[gorman]

I recently installed a new ARB bumper on my XJ (great bumper). I have two questions however. There is a vacuum reservoir in the inside of the stock bumper which I believe is for the cruise control and air con controls. Where is a good place to relocate this reservoir to? I would imagine the engine bay, but where in the engine bay? I didn't get any instructions to that effect with my bumper. I guess this would be an issue for everybody that goes for an aftermarket bumper, not just ARB.

The other question I have is that I now want to install spotlights, but would want it to work together with the brights (high beam). Where to I pick up the high beam wire? There seem to be no access to the lights from the engine bay side, do I take out the head lights form the front? Or do I pick up the wires at the switch at the steering column?

Here's a few pics:

[XJK]

looks good, very nice looking rig

-Kyle

[FitchVA]

Originally Posted by gorman

There is a vacuum reservoir in the inside of the stock bumper which I believe is for the cruise control and air con controls. Where is a good place to relocate this reservoir to? I would imagine the engine bay, but where in the engine bay? I didn't get any instructions to that effect with my bumper. I guess this would be an issue for everybody that goes for an aftermarket bumper, not just ARB.

on my old ARB, there was a tab on the bumper where you can relocate the bottle to. i'm pretty sure that's what the tab is for anyway. it's on the same side as the original location of the canister. but where you're backwards from us it might be flip-flopped

Originally Posted by gorman

The other question I have is that I now want to install spotlights, but would want it to work together with the brights (high beam). Where to I pick up the high beam wire? There seem to be no access to the lights from the engine bay side, do I take out the head lights form the front? Or do I pick up the wires at the switch at the steering column?

are you wanting to just use the headlight power wire for your signal to the relay? i hope you're not just going to tap into the headlights to fully power your auxiliary lights. the stock wiring can't handle that load. but if you only want it to signal the relay for your aux. lights, there is a main wiring loom connector under the airbox that you can tap into. but again, where our xj's are mirror images, i'm not sure what side it would be on for you

[330LICIOUS]

love the ARB! get some PIAA's!

[madrabbitt]

arb does make a nice looking bumper, even if you dont run a winch.

i wanted one but it was outside of my price range.

as for the lights. If you're sure you want them to be triggered with the high beams (i wouldnt, i'd run a switch inside) then remove the right side bulb so you have access to the socket, probe the socket with a test light when the high beams are switched on so you know which wire is correct, and tap that wire with a small 14 or 16 gauge wire and tap, and run that to the trigger on the aux light relay.

You want to do it on the right side so you can install the relay and wiring harness for the lights as close to the battery as possible to make things easier.

[gorman]

Originally Posted by FitchVA

on my old ARB, there was a tab on the bumper where you can relocate the bottle to. i'm pretty sure that's what the tab is for anyway. it's on the same side as the original location of the canister. but where you're backwards from us it might be flip-flopped

Great to hear - I'll have a look on the inside of the bumper. There are a number of brackets and things that came with it that wasn't used - maybe some of this could be for the reservoir or otherwise it might be for the fitment of a winch. If there's brackets, on the inside it doesn't matter which side it is - I'll just lenghten the pipe if it can't reach as it is.

Originally Posted by FitchVA

are you wanting to just use the headlight power wire for your signal to the relay? i hope you're not just going to tap into the headlights to fully power your auxiliary lights. the stock wiring can't handle that load. but if you only want it to signal the relay for your aux. lights, there is a main wiring loom connector under the airbox that you can tap into. but again, where our xj's are mirror images, i'm not sure what side it would be on for you

Yes, I just want to tap into the wiring loom for the signal to the relay. In fact all the wiring has already been done, incl. the relay and a seperate switch. But the problem I have with the seperate switch is that it will be difficult to dim the spot lights in a hurry if another car approaches at night - I'd rather just control everything from the stalk. Thanks for the tip on the wiring loom under the airbox - I'll have a look there - not everything is mirror images, so it might be the right spot to look.

[gorman]

Originally Posted by 330LICIOUS

love the ARB! get some PIAA's!

