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Jeep Wrangler YJ
YJ Build Threads & Member's Rides
My '94 Hunter Green “No Compromises" Build
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<blockquote data-quote="machoheadgames" data-source="post: 428084" data-attributes="member: 18789"><p>Jumping back into 2018 (following the headlight post), I kept the mods light as I had no job in school for the first half of that year. In May, I got a part time internship and the mods fired back up. I had always seriously wanted the Savvy LED tail lights, and also originally wanted the OR-FAB tire carrier. When the OR-FAB was discontinued in 2016, my long term plan was ruined. instead, I settled for the Bestop HighRock body mounted tire carrier. Part of the choice for Bestop was that I was not a fan of the relatively economical bumper mounted tire carriers. They never seemed to operate very smoothly. I also liked how the Bestop keeps the third brake light, which Texas began strictly enforcing in 2017. I am an advocate for the 3rd BL anyways, but didn't like the options I had for one on the Smitty so I ran without it for a while. I was given a warning at my 2017 inspection though so i had to figure out before the next year. Hence, the Bestop carrier was chosen.</p><p></p><p>Anyways, I bought the Savvy tail lights first. I could have bought them years ago, part of why I didn't is because they require relocating the license plate on a YJ, and they have no provision for a license plate light. Since the license plate is a flip-down style covering the fuel filler, technically I could have just drilled two new holes and mounted it lower, but there is still the issue of having no light, which cops will give you grief over for sure in Texas. Since the plate is a flip down, there is no pretty way to add a light to the bracket and hide the wiring. instead, I opted to move the plate to the tire carrier. Not my absolute favorite solution, but it's a great solution to a problem in most cases. I used the Smittybilt bracket for this, which turned out to be very nice and worked perfectly actually.</p><p></p><p>Here is a picture of the lights and a video of the hazards. I used to have way more pics of this project, but now I have basically nothing sadly.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]116916[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Turn Signal...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]116921[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Hazards...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]116915[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>At first I tried the light bolts plate lights. They were pretty terrible, didn't light up the plate at all. I eventually got a plate light from Super Bright LEDs that seemed to be better. There are surprisingly few options for a good light that actually lights the plate, so at that point I was taking what I could get.</p><p></p><p>Here is the setup with lights on and brake lights on (without a third brake light yet of course):</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]116927[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Next up was the tire carrier. As I stated, I decided to go with the Bestop.</p><p></p><p>At this time I still had the Smittybilt bumper and tire carrier that was a few years old. I didn't have the money to buy another bumper and honestly hadn't made up my mind on the choice for one anyways, so I ground off the tire carrier post on the Smitty and left it in place. I installed the Bestop carrier in an afternoon. Overall, it seemed okay, not great. I had known a few Jeepers with these and all seemed to like them, so I figured it would be a good choice for me too. One of my close YJ owner friends really liked his a lot so I pulled the trigger. After I got it mounted and for some reason it never really worked right. I followed the instructions exactly, putting the drilled holes exactly where the instructions said to. I believe something was manufactured incorrectly with the tire carrier frame itself, possibly the leg was too short. It eventually bent my tub over time but I ran it anyways since I hadn’t figured out what the alternative would be (what other carrier to use, bumper to go with it, etc). At first I thought the issue was operator error but my YJ friend came to visit and we spent a few hours messing around with it. We could not get it any better than I had it.</p><p></p><p>I contacted Bestop customer service. At first they seemed helpful but after a few weeks of back and forth, I didn’t really get anywhere and they stopped replying. A few months later the tire carrier was fully discontinued. On the bright side, it did provide me a spot to mount a TJ third brake light and passed inspection as a result. Otherwise, I regret ever purchasing it and I really don't have a good attitude about Bestop either after dealing with customer service.</p><p></p><p>Here are some pics from that day:</p><p></p><p>With Smittybilt removed...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]116923[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Final setup, with Bestop carrier on, bright license plate light, and all the brake lights lit up. Hard to be dissatisfied with those lights.