I did it!

[AbsoluteRenegade]

I don't know if I'm the first or not. But I mounted some hella 500's to the far right and left of the cowel on my renegade. Looks like how the wrangler on this site recently mounted theirs on the apillar/cowel/windshield front type. Now mine looks like a wrangler from up front. Especially with the 05 renegade wrangler style hood. I'm thinking of a wrangler stock style bumper next, with possibly top mounted winch. Keep it nice and high out of the mud. With the lights though, I was a bit worried about the plastic cowel, but I used some 2 inch wide aluminum stock as a back plate, and a bed liner painted washer on the top. They dont budge at 75mph either. oh here are how they mount. I couldnt find the damn gromet, so ran the one wire though the door jam, you can barely see it. I used a piece of stock aluminum, 2 inch by 8 inch underneath the cowel as a backer, on the top i used a rubber washer from a toilet bowl type thing, and a galvanized washer that i bed lined used the lock washer and nut that came with the lights. Took maybe an hour max. (UPDATE-pics are up, driver side isnt crooked, but the hella sticker is, no way of fixing it, so I think I'll get it off somehow)

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[AZKJ]

Way to go!!! How did you mount them? On my TJ it was pretty straight forward with a bracket that used the existing holes in the A-pillar. We're waitng for your pictures....

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[JeepJeepster]

Pics or it didnt happen.

 

[csukoh78]

Pics or it didnt happen.

Ditto

 

[libertyman]

Looks good man, dam they must be bright, nice clean install too

 

[AZKJ]

Thanks for the pictures. Two things that concern me, unless your lights are just for looks...

1. They are mounted too close to the body so I don't think you're going to get a good light beam on the road/trail. You'll be lighting up your hood more than anything.

2. You mounted them to the plastic cowl. How sturdy is that? I would think you would get a lot of road vibration, especially off-road.

Keep us posted how they work out....

 

[AbsoluteRenegade]

Thanks for the pictures. Two things that concern me, unless your lights are just for looks...

1. They are mounted too close to the body so I don't think you're going to get a good light beam on the road/trail. You'll be lighting up your hood more than anything.

2. You mounted them to the plastic cowl. How sturdy is that? I would think you would get a lot of road vibration, especially off-road.

Keep us posted how they work out....

Well, to nip this in the bud, I actually did this on friday, so had all weekend to play! The cowel mount works great, the 8 inch piece of 2 inch wide aluminum stock sturied it right up. I initially thought that i would have to secure the cowel better but nope, first test weekend went great. They dont vibrate off road (I bounced 'em around alot) I also drove 2 hours at 75mph on the highway, and after the initial adjustment, didnt stray off center after the whole weekend. Secondly, thought about the glare, I'm not the first to do this, they make kits for the wrangler. Alot of people have those. It does light up the hood, but nothing that really effects my driving ability, its nice because it lights up further then my brights on. I thought about this before the actually buying of the lights. I went with "driving lights" as opposed to "fog lights". They work great!

heres the link from the idea i stole it from

http://www.lostkjs.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21480

 

[hyde]

How close does it stand when you open the hood?
And I think this install would not look good on regular KJ at all, but it looks great on rene.
Post a few pix from far away, can't really make anything out as far as how it looks in general.

Nice, clean install.
You can just adjust them outwards, you can see much more, when used like fogs.

 

[priell3]

I suspected you copied that off of me! Especially when I read about the toilet tank washers. They work great for the purpose though. Looks good. Let's see a night shot with them lit up. I got around to putting the loom on the wires this weekend.

 

[AbsoluteRenegade]

I suspected you copied that off of me! Especially when I read about the toilet tank washers. They work great for the purpose though. Looks good. Let's see a night shot with them lit up. I got around to putting the loom on the wires this weekend.

yup, I posted in your pic post in the forum if anyone has done it, I was hoping to be the first. I want the metal wire looms like the one shown on the red wrangler. I'm going to go take some night shots now....

 

[AbsoluteRenegade]

How close does it stand when you open the hood?
And I think this install would not look good on regular KJ at all, but it looks great on rene.
Post a few pix from far away, can't really make anything out as far as how it looks in general.

Nice, clean install.
You can just adjust them outwards, you can see much more, when used like fogs.

I checked for hood clearance before measuring, its alot, I posted a night pick since I forgot a day one, its a good 6 inches-ish from the middle

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[hyde]

Yeah, that last picture! Very nice.
Dirty Hood!

 

[AbsoluteRenegade]

Yeah, that last picture! Very nice.
Dirty Hood!

ya, dusty dirt roads and a lazy sunday means we'll wash it tomorrow.....ish

 

[Marlon_JB2]

That looks GREAT!!! I never thought of that before and I'm pretty sure you're the first to do that! Good job!

 

[priell3]

Looks good lit up.

 

[MoladoGuy]

Wow sweet. You will have a lot of followers now. Who's next!

You can put the smiley Jeep face covers on them to when not in use!

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Looks Good and nice job!
If the lights illuminate the hood to much, you may consider just elevating them so that you can light up the area right in front of your KJ.
Just a thought.

ry'

 

[csukoh78]

Looks good.

The only thing I would do however is get rid of the stock fogs and replace them with Hella 500's just like up top so they match. The hellas are clear, and have flat glass, where as the stockers are fogged and have that serrated look to the glass. I think it would look much better if they match

my $0.02

 

[hyde]

I like Black Magic hella's they cost $$$ but they look very nice.

 

[AZKJ]

Glad they worked out for you. And yeah, I know they mount them on TJ's. That's my Jeep in the post above with them mounted like that, but they sit higher up and no glare because I have them pointed off to the side and the ones on my bumber are straight ahead for wider coverage. I just thought being so close to the hood you'd get glare.

x2 on the stock fogs....