XterraRising
Bumpers Installed
- Location
- Utah
The only thing I did was use an aluminum backing plate to add support since the body support there isn’t wide enough.
I put a 20 inch bar in the same place and since I seem to get pelted with gravel and everything else on the road I found these cover's that I keep on unless offroading at nite . You get 2- 6" and 1-8" cover with this set . Thought it might helpMade some progress you can see today. The paint is still drying on the support brackets, but the lights are installed in their final location. I used a 27.5”x1.5” piece of aluminum stock to make a support for the lights to mount up inside the opening between the bumper and the grill.
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View attachment 16993
I need to get a couple of longer bolts for the support, so I’ll plug away on it tomorrow after work. But I couldn’t miss an opportunity to get it out into the sun and see how it will look when it is finished.
I’m still waiting in a fuse block that I ordered and need to get some wiring odds and ends. Might save the wiring until next weekend since it is supposed to rain, and I can’t do much outside anyway.
Slowly but surely.
It helps to open your eyes too.Those are a good idea. Might go for them, depending on how often I use these. They are driving lights, more or less. I don’t know what it is about Utah at night, but these roads are so dark, even with street lights. Or maybe it’s a side affect from LASIK all those years ago. But I practically need an arsenal of light when driving around at night.
Which ones did you get? Why those and not the Morimoto direct swap fog lights?Okay, I get to blame my wife. We were parked in front of a window of a restaurant and I turned on the lights to show the kids the flashing strobe function, which they liked. But I switched to the amber fog function to see how they are for driving around town. Nobody flashed me. Guess that’s a plus. But my wife said to me, “awww, they are not the same color as the regular fog lights.”
So I bought some new ones in the 6000K range to match the headlights. These are a bit nicer than the yellow ones I installed a few weeks back.
These ones have the voltage conditioner to prevent flicker and check engine lights.
The LED chips are mounted to a board only 1mm thick, which is closer in lighting to a filament than the thicker one next to it.
The new ones also have a cooling fan built in, much like my LED headlights.
I checked it all out in the garage. Looks better with the super white fog lights. It also looks good with the amber driving lights. I’ll have to take a short cruise tonight when it gets dark and see how they work.
Looks like a blast, I love those slot canyons!Not much of an adventure pic, I know. We decided to be parkies this weekend and do some hiking at the Snow Canyon State Park in southern UT. The scenery was beautiful. I’m always blown away at the sheer beauty of this part of the word. Even though I’ve lived in UT for almost a decade now, I still get that first time feeling when I go see what else Mother Earth has in store for me when I visit.
Since it was our wedding anniversary on Saturday, we spent most the day doing all the things. Honestly, it felt like we were making up for our last one too since 2020 sort of got rained out over this pandemic you may have heard of.
All in all, I needed to get some miles on the rig. Most of the driving we do with it, which isn’t much for daily stuff, has been short jaunts. With summer coming, I want to knock the cobwebs out and take care of a couple little things before we start up camping and such.
And since we are traveling, I packed the most important item:
Yes! I did the same thing, the engine looked naked without it.It wasn’t an option for 2015. So I bought the hardware and the cover and made it an option.
Okay, well, the driver side isn’t quite done yet. The family wanted me to come inside to have dinner and watch movies. I’ll finish it up tomorrow. But it’s all done up top, passenger side courtesy light is in, and the wires have been run over to the driver side.
I decided to make it so the lights only come on with the doors open. The function of the push button would require a little more voodoo than I really wanted to get into, given the fact that the only parts I actually bought were the lights. Everything else was leftovers from other electrical projects. I put one light on the passenger side, and while the camera certainly doesn’t do it justice, it is bright enough to be welcoming, but not so bright that it is overpowering. It certainly adds a bit of dimension though, and that was the desired effect.
Testing before final wiring:
Mounting the light to the top of the kick panel.
Tucked up out of the way. I can’t see the light itself; just the glow.
Just enough light.
One last shot from in front of the seat.
All in all, a fun little project. Only took a couple hours to get everything out together once I decided on a process.
Nice job! Have you thought about running an extension cord to the back and putting in a recessed receptacle?
Nice!Well, I gave a lot of consideration as to where to put the remote and outlet on this sucker. At first, it made total sense to put it out back, but the more I thought about it, the more I hated it. So I let it set for awhile to give more thought to it. Besides, I’m still waiting for more stuff to come in to tie this thing together. So I’ve been nibbling at it as I get an hour here and there. Gosh! I’ve been so damn busy the last couple months.
So I figured I’d put the remote switch and outlet on the passenger side of the center console. It makes the most sense to me. Shorter wire run, easy access, and the ability to use it while the cargo area is jammed with camping gear.
A bit farther out.
From the inside. No interference with the shifter or wiring. Fitting them was a pain, but it’s in now.
Hopefully, I get the last bits of hardware and clips I need to get the cables run under the body and make the angry pixies flow.
This is what I love about turning wrenches. The rest of the world just fades away.Gets me out in the garage with my music, and allows my mind to slow down and not worry about anything except doing the work at hand.