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]116925[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately I have no pics of the Savvy backup light portion but they were awesome too. The Savvy light install is a bit of a pain in the ass, but overall they are a nice piece.</p><p></p><p>In early 2019, I actually had to warranty out a Savvy lens. I was surprised, issues with them seem rare. I couldn't find hardly anyone on the forum who had ever had issues. Anyways, the exchange process sort of sucks. The girl I talked to told me my only option was to mail the lens to them (on my dime) and wait for a replacement. I requested new wiring connectors/terminals, received none. I moved after graduating college in December 2018, so I had a new address. I also mentioned that in the email and put the correct return address on the package....naturally, they shipped it to the original address I used to order from. I'm glad the Jeep was no longer a daily driver because that would have really sucked to have to buy other tail lights to use in the interim while waiting 3 weeks for a replacement lens and while waiting for it to arrive after going to incorrect address with no tracking. That whole experience also left a bad taste in my mouth, but I do like the product and would still buy them again if I needed them. The customer service certainly could have been better and they could have at least provided some more splices and listened to me when I gave them the updated address. To have to pay for the shipping on that adds salt to the wound.</p><p></p><p>The damage was from water entering into the brake portion through a crack in the seam between the backup light and the brake section. The weird part is the Jeep was rained on as it sat outside in December 2018. I moved it on a trailer and parked it in a garage at my apartment and found the leak in March 2019. So the water sat in there for 3 months and the light still worked fine. Then one random day, half the LEDs in that light went out, and then an hour later the rest were all dead. Very odd experience.</p><p></p><p>Picture of the water in the lens:</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]116926[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Overall I liked this setup, but the experiences with both Bestop and Savvy customer service left lots to be desired, and the Bestop part really disappointed. The Savvy failure was a bummer but those are rare so i think I was just the unlucky one. The replacement worked fine and still does, and the original one that didn't go bad, still worked fine as well. I ended up removing the carrier for the ARB bumper/tire carrier, and the Savvy LEDs for the Quadratec LEDs, which I will detail out later.</p><p></p><p>Edit: Editing to add some more Pictures I found of the Savvy Lights on my YJ. These were taken in 2020 and the Bestop Carrier had been removed, as well as the Smittybilt bumper. They were removed in preparation for the ARB bumper and tire carrier.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]116968[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]116969[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]116967[/ATTACH]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="machoheadgames, post: 428084, member: 18789"] Jumping back into 2018 (following the headlight post), I kept the mods light as I had no job in school for the first half of that year. In May, I got a part time internship and the mods fired back up. I had always seriously wanted the Savvy LED tail lights, and also originally wanted the OR-FAB tire carrier. When the OR-FAB was discontinued in 2016, my long term plan was ruined. instead, I settled for the Bestop HighRock body mounted tire carrier. Part of the choice for Bestop was that I was not a fan of the relatively economical bumper mounted tire carriers. They never seemed to operate very smoothly. I also liked how the Bestop keeps the third brake light, which Texas began strictly enforcing in 2017. I am an advocate for the 3rd BL anyways, but didn't like the options I had for one on the Smitty so I ran without it for a while. I was given a warning at my 2017 inspection though so i had to figure out before the next year. Hence, the Bestop carrier was chosen. Anyways, I bought the Savvy tail lights first. I could have bought them years ago, part of why I didn't is because they require relocating the license plate on a YJ, and they have no provision for a license plate light. Since the license plate is a flip-down style covering the fuel filler, technically I could have just drilled two new holes and mounted it lower, but there is still the issue of having no light, which cops will give you grief over for sure in Texas. Since the plate is a flip down, there is no pretty way to add a light to the bracket and hide the wiring. instead, I opted to move the plate to the tire carrier. Not my absolute favorite solution, but it's a great solution to a problem in most cases. I used the Smittybilt bracket for this, which turned out to be very nice and worked perfectly actually. Here is a picture of the lights and a video of the hazards. I used to have way more pics of this project, but now I have basically nothing sadly. [ATTACH alt="IMG_0631.JPG"]116916[/ATTACH] Turn Signal... [ATTACH type="full"]116921[/ATTACH] Hazards... [ATTACH type="full"]116915[/ATTACH] At first I tried the light bolts plate lights. They were pretty terrible, didn't light up the plate at all. I eventually got a plate light from Super Bright LEDs that seemed to