lights. Thanks!

 

[BizzyB]

I'm surprised your trunk doesn't crimp the wire when opened. Slick setup though.

 

[MD11Planeguy]

well done...

 

[write-stuff]

Looks great, but can I ask a stupid question? What do you use the front and rear lights for?

I keep seeing everyone adding a bunch of lights to their Jeep but I am not sure why. I understand needing some additional light up front if you are offroading at night. But I just want to see why everyone is adding lights. Thanks!

Well, they do look cool... But I suspect the more compelling reason is for night offroad operations. I do a little of that and I'd LOVE to have some better lighting, especially in the rear.

 

[Racenut]

Where did you ground the wire for the lights?

It's grounded under the dash. Was just cleaner that way, I didn't want to scrape paint to get a good ground in the rear hatch area that gets wet and collects dirt.

Looks great, but can I ask a stupid question? What do you use the front and rear lights for?

Headed for Death Valley over Presidents weekend. Planning to stay out at the racetrack well after dark, maybe camp overnight. That was a good enough excuse for me to buy some toys!

I'm surprised your trunk doesn't crimp the wire when opened. Slick setup though.

The gap opens up when the hatch is opened. I was actually surprised how little rubbing there is when the hatch goes up and down. But I'm keeping an eye on it.

 

[Racenut]

Notes after 1800 mile trip to Death Valley....

Compared to my also 1800 mile Utah trip.... lost about 3 MPG - 25 vs 22MPG with the rack and lights. And the faster you go, the worse it gets.

When windshield and hood are covered in dust, having lights on the roof makes the dust light up and is distracting. But there is more forward light. Front bumper mount would be be better here.

The wind noise at 70+ mph sucks.

I did use the rear facing floods a couple times and that was nice to have

It does look cool.

 

[rsawyer08]

Looks great, but can I ask a stupid question? What do you use the front and rear lights for?

I keep seeing everyone adding a bunch of lights to their Jeep but I am not sure why. I understand needing some additional light up front if you are offroading at night. But I just want to see why everyone is adding lights. Thanks!

It's actually not a stupid question, but I can give you an example of when those lights come in handy (besides the fact that they look cool). My friends and I do quite a bit of camping out on a family owned plot of land in Wayne National Forest. There are 0 lights out there and it requires the use of old logging roads to get to the part of the property that we camp on. Honestly, the REAR floods are the most useful IMHO. If you ever tried an 8 point turn to flip your rig around in the middle of the woods in the pitch black, you know that the factory lighting just isn't enough to know for sure what's behind you. They can also come in handy when setting up camp in the middle of the night - pitching a tent with a headlamp or a flash light is no fun.

 

[Cody]

What crossbars do you have?

 

[Go_Habs]

Great job! Looks awesome....

 

[Dutch]

It's actually not a stupid question, but I can give you an example of when those lights come in handy (besides the fact that they look cool). My friends and I do quite a bit of camping out on a family owned plot of land in Wayne National Forest. There are 0 lights out there and it requires the use of old logging roads to get to the part of the property that we camp on. Honestly, the REAR floods are the most useful IMHO. If you ever tried an 8 point turn to flip your rig around in the middle of the woods in the pitch black, you know that the factory lighting just isn't enough to know for sure what's behind you. They can also come in handy when setting up camp in the middle of the night - pitching a tent with a headlamp or a flash light is no fun.

Great example. Another would be for those of us that actually do work in the mountains. I build and augment cell tower sites. Working until well after dark is a regular occurrence in our gig. We use those lights to illuminate the outdoor worksites, and to safely egress the gnarly access roads when we call it a night. As stated above, dark as **** in the middle of the Colorado Rockies or the middle of West-by-God Virginia at 0300 in the morning!

 

[Aceman]

Power feed and switchgear...

Tapped the factory fuseblock with a fuse tap. This is an open slot and has power at all times. This feeds power to all three switches.

Dropped the switches into the storage cup so they are hidden and can't be accidentally switched on. Closing the door acts as a safety.

Three switches... Front, Rear and one to enable the remote control. This is why I tapped full time power. I can leave the remote control unit activated and use the keyfob to turn on front, rear or both. Test range and it was still working from several hundred feet away... I was at the end of the street and couldn't go any further to see what the limit is lol.