Since it seems like I'll be taking my Dodge down to school with me, I am gonna start putting money into it for better off road fun. I am looking at CARR light bars (one that mounts to the cab of the truck), and ProComp off road lights, and am just curious on a few things.

If anybody has a light bar, how did you run the wiring? Did you simply run it through a hole in the roof, or is there some secret?

Also, asking some friends of mine, they say that you need one relay for a pair of lights. I want to run 4 on the light bar, and two on the front of the truck, as well as a pair of driving lights to use as fog lamps. So would that mean that I would need 4 relays? Or can I get by with running more then two lights on a relay?

Also, tow hooks. Anybody have some mounted on their truck? If so, how, and where?

The last question I've got has to do with caps/canopys/toppers/whatever you call them. I found one locally that doesn't match my truck, but is pretty cheap. It's the flush type, so it doesn't stick up, but it still looks good. Only problem is it is light blue. Has anybody ever had a cap painted, and how much did you pay? The guy wants $500 for the cap, but I figured I would offer $400, and use the $100 to have it painted, and some extra if I need to.

I also want to mount a basket on the top for carrying a spare tire, gas can, cooler, whatever, while I keep the bed free for camping, as I plan on building the bed up so nobody has to lay directly on the ridges.

I actually have a ton more questions, but this'll do for now. Thanks in advance, and Happy Holidays!

 

For 4 pairs of lights you'll need 4 relays. Consider a larger alternator also. You're going to be pulling 60 amps with 8 100 watt lights, and 37 amps with 55 watt lights. Just go HID. I can guarantee that one of my HID lights will put out more light than 4 of your ProComps. Easily. (My old truck had ProComp Pencil Beams) And they use FAR less power.

Here's my setup:



No lightbar required. I put them behind my bumper and behind my grille. That way I wont have to use light covers, and maintain the stock body line. The lights are hella 500/550's with HID kits put into them.

I have 4 HID Driving lights, and 2 HID headlights on my truck. Which puts me at at LEST 25000 lumens. (My light meter maxes out at 25k) Stock, the truck puts off about 2900. In the desert, I have more light in front of me then most Prerunners do.

If you have any questions let me know.

 

I want a light bar, though, for the looks. I like the looks of them.

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the HID setup for those Hellas? How about your head lamps too? I've been mulling over the idea, but I know for the Rangers, an HID conversion kit is like, $125.

 

LOL, an HID kit is an HID kit. They are all made in china.

I have a high low kit in my headlights but those run for about $120 now. The HID kits I used in my hella's were $40 and $75 respectively.

 

I had 3 KC lights mounted on my roll bar on my 85 Ram, I had one relay for that and then I had 2 KC lights in the front on my bull bar and had a separate relay for them.
But if you plan on running that many lights I start thinking of a bigger alternator.

 

where do you get HIDs

 

The interwebs....


Egay, DDMTuning, ****, there are lots of places.

 

+1 to the relays and alternator. My experience with roof racks is that if there's a low branch somewhere on the trail, the rack will drive the truck through it. Or is it the tree walking over and wacking the rack. Either way, a roof rack is not it's cracked up to be(no pun intended).
At the same time, its always best to descover that yourself. Have fun!

 

Honestly, I'd mount the lights at bumper height, and here's why.

My buddy has a Ranger Pre-Runner. Very similar to Camburg's Ranger. He has 4 roof mounted and 2 bumper mounted HID's. He said about 80% of the time he can't see what the roof lights are illuminating, because the light gets aimed up into the sky with bumps. While at the same time, his bumper lights don't stray far from the road because they are mounted far lower.

In short, lights mounted at grille height seem to be a very ideal place.

 

+2 on the relays...I have 2 sets of 150 Watt off-road lights I need to install still, thank God I didn't install it prior to my bumper crash! Each set requires a relay, I think mine are 50 amps each then another 30 amp for my backup lights...55 watts. Oh I might just put the 120 watts in the back..overkill I know!

As for the canopy...depends what color your truck is?!? Mine is silver and my canopy is dark gray. I think it looks good but to each their own taste! I had a dark purple one time and that looked good to me also. Go to the link below to see the canopy, WARNING: large image as I am just too lazy to shrink!

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...7/7cc80f59.jpg