Have been busy with other stuff lately but figured I’d share with y’all what I did to the YJ today and what I’ve been working on the past few days. I’ve done so much work by now that I’m really tired of working in the dark! I got this idea from mrblaine on the TJ forums. It utilizes a KC Cyclone kit which are 600 lumen lights each.
I haven’t ran the wiring yet but I will pull power from the dangling factory hood light power wire. The ground I will run to a spring loaded pin switch that bolts onto the grille. The hood closing pushes the pin and disables the ground path which shuts them off. They come on automatically opening the hood.
I found a metal store locally so I was able to buy some aluminum channel and angle. The place is technically a shop too so they cut everything to what I wanted.
the assembly was pretty easy, just take the 4” channel, drill the ends, remove the pivots from the camera clamps and bolt them to ends of the channel. Drill the pieces of angle on both sides to bolt to pivot and to bolt the KC light on. Tighten everything how you want it aimed and it’s good to go. Bolt to hood with your preferred method. I have not done this yet. I probably will use nutserts.
the wiring will be nothing special, I will just tie power to existing hood power and run the ground to the hood switch. The KC kit comes with a flip switch but I don’t want to be messing around with feeling for a switch in the dark plus there is no good looking place to mount that switch under the hood. I’m better off letting the lights function automatically.
I think I’m all in at about $150 total. They are absolutely crazy bright for the hood and make you able to see anything! It was easy to do this especially being able to buy metal as I needed it so I didn’t have to do any special work besides drilling holes which is cake in aluminum. I can definitely do maintenance work in the dark now. Oil, spark plugs, changing basic parts, etc. Anyways, hope y’all like it. I’ll post more pics and maybe a video once I’m done.
Parts I used:
KC Cyclone kit + diffused lenses (they have amber, clear, red, blue, green)
4” x 1” x 0.150” thick aluminum channel (from metal store) - cut into 1” wide pieces by the store
1.25” x 1.25” x 0.125” thick aluminum angle - for the lights to bolt to
Pivots from a camera tripod clamp kit
Light Pivots
Hood Pin Ground Switch
Hood switch
A of 1/4-20 bolts, nuts and lock washers
some pics:
I haven’t ran the wiring yet but I will pull power from the dangling factory hood light power wire. The ground I will run to a spring loaded pin switch that bolts onto the grille. The hood closing pushes the pin and disables the ground path which shuts them off. They come on automatically opening the hood.
I found a metal store locally so I was able to buy some aluminum channel and angle. The place is technically a shop too so they cut everything to what I wanted.
the assembly was pretty easy, just take the 4” channel, drill the ends, remove the pivots from the camera clamps and bolt them to ends of the channel. Drill the pieces of angle on both sides to bolt to pivot and to bolt the KC light on. Tighten everything how you want it aimed and it’s good to go. Bolt to hood with your preferred method. I have not done this yet. I probably will use nutserts.
the wiring will be nothing special, I will just tie power to existing hood power and run the ground to the hood switch. The KC kit comes with a flip switch but I don’t want to be messing around with feeling for a switch in the dark plus there is no good looking place to mount that switch under the hood. I’m better off letting the lights function automatically.
I think I’m all in at about $150 total. They are absolutely crazy bright for the hood and make you able to see anything! It was easy to do this especially being able to buy metal as I needed it so I didn’t have to do any special work besides drilling holes which is cake in aluminum. I can definitely do maintenance work in the dark now. Oil, spark plugs, changing basic parts, etc. Anyways, hope y’all like it. I’ll post more pics and maybe a video once I’m done.
Parts I used:
KC Cyclone kit + diffused lenses (they have amber, clear, red, blue, green)
4” x 1” x 0.150” thick aluminum channel (from metal store) - cut into 1” wide pieces by the store
1.25” x 1.25” x 0.125” thick aluminum angle - for the lights to bolt to
Pivots from a camera tripod clamp kit
Light Pivots
Hood Pin Ground Switch
Hood switch
A of 1/4-20 bolts, nuts and lock washers
some pics: