[fl-mitchells]

Hehe the bumper is in on time and waiting for me... all I have to do now is find an excuse to get up to Jax! I'll post pics as soon as I get it on. I'll have a "tow hook & light hole" bumper to sell here soon, I'll post it in the appropriate spot once it's off the jeep but I figured I'd go ahead and mention it if there's a need out there. Have those of you with XHD bumpers been able to install the factory fogs or should I plan on aftermarkets? It looks like they are in a similar position so I'm guessing I won't need to extend the harness... guess I'll see when I get into it.

 

[The Joker]

they fit. it's tight on length, but they fit.

 

[gijoejd]

Plenty of room with the Delta upgrade harness.

 

[fl-mitchells]

Ok picked up all the pieces/parts last Friday and Saturday and had time and help installing the bumper and winch Monday night. Here are some pics for any of you considering the same thing. Notes to follow:

and from inside this is all the stinger you see:

I had 2 problems a more intelligent or experienced person could have avoided. First, I installed the winch on the bumper before installing the bumper. That was GOOD. I did not however install the black negative cable to the winch first. It attaches on the bottom of the motor in the 3/4" gap between the motor and the winch plate, as indicated by the arrow. That was BAD. I had to pull the winch back off after the bumper was installed to fix this, and it was a major PIA.

Second, once everything was bolted up I stepped back and there was the fog light harness, dangling like Christmas lights from the bottom of the bumper. There is a SMALL gap between the skid plate bar and the bumper, as indicated in this pic. You cannot fit the harness and it's plug ends back through this gap, so my brother-in-law had to loosen off the lower 4 bolts and "bounce" the bumper upwards by pushing the stinger while I stuffed the harness and ends up through the gap. This was STUPID and I'm lucky to still have all my fingers for the effort.

Anyhow, when all is said and done I'm very happy with it. Besides my own stupid errors the thing went on very well... all the bolt holes lined up perfectly and I had PLENTY of slack to keep the factory fog light harness, in fact I had to secure the extra with some wire ties.

 

[The Joker]

paint that thing black and it would look just like mine!
looks good!

 

[venom]

I like mine

 

[fl-mitchells]

Sweet. What you need are some lights though

 

[thaduke2003]

^^ How can you see at night, man?
Like daylight, na?
Going to be ordering mine as soon as I find a JK to put it on Briana vetoed them for hers- Mark W.

 

[The Joker]

I like mine

How did you mount 4 lights at the windshield?

 

[dadgummit]

I like mine

Hey Venom, Any chance on some close-up pics on how you mounted those lights on the bumper, they look great!!

 

[venom]

Sweet. What you need are some lights though

When I'm out in the boonies catching rattlesnakes in the middle of the night, I like to be able to see wtf I'm doing.
Still looking at either ordering a KMA low-pro light bar or building my own across the top of the windshield.
I'm spend a lot of time out late at night = lots light is good.

How did you mount 4 lights at the windshield?

The brackets are ugly, but they work.
Some day I'll either redo them or if I get the cash go to 7" HIDs on the corners intead.

Hey Venom, Any chance on some close-up pics on how you mounted those lights on the bumper, they look great!!

That one was easy, just took a piece of 1" angle iron and bolted it over top of the fairlead and mounted lights to it. When I had a roller fairlead on there, I had a piece bolted to the top of the fairlead itself.
Only thing funky is that the fairlead is off center, you have to center the angle iron and let it hang over on the passenger side to center up the lights.
I did a HID conversion on those 2 lights - I found a chevy headlight upgrade kit for cheap and swapped it into the housings.

If I was independently wealthy with money to burn I'd have a big Xmitter across the windshield and HID's everywhere else, but I'm po so it's cheap lights and home made brackets.
Plus with the cheap lights, I don't care when they get tree branched or road gravelled

Everything's filthy, but we've been having 60MPH wind packing thunderstorms almost daily for the last couple of weeks - which reminds me, I gotta replace a bunch of shingles on my roof

 

[dadgummit]

That one was easy, just took a piece of 1" angle iron and bolted it over top of the fairlead and mounted lights to it. When I had a roller fairlead on there, I had a piece bolted to the top of the fairlead itself.
Only thing funky is that the fairlead is off center, you have to center the angle iron and let it hang over on the passenger side to center up the lights.
I did a HID conversion on those 2 lights - I found a chevy headlight upgrade kit for cheap and swapped it into the housings.

If I was independently wealthy with money to burn I'd have a big Xmitter across the windshield and HID's everywhere else, but I'm po so it's cheap lights and home made brackets.
Plus with the cheap lights, I don't care when they get tree branched or road gravelled

Everything's filthy, but we've been having 60MPH wind packing thunderstorms almost daily for the last couple of weeks - which reminds me, I gotta replace a bunch of shingles on my roof

That is great, It does not matter if you are rich or poor this is what jeeping is about. Fabrication and originality is key. To me it is only your jeep if you had a hand in building it!

 

[The Joker]

When I'm out in the boonies catching rattlesnakes in the middle of the night, I like to be able to see wtf I'm doing.
Still looking at either ordering a KMA low-pro light bar or building my own across the top of the windshield.
I'm spend a lot of time out late at night = lots light is good.


The brackets are ugly, but they work.
Some day I'll either redo them or if I get the cash go to 7" HIDs on the corners intead.
View attachment 8791


View attachment 8792
That one was easy, just took a piece of 1" angle iron and bolted it over top of the fairlead and mounted lights to it. When I had a roller fairlead on there, I had a piece bolted to the top of the fairlead itself.
Only thing funky is that the fairlead is off center, you have to center the angle iron and let it hang over on the passenger side to center up the lights.
I did a HID conversion on those 2 lights - I found a chevy headlight upgrade kit for cheap and swapped it into the housings.

If I was independently wealthy with money to burn I'd have a big Xmitter across the windshield and HID's everywhere else, but I'm po so it's cheap lights and home made brackets.
Plus with the cheap lights, I don't care when they get tree branched or road gravelled

Everything's filthy, but we've been having 60MPH wind packing thunderstorms almost daily for the last couple of weeks - which reminds me, I gotta replace a bunch of shingles on my roof

i used the AtoZ Fab mount for mine.love it.

http://www.atozfabrication.com/store/product.php?productid=16350&cat=269&page=1

 

[dadgummit]

i used the AtoZ Fab mount for mine.love it.

http://www.atozfabrication.com/store/product.php?productid=16350&cat=269&page=1

Nice, Do you have any pictures?

 

[fl-mitchells]

When I'm out in the boonies catching rattlesnakes in the middle of the night, I like to be able to see wtf I'm doing.
Still looking at either ordering a KMA low-pro light bar or building my own across the top of the windshield.
I'm spend a lot of time out late at night = lots light is good.

Seriously they do look sharp... Wifey wants a light bar up top too but I haven't seen one I'm crazy about yet... I think with pics now i could talk her into window mounted lights instead, I could always relocate them up top down the road once I find a bar or just add more.

 

[Benny14]

XHD front and back

Hello, I am running the xhd pre-runner guard on the front and back with tire carrier. I am really happy with the products except for the fact that both bumpers are designed to have the wiring zip tied. In the case of the tire carrier it doesn’t bother me that much because it is out of sight out of mind kind of thing, but the front bumper is a different story. My next project is adding 2 sets of light to the pre-runner, and after contacting rugged ridge, they informed me that the wires should be zip tied and there was no way I could run the wires in side of the tubing. Does any one have an idea's, or done any thing about this. There are two big reasons I ask, 1. Wires exposed are likely to get caught on some thing on the trial. 2. It looks horrible.

 

[fl-mitchells]

Hello, I am running the xhd pre-runner guard on the front and back with tire carrier. I am really happy with the products except for the fact that both bumpers are designed to have the wiring zip tied. In the case of the tire carrier it doesn’t bother me that much because it is out of sight out of mind kind of thing, but the front bumper is a different story. My next project is adding 2 sets of light to the pre-runner, and after contacting rugged ridge, they informed me that the wires should be zip tied and there was no way I could run the wires in side of the tubing. Does any one have an idea's, or done any thing about this. There are two big reasons I ask, 1. Wires exposed are likely to get caught on some thing on the trial. 2. It looks horrible.

I'm thinking if the tube walls aren't drilled at the points were other tubes butt in then you'll be unable to fish wire through the bumper. You can drill/mount all you want on the stubby portion but I'm afraid the tubes will give you trouble... maybe someone with more experience than me will chime in...

 

[Benny14]

Yea that exactly the situation. The tubs are not open at the welds, obviously, and are open only at the points were it connects to the main bumper, but the problem lies were the tubing comes off of its self. The tubs with the light brackets on them are the one's that are welded tot he main tube. I figured out a way to run most of the wires inside, and only have to be exposed right before the light. Unfortunately if the main tub would have just been notched, wires could be run very easily with some fishing string and a shop vac. I was hopping that some one had some pic of how they ran the wires? I am planning on putting two sets of delta lights on, with dual batterios and all the trimmings, and mont all the switched inside of a tuffy box. I dont want the finsh product to look cheep on a projet that is over $2000

 

[fl-mitchells]

Hey Benny14 I have an idea that might help some... I use something like this for an entirely different application:

These kinds of cable mounts are used most often on circuit boards but could be adapted to your purpose easily. At least you wouldn't have to run a tie all the way around the tube, just use these to tie the wires to a drilled hole on the back side of the tube.

You'll have to google around a bit to source them but you might check Radio Shack or here: http://www.favortron.com.tw/english/tie-mount.htm if they don't stick you for big quantities.

 

[Benny14]

Split

 cable mounts are used most often on circuit boards but could be adapted to your purpose easily. At least you wouldn't have to run a tie all the way around the tube, just use these to tie the wires to a drilled hole on the back side of the tube.

fl-mitchells Thank you for the idea, I think that I will use that application on the back tire carrier for the 3rd break light. I am too options for the finish look. I am planning on running the wires as far as I can threw the tubing and then coming out with he shortest run as possible to the light. The only questions is either finishing the wires in a high grade wire wrap, or getting some smaller pipe and fabricate and weld onto the bumper. I know that wire wrap is easier and would lend it self to the project getting finished faster, but piping would protect the wire better. My only concern is that the welding will heat the rugged tubing and crack the finish? I guess it a good think that we enjoy these types of problems. I just need a couple , to make up my mind.