More pretty lights.

[Oscarvan]

Today I put the rooftop lights on..... You HAVE to get close and personal. You can not do this standing on a wheel. Those with the sunroof are home free. If you don't have one, rent or borrow scaffolding or ladders and boards or something. Me, I found another use for my four poster....:D



The installation of the Recon lights is pretty straight forward.

Remove the glass lens in the center overhead panel, remove two torx screws, then there are two snaps in the front of the panel. Disconnect the plug and put aside. I could have stopped here! The wires went straight to the center when I pushed them through the holes. But, the rest of the removal allowed me to pull down the ceiling enough to see what was going on in there.....see below.

Remove visors. I left the visor clamps. Remove the little trim hatch on the DS A-pillar and the hex screw in there and pull the trim out of the rubber. There is one snap lower down. Then just leave it stand at an angle. It's far enough out of the way, no need to disconnect the tweeter and remove it. Same on the other side....visor and the "Oscar dammit!" handle, and the trim piece behind it.

Now the tricky part. There is an "athwartship" reinforcement channel and one each side above the doors running fore and aft. You don't want to end up in these with your wire where you can't get to them! So I spotted (hence the need to see above the ceiling) and came up with the following:

Five inches, give or take 1/8, in from the top of the glass and in from the inside of the door rubber for the outside lights, and 6 inches up from the top of the glass and centered for the center piece.

I removed the standard plug from the lights and soldered speaker wire to the outside ones. (Speaker wire is marked +/- with a black stripe which helps keeps the plusses with the plusses and the minuses with the minuses as LED fixtures are polarity sensitive!)

I used copious silicone around screw holes and the plastic grommets (small dust caps out of the miscellaneous bin) that I used for the wires.

Then I brought them all together in the center and tapped into the red/black that go to the reading lights. The whole show is less than 1 amp, no need to get a heavy feed....gotta LOVE LED's! The switch that came with the lights fits PERFECTLY in the overhead panel. When you look at the inside you'll see EXACTLY where to cut the hole....



Put it all back together and voila......



Tonight I'll take the "dusk shot"

I'm very happy with these lights!!!!!

[Crawdaddy]

Do you have any before shots? Looks cool, though I don't quite know what I'm looking for either.

[TRPLXL2]

Out of all the lights I have had on trucks, these are by far my favorites to see on HD trucks. I have always wanted to put a set on my trucks, but I have always been scared off about the drilling in the roof part. The wiring and switches are easy, but it just makes me paranoid to drill into that thin sheet metal in the roof. Although I do have a sunroof to make it easier, and we also have a car lift so that was a good idea on your part. Great looking mod for sure!

[Oscarvan]

[CarpenterGuy]

that looks amazing. i love the look of them on HD trucks. i've seen a couple quarter ton trucks witht them and it just looks stupid. now, i got a question. i love the look of the lights, but do they actually serve a purpose? i know they cant be "just for looks" on dump trucks.

[Oscarvan]

i love the look of the lights, but do they actually serve a purpose? i know they cant be "just for looks" on dump trucks.

Well, trailers over 80" have the requirement to have three reds in the center on the back, and an amber on the side....I am not aware of any requirement for the pulling vehicle, although there could be. As far as I know it's, yup, just "for pretty".

[bvogts25]

nice looking lights!! i agree with everyone else, they look good on the HD trucks

[s5belford]

that looks great! I love the lights up top on those big trucks, I also like the lights on your topper! Nice work!

[seffieldvillage@aol.com]

hi like everyone said they look good on an hd. wouldnt look good on my baby truck.i put a light bar on the roof. 400 watts of light. they look good on your truck. i like them ralph