I like those PIAA's of yours, they look really nice. I'm still not 100% decided whether I should go for round or square spotlights. At first I was going to get KC Daylighters, but they don't fit, so the alternative would be to go for KC Slimlites. I had a look at square Hella Comet 550's which really looked very nice too and they're about half the price of the KC's.

Does anybody perhaps have a nice pic with square spots fitted on an ARB bumper? And round ones for the that matter? Maybe it could help me make up my mind...at the moment I'm leaning towards the square Hella's.

[joedsh]

Nice looking rig. I really like the ARB bumper. I wanted one before, but like it even better after seeing it from all angles.

[madrabbitt]

gorman. read what i said about tapping the harness behind the light.

you have a good point about dimming the lights with the stalk.
its just, up here in the states, most off-road lights cannot be used on paved streets at all, so we mostly use them on trails, therefore it wouldnt matter if its quickly dimmable or not.

[madrabbitt]

kc slimlights are 100 watt lights.

hella's comet line are 55 watts when sold here in the states, but i know that all of that line, 450, 500, 530 and 550 will support 100 watt bulbs, since they're sold like that in mexico and europe.

I've used a 4 pack of the 530's before. two white driving, 2 amber fog. They are nice lights, even with 55 watts.

I'm running the kc slimlites on my bumper now, and they're really nice off road.

[gorman]

Originally Posted by madrabbitt

gorman. read what i said about tapping the harness behind the light.

you have a good point about dimming the lights with the stalk.
its just, up here in the states, most off-road lights cannot be used on paved streets at all, so we mostly use them on trails, therefore it wouldnt matter if its quickly dimmable or not.

Thanks Madrabbit, yes that seems easy enough to just tap into the loom behind the light where the plug fits onto the bulb. I was wondering, is it possible to run an additional switch together with the connection to the high beam switch? That way when the switch is in the ON position the spots work with the car's brights and when its OFF the spots don't work at all and I can dimm and bright just the car's OE lights?

[madrabbitt]

run a very small wire, like 16 or 18 gauge from the LEFT high beam wire (and not the right like i said before) into the cab, put it on a switch input. run an identical wire from the switch output to the relay's trigger input.

when the low beams are on, the aux lights dont work
when the high beams are on, and the switch is OFF, the lights are off.
when the high beams are on, and the switch is ON, the lights are on.

really simple.

hardest parts will be getting the two wires past the firewall, and mounting the switch.

[gorman]

Originally Posted by madrabbitt

kc slimlights are 100 watt lights.

hella's comet line are 55 watts when sold here in the states, but i know that all of that line, 450, 500, 530 and 550 will support 100 watt bulbs, since they're sold like that in mexico and europe.

I've used a 4 pack of the 530's before. two white driving, 2 amber fog. They are nice lights, even with 55 watts.

I'm running the kc slimlites on my bumper now, and they're really nice off road.

You're not making it any easier to choose!!

Yes, the Hella's here also use the 55 watt, while I think the KC Slimlites that I can get have 130 watt bulbs.

Here's two pics I found with square spots. I quite like the IPFs, although I'm not sure if they're a bit big, maybe. The trimmed one with the Hella's again are a bit small, but the 550's are bigger, I think.

[gorman]

Originally Posted by madrabbitt

run a very small wire, like 16 or 18 gauge from the LEFT high beam wire (and not the right like i said before) into the cab, put it on a switch input. run an identical wire from the switch output to the relay's trigger input.

when the low beams are on, the aux lights dont work
when the high beams are on, and the switch is OFF, the lights are off.
when the high beams are on, and the switch is ON, the lights are on.

really simple.

hardest parts will be getting the two wires past the firewall, and mounting the switch.

Perfect!! Thanks for the tip - I was wondering how the combination of the two switches would be wired. Sounds real simple...

[madrabbitt]

second picture has hella 530's.
slightly longer, but slightly shorter then 550's.

you can tell because the 530's have side mounted "claws" that hold the reflector/lens assembly in place

kc slimlights are orderable in 55, 100 or 130.

heres my slimlights: