[nmiller015]

Looking good man! Can't wait to see everything installed

[NW99XJ]

Thanks! It's coming together.... It's going to be a rough two weekends to get all this put on.
It's cool getting all these parts and stuff all at once.... super exciting.
The next round of gear wont be here till the 1st of March (MY B-Day )
But I'll get pics of all that too once its in....
Now I just need to figure out how i'm going to mount these lights....
I've been toying around with a couple designs here at work...(machined tabs that I'll weld on.) But I may opt for something that's more adjustable. I just dont want to end up spending $20-$30 per mount for these.
Y'all have seen my rack (lol) so you know what I'm working with..... Any ideas?

[NW99XJ]

More Parts:

Picked up (2) two-piece Rear Main Seals (just in case I screw one up)
And a 1 piece Oil Pan Gasket.
Also some gasket maker (same as Loctite 815)

[NW99XJ]

THIS:

[botakbeng]

Looking good!

When you drop the oil pan, i suggest you also take a took at the flexplate/bolts and make sure no cracks and the bolts are tight.
(Seems to be a common problem with the bolts getting loose and making noise).

Keep up the good work!

[NW99XJ]

Originally Posted by botakbeng

Looking good!

When you drop the oil pan, i suggest you also take a took at the flexplate/bolts and make sure no cracks and the bolts are tight.
(Seems to be a common problem with the bolts getting loose and making noise).

Keep up the good work!

Hey thanks for the heads up botakbeng! I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that... Mine's not making any noise (as of yet) but i may do a good once over to ensure no future problems.
I'm looking into some inspection procedures as i'm writing this (there's an honorable mention to a botakbeng on cherokee forum for a write up on the fix of loose flexplate bolts...looks pretty good/informative)
>
Last weekend didnt bode well for time in the garage to work on the Jeep.
My "hunny-do" list become 10 times longer than it should have.
So the only thing I got done was fabbing up a mounting system for the light on the rack.
I still have the exhaust work to do AND the maintenance
.... and on top of that, The rest of my parts came in today (YAY!... Birthday presents!!!) - that I bought for myself....
.... well its still cool to get a mass load of parts delivered on your birthday, even if you had to buy them yourself.
Just arrived:

1.00" DOM H/D Steering upgrade kit (tie rod/drag link)
Double Shear Track Bar
Steering Box Brace
Drop Pitman Arm

I'll post pics of all the new parts, as well as my install of the lights later tonight.

[NW99XJ]

I know I'm a couple/few days behind on this, but here's the new parts for the steering upgrade. I haven't yet gotten to the install, so for now, these are just sitting in my spare room taunting me:

[NW99XJ]

So i was trying to figure out how and where to mount the lights on the rack.
Since the rack I have on there isn't the quintessential "offroad rack" my mounting solutions were kind of limited. As i'm a cheap bastard, I didnt want to shell out $20-30 for each mount (like the KC bar clamp style.) So I was going to fab something up. I had initially thought about tabs to weld on, but I wanted something that gave me a little adjustability/flexibility.
now as far as position goes....The easiest was to go above the rack (on top) ...these are just mocked in place in this pic:


But I wanted a little more lower profile, and still wanted to be able to pull into the garage. So off of the lower bar was where I had decided where my my mounting position was going to be. Something like this:


I did a ton of searching online, and around various forums, and actually found a couple different ideas from a couple different places, and combined them to make what I used.
Some stainless hardware, 3/4" conduit clamps, and some drilled/galvanized angle stock:


The conduit clamps were used to mount the angle stock onto the rack itself, and the angle stock is where the lights would mount to.
Here's how it all went together, and the process of the installation:



Here's a little closer shot of how the conduit clamps work with the rack and a more side profile of the assembly:



I mocked together the whole assembly. lights and all for a test fit:



If you decide to use something like this for yourself, here's a tip: Chose a smaller conduit clamp than the diameter of the bar your mounting to is. For instance (like mine) if your bar is 1.00" in diameter, use a 3/4" conduit clamp. I had made the mistake of choosing a 1" clamp initially, and it didn't work out... just didn't have enough "bite" to hold things in place without rotating around the bar.

And since i'm not real big into "bling" I didnt want all that flashy metal up on top of my rack, so I painted as much of it as i could flat black. Here is the clamps, the light mounts and the angle stock all painted up:

I mock installed it (again) without the lights to make sure where my final mounting position was going to be, and started clamping/tightening everything down.


