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I've been told that not all ebay brand LED lights are DOT approved but like really who checks? I've never heard of anyone getting pulled over because the officer suspected their headlights weren't DOT approved.
Places that may require a safety inspection vice a emissions check could maybe check for things like that but in New York they only care about lights working, turn signals working, e brake working, tire pressure and tread, etc. Nothing emissions related and certainly never seen them care about DOT approved headlamps. Other states I don't know.
Places that may require a safety inspection vice a emissions check could maybe check for things like that but in New York they only care about lights working, turn signals working, e brake working, tire pressure and tread, etc. Nothing emissions related and certainly never seen them care about DOT approved headlamps. Other states I don't know.
I had some fellow on one of the Facebook XJ groups try and tell me that if they're not DOT approved I can get in trouble for blinding somebody. As if every manufactured car nowadays doesnt blind oncoming traffic.
I had some fellow on one of the Facebook XJ groups try and tell me that if they're not DOT approved I can get in trouble for blinding somebody. As if every manufactured car nowadays doesnt blind oncoming traffic.
Yea I'm sure he is right in some cases...I ran HID's in my F350 for quite sometime and I know those things will blind the **** out of you. Never got pulled over for it and even past cops coming from other direction. You right most cars these days are running lights brighter than aftermarket non DOT approved lighting.
So my refrigerator went out. My landlord was kind enough to provide a new refrigerator by the very next day so that we wouldn't lose all of our food. When I helped him put the new fridge and I asked him what he was doing with the old one and he said he was just going to take it to the dump so I asked if I could have the freezer racks. With any luck I will be turning these into rock guards for my tail lights.
I cut these down and it's hard to tell by the picture but the natural Bend in them is a little bit too short on one side and too long on the other for what I'm trying to do. I'll be flattening them out and rebending them, then making brackets for them the same way I did The Rock guards for the headlights
I like what your doing here with some home made inventions.
My only concern will be when you go off road and brush up any decent tree or bush your probably going to rip it off. Perhaps not but just wonder how well your brackets will hold up? Plus how is the strength of those baskets do they bend easy?
Cool concept not trying to be critical of your build. Now if your just going for basic looks and functionality then you will be alright.
99.9% of police will never bother you about DOT approved lights unless you give them a reason.
There are no laws written about how BRIGHT lights are, the laws only specify how far away they have to be seen from (so dim), Laws are also written about height of lights in use, direction lights are aimed, and the big one is color, and color of light.
You can drive with your brights on all the time if you choose too,there is no written law against it, however it is not a nice thing to do.
HOWEVER keep in mind that all laws are as interpreted by the officer involved, and as our system works in reality you are GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT ! not the other way around.
So the best thing is to not draw attention to yourself, no matter how cool it is. Unless you dont mind spending time proving how you are not in the wrong.
I say this from experience, I am a licensed safety inspector / trainer and have been in court a few times over lights on vehicles.
I have not yet seen any brand of LED headlight that is not DOT approved that is going to cause any issue.
I like what your doing here with some home made inventions.
My only concern will be when you go off road and brush up any decent tree or bush your probably going to rip it off. Perhaps not but just wonder how well your brackets will hold up? Plus how is the strength of those baskets do they bend easy?
Cool concept not trying to be critical of your build. Now if your just going for basic looks and functionality then you will be alright.
I had actually thought about this. I know the material is quite flimsy because the long spokes I can bend back with my fingers whenever I accidentally knocked him out of shape. So my solution is unlike the headlight guards that only had little thin strips of metal holding them outwards, I am going to build the other four sides of a complete box out of a solid piece of 22 gauge or thicker, then one side of the actual exterior guard will only be clipped into little metal feet sticking off of the main box housing and the wire part of the Guard will be essentially a hinged door so that I can open it up easily and remove the tail light.
I still don't know how to weld which is probably my greatest downfall owning a Jeep, but I've always been good at making things with nuts and bolts and a hammer.
HOWEVER keep in mind that all laws are as interpreted by the officer involved, and as our system works in reality you are GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT ! not the other way around.
I actually kind of luck out in this regard. Because I am on active duty and I'm stationed in another state my registration is still with my home state of Missouri, so it is actually a burden on the officer to have to prove that I am violating Missouri law and the officer is probably only versed in California law. It's part of the reason why a lot of people register in other states or maintain residences and other states than bring their vehicles to California. So they do not have to comply with CARB emission standards and so that they can tint their windows
I understand what your doing I just didn't want to see someone take the time and engergy built into this design then it be flawed based on whatever driving style you have in mind for it. Keep up the good work, like I said before I like that your using simple around the house items to build things and prove of good use. Makes things affordable to those who can't buy top dollar name brand stuff that sometimes isn't even worth it to be begin with.
I will though ask where did you get those tail lights? after market I presume?
I will though ask where did you get those tail lights? after market I presume?
They are Cherokee 2500 taillights off the Beijing Jeep version of the XJ. I got mine on eBay but I also made a contact in China who can send them after a PayPal transfer. They run about $100 per set.
I've considered multiple ways of building the headlight guards and I'm honestly still on the fence about them. I don't really think that I need them since 98% of the time the only off pavement time that my Cherokee sees is the few hundred feet it drives around the command parking lot. On the other hand I am in the process of completely admiring the underbody because whenever I've seen somebody damage their vehicle at always seems to be a puncture or a breakage on the underbody.
Last edited by Ozark Mountain Ranger; 03-14-2018 at 12:32 AM.
So I have convinced the wife its time to start saving for new tires. I've been doing research and the super cheap Westlake SL369 is virtually identical to the Hankook Dynapro ATM RF10. 31s here we come.
03-08-2018, 02:59 PM
