Im going to be getting four off road lights for my xj. i was thinking of drilling holes into the front roof rack and mounting them in, and zip tieing the wires to the rack. getting to the chase, how should i run the wires into the cab to the switch? and would that rack be a good ground?

 

Down the A pillar. Run your own ground wire from the chassis to the lights.

 

I've actually thought of installing a light bar up top, but I'm not sure how I would hide and protect all the wires going down into the cab. I'd rather not have a leaky roof or wires going down the outside of the A pillar. Not to mention losing nuts and bolts in the body cavity, cuz I would never get that back out.

 

As a matter of fact, how do they do cop cars? Just punch a hole in the roof & use a grommet?

 

I attached my lights to the crossbars on the top of my jeep and put the wires into a plastic tubing from autozone, then zip tied that to the underside of the crossbar. I also drilled holes in my roof to run the wires through. They go from my roof, over my headliner, down the column where the drivers seatbelt is and behind the plastic, underneath my carpet to the switches in my center console

 

ok so best bet would be is to run all the power/ground wires through a hole in the roof, run them all under the head liner, through the plastic seat belt piller, and power to my switches and ground to the chassis. follow up the hole in the roof with a rubber grommet and a lil silicone to seal up the hole?

 

i was thinking of running the switches to the right hand side if the dash on that little square thingy that dont do anything. going to have two marine switches there, one for the bumper fog lights and one for the luggage rack fog lighs

 

i put two lights on top of my hood and regardless of what everyone cant stop telling me its worked great (with very minute glare at night!) I get great light and my wires went right in where they hooked up. i secured the wires and sealed holes with a lil silicone and viola! instant daylight. whatever suits your style, man.

 

ok thanks guys i know what im gonna do now. im going to set up the lights extend all my wires with shrink tubing, tape them all together as a harness and slide them all in that plastic tubing. pull them fairly tight and zip tie them to the crossbar. pull the head liner out drill a hole through the driver side roof in line of the seatbelt pillar. run them through the piller to the floor get my grounds together and ground them all to the chassis. and all my power is running to the dash.

 

Sounds good! Pics would be nice when you do it. It'll help me get some ideas for future use.

 

you dont have to drill!!!
I just installed 4 KC's on my rack. i ran 4 wires (1 pair of lights) from the rack tucked inside the windshield molding down to there the front fenders and the wiper cowl meet. remove 6 t27 bolts holding the fender on, (3 inside the door jam, 4 under the hood). this will give you enough wiggle room to route the wires and relays under the hood.

to keep the wires in place i used 3M urethane windshield sealant, inside the windshield molding flap.

if you do this i want to offer a tip. get some vasoline and smear if on the paint close to where you plan to use the urethane. if you do you can simply clean up with a towel.

worked great for me and no holes in my roof!

 

No problems with that? Pictures?

 

ill post some pics tonight (truck is currently getting an alignment) , I only have about 10 miles on this install so i cant speak for the longevity of the method but i know the urethane well. I have used it in the past to bond fenders back together on another project. when i tried to remove what i bonded the metal literally tore before the urethane separated.

the only potential downside to this is if you ever have to replace your windshield the guy replacing it is going to charge you extra as it will take him some extra time with the razor knife.

 

Yeah, I wasn't sure what the urethane would do to it. It seems like a good idea though. The body isn't really affected. I'd rather have urethane than drill a hole. haha.

 

I know one person ran his wires to a 4 pin trailer connector. Male end ran to the lights and female to the switches. This way if he ever had to take the rack off all hd had to do was disconnect the 4 pin connector on the roof. Then plug ot back in when he put it back up there. Just an idea.