At this point I mounted the lights and started trying to figure out how I was going to get my wires into the inside. I read countless threads on this, and the only real clean installs were guys who drilled thru the roof... not my ideal choice, trust me, but I didnt want to run miles of wire, and I wanted something clean, and out of the way. So I made the tough decision to drill.
...But i'll get to all that in a bit....

[NW99XJ]

Here's the electrical side of things:
Being a First Class MECP Certified Installer, and having worked in the mobile electronics industry for 10 years, (i've since moved on but still do side jobs) ...I have amassed a good stash of various "shop supplies" including enough wire to do just about anything:

The switches used for this project ended up being quite a hassle... I found a set (from radio shack) that I really liked, so after going to three different stores to get the quantity I wanted (4) I started drilling my center console, well shift bezel really, to mount them up..... the problem was after doing so I realized the switches I got were 125v not 12v..... major fail..... so three trips, and two different switch choices later, I finally got some that worked for the location, the mounting pattern, and that had the look that I wanted:

I then wired all the switches (shown) and relays (not shown) up all nice and clean.


Loomed up the new harness to keep it clean:


The main supply from the battery comprised of (2) 10awg ATC Fuse holders, (loaded with 20a fuses) then strung with 12awg wire to the relays. Each of these feeds one pair of lights on the rack.
(i'll clean this up one of these days I swear)


The low voltage supply from the switches was pulled directly from the ignition, and was fused as well. Since this line only feeds enough voltage to trigger the relays, and to power the LED indicators on the switches, It didn't need much for protection.
The four switches are laid out as individual circuits, but share common ground and power supply. The relays for the lights have their own power supply, and share a ground. Each switch provides its own trigger for each circuit.
From top to bottom I have them like this:

• Fog Lights (already installed - just switched the switches)
• Rock Lights (future install)
• Pin Spots (center on rack)
• Driving Lights (outsides on rack)

Once the switch panel was all wired up and the wires loomed and routed to their destination, It was time to put it back together. I found that this tab (pic below) was in the way of the wires coming off of the lower switch.


So I hacked it off.

This tab is to locate the indicator panel (the clear plastic tab that comes off of the shift selector indicator. But on the right side (the tab that was in the way) is for right hand drive vehicles, and in no way played any role in locating or locking into position my shift bezel.
Now that it was out of the way, the bezel locked back into position perfectly, and looks great:




Now that interior side of things was done it was time to move onto the lights themselves.
So as I stated earlier, I made the choice to drill, I chose a location that was easy to get to, near the "B" pillar (my choice for the route of the wires to go from the top of the vehicle to the bottom) and that was going to be more or less "hidden" from view, and and various branches or other things that may want to snag the loom. I picked a spot, drilled a pilot hole, then hogged it out from below with my uni-bit.


Yes this is light shining thru the hole in my otherwise perfect roof:


I primered the hole with black paint:


And pulled out the necessary supplies to protect the wires from being cut, and the headliner/interior from water leakage:


Here you can see the grommet installed before getting the wires and sealed up with the RTV.


All four lights share the same ground, which is right at the top of the "B" pillar on the inside where a bracket is to support the sunroof. The lights are paired, thus only three wires total (the same 12awg wire you saw above) are coming thru the roof. One ground, and one trigger for each pair. All the wires are routed and loomed to keep things nice and tidy, and protected from the elements (more or less)
Here's how things looked when done:


I left myself some extra wire on top, just in case I changed my rack, or relocated it, or if the position of the lights ever changed. It's looped up, and tied out of the way, but there in case I ever need it:


Here you can see the final routing and protrusion thru the roof line:


A little closer look at the sealing job:

The RTV was used inside the grommet around the wires, and both on the exterior, as well as on the inside, around the grommet, and the wires. This has been tested with several days of good rain, and at speed in the rain thru days of commuting, and not a drop had dripped. I'm fully confident that this will remain sealed for quite some time.
Here's a poser shot, during the day, and before everything was all aimed up.

All in all I'm quite happy with the results, the lights look like they belong, tie-in well with the vehicle, and perform well. They're plenty bright on the street, and I'm sure will light up the trail just fine.
Let me know what you think!

[nmiller015]

Looks great! What a write up! A couple things:

-I didn't put half as much thought or effort into the sealant job I did when I ran my wires through the roof, and mine hasn't leaked yet, so I'm confident yours will never leak.
-For cleaning up the battery tray area (mine was even worse with wires), if you follow one of the positive cables from the battery, the one going about 5 inches away right to the PDC, you can unclip the black plastic surround, and there's a spot you can connect some of the positive cables instead of directly to the battery.
-I didn't know you had a NP242?

Can't wait to see the next round of installs!

[K-R]

Man, those buttons by your shifter are a sweet install, nice job on that! Looks like you have some room for some more switches if you need them, where your rear wiper, rear defrost switches are. I had the same set up with two switches there originally, but went to the junkyard and got one that had 3 switches on it, one for the fog lights.

I have lights on my roof rack too, and the way I avoided drilling through my roof (too late now for you) was I drilled some holes in my upper rear brake light and fed the wires through there. You can't see any wires at all in the car. I will try to post a pic sometime if anyone wants to see it.

The next thing I want to do is remove my stock antenna and stick a Firestick (like yours) in that location and then feed the CB and the AM/FM radio with that one antenna (they make a splitter). I think it will be a pain in the arse though, getting the stock antenna off, feeding 18 feet of coax through the firewall, and getting the new antenna to point straight up and down, versus out to the side. I guess I could do a CB mount like yours and not have that problem.

[NW99XJ]

Originally Posted by K-R

Man, those buttons by your shifter are a sweet install, nice job on that! Looks like you have some room for some more switches if you need them, where your rear wiper, rear defrost switches are. I had the same set up with two switches there originally, but went to the junkyard and got one that had 3 switches on it, one for the fog lights.

I have lights on my roof rack too, and the way I avoided drilling through my roof (too late now for you) was I drilled some holes in my upper rear brake light and fed the wires through there. You can't see any wires at all in the car. I will try to post a pic sometime if anyone wants to see it.

The next thing I want to do is remove my stock antenna and stick a Firestick (like yours) in that location and then feed the CB and the AM/FM radio with that one antenna (they make a splitter). I think it will be a pain in the arse though, getting the stock antenna off, feeding 18 feet of coax through the firewall, and getting the new antenna to point straight up and down, versus out to the side. I guess I could do a CB mount like yours and not have that problem.

Thanks man! It was a couple weeks in the making trying to track down all the right switches, and getting everything to line up right. There really isn’t any more room for more switches, as the shift bezel sits on a ledge, and any more switches would hit that. (if mounted above or below the existing column. And there’s no more room to the right for the same reason, and to the left is the housing for the shift indicator, it extends a ways past the clear plastic that you see the letters thru.)
I had read several posts about guys who had gone thru mounting holes in the roof rails for their wire run, or just tucked it thru the rear hatch seal, or yea , like you, went thru thru the rear light.
My thing, is since the rack isn’t a full length, and since the factory roof rack rails stop short of the rear, I would still have exposed wire, or a loom seen. I wanted a completely stealth install, with Zero wires showing. So drilling was really the only option. And once they go thru the roof, they’re hidden by the headliner, and immediately go down the “B” pillar, and behind the trim. There’s Zero wires showing in the cab at all. It’s complexly “sanitary” (a term used in the installation industry to describe a clean install.)
As far as swapping the factory antenna out with a firestick, be careful… the sheet metal in that area is thin. And aon the trail, that antenna is going to get whacked a lot. Your angles can be adjusted with aftermarket antenna cam trim plates (they’re angled to one side so as you turn them you can get that “zero angle”.) – the only problem with these is that they’ll isolate your outer (ground) shield. A CB antenna is a true coax, whereas a FM antenna is not. Although the antenna CABLE is a coax for your stereo, the outer shield (used for AM reception only) terminates at the antenna mounts base or before to establish a ground plane. The routing of a CB coax would follow your old one, so your path is already there. In fact you could use the old cable to fish your new one if you decided to go that route. If your dead set on replacing the factory antenna with a CB antenna , I’d go with a short steel whip type, rather than a fiberglass mast type. It’ll be easier to install, and probably perform better in that location. But personally, I ‘d go with a mount like mine. It’s been beat to hell, and has held up well.

[morando6784]

nice, i like the light bar idea, simple and easy....the way i like it

[K-R]

here's the "pig tails" you get going through the brake light:

[NW99XJ]

Thanks for pics K-R, i'm sure its functional, just not my style.