My roof rack offroad light install

[RamAirZ]

Well, I got the lights mounted almost a week ago but didn't get around to wiring them up between the kids and the oh so hot weather lol. Finished everything up today and decided to take some pics and do a little write-up.

I purchased 4 long-range 100 watt off-road lights from harbor freight to mount on my roof rack. I went with these because I tried them out on my 97' Rodeo before and was very pleased with the quality and brightness for the price (spent less than $50 for all 4). Plus I like the hard black plastic housing with light guards too. I mounted them using 4 CB antenna mounts bolted to the roof rack:





I ran the main power wires for the lights to the underhood fuse box, since the wiring included with the kit had inline fuses etc, I used the main power supply stud on the fuse block to connect the wires to:



I ran the wiring down through the grommet on the passenger side firewall, down under the footwell portion of the carpeting, up behind the center portion of the dash and up inside the lower steering column section and up to the far drivers side portion where my new switch panel is mounted. I took some pics of just the wiring and then went back over everything with wire loom:











(as you can see, the fuse holders are tucked behind the center area here, I left them somewhat exposed for the pic and tucked them back when finished, I can easily reach in and access them for fuse checks)




Now this little "grabber" tool is awesome, I have 2 of these, just route it where I want the wires to go, and grab the wires and pull them through (a coat hanger and tape works too but this works awesome, and I had the tool so I use it lol)






I used the dash mounting stud here for my ground for the switches, I added a washer so the ring terminal is contacted by metal on both sides when tightened down:


Here is the new Rodeo switch panel (thanks Bart!). The first 2 switches (left to right) are for the 4 lights up top (one per pair, I'm thinking about rewiring everything to one switch but It's nice to have a choice of not using all of them) and the far right switch will either be for a pair of rear lights I'm thinking of adding or something else I'm sure I can use it for eventually lol. I had it so I used it to fill in the panel.





I ran the roof wiring down through the door channel, using some excess weatherstripping to shield it from the door, and tucked it inside the interior panels, everything is down through the panels and under the carpet up to the dash. I used the lower seat belt mounting bolt to run 2 larger gauge ground wires up to the top so I could have a good ground at the lights, one wire per pair of lights:

[RamAirZ]

Here is the finished install on the switches and lights:












K, so decided to pull along the side of the house to take some pics of the lights at nightfall on my fence. Here are some daytime pics for distance reference (measured it out, it's about 50ft to the front portion of the fence fro where the lights are, and with the fence opened it's about 92ft to the rear portion of the fence)









Here are the night pics:

Just headlights:


Just roof lights:








Headlights and roof lights:




With the gate opened:


Headlights on with gate opened:


Just for reference, I took this pic with all lights off (I have not a single piece of externally lighting on the house for these pics, and the street light is out so it's REALLY dark)


I parked in front of my neighbors house with the truck pointing towards the end of my street, it's gotta be at least 30 yards

[RamAirZ]

after all was said and done I wouldn't hesitate to buy these lights again, 2nd time I've purchased them and same happy smile on my face. Flah was turned off for all night pics BTW

[RamAirZ]

went down the road a minute ago for a better pic. This dirt road is pretty wide and long (haha). I can park across it and there would still be room for a truck to get by.

Just headlights:


Just rooflights, headlights off:

[crotchrocket]

WOW that looks great, your VX is fast becoming my favourite on this site!!!!!!

I wish i could put a similar roof rack and light setup on mine but i park in an underground carpark every day with a 205cm hieght limit

[yellowgizmo99]

did the lights come with covers also, think in my state you have to have covers if it is so far above your headlights. looks good and like the switch set up, what year was it from?

[ZEUS]

Dejavoodoo

[RamAirZ]

Thanks guys, and shut up Zeus! The switch panel is from a 95.5-97 Isuzu Rodeo, it normally has factory switches in it but I took them out and put the offroad light switches. The only covers are the black guards on them. We don't have state inspections here and I never had a problem with these when I lived in Cali so I think I should be good. And Crotchrocket, my buddy has the same problem, he wants to run a roof rack but they park in a low hanging garage so they can't fit. Your truck still looks awesome though!

[VX1032]

Looks good man. Just make sure you seal that boot up in the firewall. I forgot after I installed my fog lights and I had water coming in after rain storms. I finally sealed it with silicone and I am dry as a bone.

[RamAirZ]

Thanks Ryan! Ya I checked the water issue already, so far no water! Used my high pressure nozzle in all corners of the windshield, hood etc.

[Bulldoggie]

Instead of the wires going through the door seal, could they come under the headliner and drill through the front fang of the roof rail on the inboard side? Just forward of the crossbar mounts. It seams like an ideal wire location for roof lights. I saw where someone brought wires through the roof a similar way, but through the rear spoiler.
I'm to lazy to try, but I'd like to.

BTW, I like the lights and the rack

[RamAirZ]

Thanks! I thought about that but I didn't want to drill through my roof, I wanted to make them easily removable if I ever wanted to get rid of them, the rack or the whole truck at some point and not leave any holes. I saw the same thread with the spoiler setup and I think someone even did the roof rail drilling on here too. If they hadn't fit the way they did I would have ended up drilling but it worked out nice this way for me. No leaks either. Also I'm not sure how much space the sunroof stuff takes up under the headliner and the edges of it are pretty close to the roof rails.

[IRONVIKING]

Great write up, and it looks friggen Awesome!
It will make it a lot easier when I do mine, thanks for
posting all the pics with it.

[RamAirZ]

no problem and thanks!

[Grif]

Nice work Ram! And from your posts it sounds like you did it on the cheap too!

I'm considering a similar setup but need a basket for my stock yakima rack.