Sweetwater
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2012
- Location
- The Great State of Mecklenburg
I originally bought a set of Rigid Industries "Dually" spot pattern LEDs ($189 for a set) for one of my dual sport motorbikes. The longer I waited to install, the more fitting these looked for my 2000 XJ. This set is the 3x3" size and they are square- to match XJs?
So, after chasing gremlims around the TJ all day, I decided to take a break and mount these on the XJ. I opted for under-the-bumper and commenced to drilling. Easy so far, and moved to passing wires through the firewall.
OK, not as easy as a motorbike, and had to break out the exact-o knife to make things really clean. The supplied harness favors the middle of the firewall on my XJ and I used the main thruhole right behind the valve cover as my attack point (after trying driver's side, which took up too much length to reach the switch location!). Removed the lower dash and managed to mount the switch where a factory sunroof switch would go- nice, very nice!
On to plugging in the lights...um, you plug them in, that's it. To make the job clean I worked the supplied wire harness into factory conduit and added a few zip ties. Attaching terminals to battery- easy. Final step, aim lights.
I set the lamps below horizontal and went for a night drive. Ended up with something near level and the results are excellent. As a reference, my Hella headlamps disappear in the Rigid Industries LED beam. I wish I'd done this a long time ago. So many trips into the hills p***ing and moaning about the XJ headlamps, and now I can see.
So, here's the summary: supplied wiring harness favors middle of firewall and could still stand 6 more inches on light terminal end (no biggie, it works and it is nice harness, one side a tad short, the other a tad long). Switch requires 0.75" hole and a little recess for built in "spin eliminator" (exact-o knife req'd). Beam throw and raw illumination is very, very good. Highly recommended.
For reference, the TJ has 4 KC HiLights and they are good, but these are somehow much better. Additional reference, my handheld torches, 40,000 candela/200 lumen, have seen a lot of action and they cast a good beam...Rigid Industries delivers way above par in this application.
YMMV, but I recommend this product.
So, after chasing gremlims around the TJ all day, I decided to take a break and mount these on the XJ. I opted for under-the-bumper and commenced to drilling. Easy so far, and moved to passing wires through the firewall.
OK, not as easy as a motorbike, and had to break out the exact-o knife to make things really clean. The supplied harness favors the middle of the firewall on my XJ and I used the main thruhole right behind the valve cover as my attack point (after trying driver's side, which took up too much length to reach the switch location!). Removed the lower dash and managed to mount the switch where a factory sunroof switch would go- nice, very nice!
On to plugging in the lights...um, you plug them in, that's it. To make the job clean I worked the supplied wire harness into factory conduit and added a few zip ties. Attaching terminals to battery- easy. Final step, aim lights.
I set the lamps below horizontal and went for a night drive. Ended up with something near level and the results are excellent. As a reference, my Hella headlamps disappear in the Rigid Industries LED beam. I wish I'd done this a long time ago. So many trips into the hills p***ing and moaning about the XJ headlamps, and now I can see.
So, here's the summary: supplied wiring harness favors middle of firewall and could still stand 6 more inches on light terminal end (no biggie, it works and it is nice harness, one side a tad short, the other a tad long). Switch requires 0.75" hole and a little recess for built in "spin eliminator" (exact-o knife req'd). Beam throw and raw illumination is very, very good. Highly recommended.
For reference, the TJ has 4 KC HiLights and they are good, but these are somehow much better. Additional reference, my handheld torches, 40,000 candela/200 lumen, have seen a lot of action and they cast a good beam...Rigid Industries delivers way above par in this application.
YMMV, but I recommend this product.