Installing Roof-Mounted Lights
Need some extra lighting for those night runs? Here's how, along with hiding the wiring.
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| Grommet located on firewall | Mounting the relay |
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| Switch installed in dashboard | Connection to the battery |
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| Installed and lit up! | |
Tools/Supplies needed:
- Torx driver for roof rack
- Wire ties
- Rubber Grommets (assortment pack found at Radio Shack)
- 20' 16/3 three-wire rubber cord (like an extension cord in black)
- Assorted drill bits (drill would be good to!)
- Butt connectors (blue ones)
- Patience (set aside a whole day, you don't want to rush this)
- Electrical tape
- Spray paint (optional)
Installing the Lights
- Removing roof rack
Start by taking off the front wind deflector. Next take out all the torx screws holding the roof rack in place. Find a friend to help you remove the rack. - Install all of your equipment
This is a good time to install your lights; I put the Load warrior rack on with the light mounting brackets. - Wiring the rack
Don't worry about the truck for now, just concentrate on the rack. After installing the lights, flip the rack over and remove the plastic foot on the front of the rack, drivers' side. Next locate a good spot where you want your cable to come out of the tube to go to your lights. Find the rubber grommet that best fits your cable and use that to find the desired drill bit. Drill your hole. Option: Take some spray paint and a Q-tip and hit the bare metal in the hole you drilled. Feed the entire length of cable thru the hole you drilled and pull it out the front hole in the end of the tube. Leave about two feet sticking out the hole and install the rubber grommet. On your wiring harness that came with the lights, find the relay and the part that connects to your lights, cut the wire between them, leaving enough at each end to reconnect it. You are going to use the cable you ran to patch these two ends back together. Connect the cut wiring harness (one with the light connectors) to your lights and wire the cut end to the cable you ran. Take your time, it will look better in the end. Tape up all connections with Black electrical tape and wire tie all loose cables. Note: If your harness wires are different colors, remember which color wire you hooked them to in the cable. - Drilling holes
Now the fun part. If you look at where the rack was mounted, you will see a dirt ring around where the rack foot was, DON'T CLEAN IF OFF YET!, using the dirt ring as your guide find a good location for the hole your going to drill. Remove the plastic cover on the drivers' side of the windshield, and the sun visor. Gently pull down the headliner in the corner; you don't want to drill thru it. Note: The rear window washer tube runs thru this area, take care to avoid drilling thru it unless you want a big blue stain on your headliner! Find the plastic foot you took off and remove the rubber pad on the underside. Drill a large hole in the middle of the plastic foot, next to where the screw is located. Feed the cable thru this and reinstall foot onto rack. Take the rubber pad and place it on the roof, drill find a good spot for the hole and drill a large hole in the rubber only. Put it back on the truck and mark your hole location. Note: In the rain gutter is definitely not a place you want a hole!!!!! Use the same drill bit you used on your rack and drill the hole in your truck. Take a break and wipe away the tears....Now you can clean the dirt rings off. - Re-mounting the rack
Put the rubber pad back on the plastic foot, making sure the hole you drilled in it is big enough to fit around the grommet your going to use. Slide the grommet on the cable about six inches away from where the cable comes out. Find your friend and place the rack back on the vehicle close to where it came off. Feed the cable thru the hole in your roof and install the grommet, carefully feed the rest of the cable thru the grommet until your roof rack is back in place. Replace all screws and tighten. Reinstall the wind deflector. - Getting the cable into the engine compartment
Feed the cable down the side of your windshield, next to the washer tube that runs in there, and pull it out under your dash. Push the headliner back into place, reinstall A-pillar cover and visor. Under the dash you'll find a big rubber grommet that your wiring harness uses to penetrate the firewall. Take a coat hanger, bend into a straight wire, and from under the hood find the grommet and use the coat hanger to pierce thru the rubber next to the existing cable. Under dash use plenty of tape and connect the end of the cable to the hanger. Push the hanger back thru the hole, try not to pull on it from under hood this will cause the cable to slide off the hanger, until you see the cable in the engine compartment. Pull out about six feet. Find your switch wires on the light wiring harness, use the cable you ran to get these wires into the cab. Now pull out all slack in cable and tie wrap any excess under the dash. - Under the hood
Find a good place to mount the relay, I put mine on the passenger side in the back next to the AC condenser. You can mount it any where, as long as the battery leads reach the battery. Mount the relay, run the cable to your location. Be sure your wires are away from all moving parts. Find the wires you cut from the relay and connect them to the cable using butt connectors. Connect all wires except the one that hooks to the positive side of the battery. - Installing the switch
Locate the wires for your switch under dash. Find a good location to mount the switch; I used the empty blank next to the security LED. Cut your hole and mount the switch. You should have two wires coming from the relay; one is your ground the other is to the relay. If your using a three prong switch (or a lighted switch) your going to need a piece of wire that is long enough to hook into the fuse box. To hook this wire to the fuse box get a fork shaped terminal end, cut one of the prongs off, and carefully insert it on the left side of any open fuse location.Connect the last wire to the Positive battery terminal and check to see if lights work... Tie wrap all loose wires.