be better. There are surprisingly few options for a good light that actually lights the plate, so at that point I was taking what I could get. Here is the setup with lights on and brake lights on (without a third brake light yet of course): [ATTACH alt="IMG_1761.JPG"]116927[/ATTACH] Next up was the tire carrier. As I stated, I decided to go with the Bestop. At this time I still had the Smittybilt bumper and tire carrier that was a few years old. I didn't have the money to buy another bumper and honestly hadn't made up my mind on the choice for one anyways, so I ground off the tire carrier post on the Smitty and left it in place. I installed the Bestop carrier in an afternoon. Overall, it seemed okay, not great. I had known a few Jeepers with these and all seemed to like them, so I figured it would be a good choice for me too. One of my close YJ owner friends really liked his a lot so I pulled the trigger. After I got it mounted and for some reason it never really worked right. I followed the instructions exactly, putting the drilled holes exactly where the instructions said to. I believe something was manufactured incorrectly with the tire carrier frame itself, possibly the leg was too short. It eventually bent my tub over time but I ran it anyways since I hadn’t figured out what the alternative would be (what other carrier to use, bumper to go with it, etc). At first I thought the issue was operator error but my YJ friend came to visit and we spent a few hours messing around with it. We could not get it any better than I had it. I contacted Bestop customer service. At first they seemed helpful but after a few weeks of back and forth, I didn’t really get anywhere and they stopped replying. A few months later the tire carrier was fully discontinued. On the bright side, it did provide me a spot to mount a TJ third brake light and passed inspection as a result. Otherwise, I regret ever purchasing it and I really don't have a good attitude about Bestop either after dealing with customer service. Here are some pics from that day: With Smittybilt removed... [ATTACH alt="IMG_1762.JPG"]116923[/ATTACH] Final setup, with Bestop carrier on, bright license plate light, and all the brake lights lit up. Hard to be dissatisfied with those lights. [ATTACH alt="IMG_1763.JPG"]116925[/ATTACH] Unfortunately I have no pics of the Savvy backup light portion but they were awesome too. The Savvy light install is a bit of a pain in the ass, but overall they are a nice piece. In early 2019, I actually had to warranty out a Savvy lens. I was surprised, issues with them seem rare. I couldn't find hardly anyone on the forum who had ever had issues. Anyways, the exchange process sort of sucks. The girl I talked to told me my only option was to mail the lens to them (on my dime) and wait for a replacement. I requested new wiring connectors/terminals, received none. I moved after graduating college in December 2018, so I had a new address. I also mentioned that in the email and put the correct return address on the package....naturally, they shipped it to the original address I used to order from. I'm glad the Jeep was no longer a daily driver because that would have really sucked to have to buy other tail lights to use in the interim while waiting 3 weeks for a replacement lens and while waiting for it to arrive after going to incorrect address with no tracking. That whole experience also left a bad taste in my mouth, but I do like the product and would still buy them again if I needed them. The customer service certainly could have been better and they could have at least provided some more splices and listened to me when I gave them the updated address. To have to pay for the shipping on that adds salt to the wound. The damage was from water entering into the brake portion through a crack in the seam between the backup light and the brake section. The weird part is the Jeep was rained on as it sat outside in December 2018. I moved it on a trailer and parked it in a garage at my apartment and found the leak in March 2019. So the water sat in there for 3 months and the light still worked fine. Then one random day, half the LEDs in that light went out, and then an hour later the rest were all dead. Very odd experience. Picture of the water in the lens: [ATTACH alt="image1.jpeg"]116926[/ATTACH] Overall I liked this setup, but the experiences with both Bestop and Savvy customer service left lots to be desired, and the Bestop part really disappointed. The Savvy failure was a bummer but those are rare so i think I was just the unlucky one. The replacement worked fine and still does, and the original one that didn't go bad, still worked fine as well. I ended up removing the carrier for the ARB bumper/tire carrier, and the Savvy LEDs for the Quadratec LEDs, which I will detail out later. Edit: Editing to add some more Pictures I found of the Savvy Lights on my YJ. These were taken in 2020 and the Bestop Carrier had been removed, as well as the Smittybilt bumper. They were removed in preparation for the ARB bumper and tire carrier. [ATTACH]116968[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]116969[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]116967[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]
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My '94 Hunter Green “No Compromises" Build
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