WilliamA

I thought I'd post up a quick thread of how I put my switches in and wired them. I'll make this down and dirty. Any questions, just say...

I installed a 5 switch gang of switches made by Dorman mfg. I got them at Oreilly Auto parts. The switches come without mounting cups but they can be had separately and snap together. The mounting cups come in "center" and "end" style. You get the idea...

I originally built a couple of different brackets that would fit into the tight confines of the spot above the 4wd control ****. I abandoned all of the previous ideas and just mounted the switch housing right tight to the bottom of the dash with two #10 bolts, nuts and washers. It's a no brainer. You have to pull out the heater control panel but that, too, is a no-brainer. It just snaps out. Pull gently from the bottom and then on each side. It's held in by 4 snap connectors. Once it's loose, just unplug the connector and lay it aside. I also removed the trim bezel that covers the two console mounting bolts. It's directly behind the switch housing and just snaps out....once you get hold of it, that is....

Here is the switch panel with power on but no switches on. The switches come with led's for on and off. Wiring the Led's is a bit of a task but it's not too hard. There are lots of options.


Here I have the Zombie lights (driving lights) turned on. You can see that the top of the switch is illuminated as well as the bottom.


I have three circuits: Driving lights, Front off-road lights and rear offroad lights. I wanted the driving lights to be able to be turned on any time the ignition is on. The offroad lights fore and aft can only be turned on after I press the 4th switch over. It's got the red glowing light on it to tell me the offroad circuit is illuminated. This way, I don't accidently turn on the top lights while fumbling for the driving lights. You get it.


Here's a closeup of the switch housing. It's tight, but once in and secure there's plenty of room to get at the switches and you can't accidentally bump them with your knee. As I said, I have 5 switches in the housing. The blue one on the end is currently not used. The first three are lights, the 4th is the safety for the offroad light circuits.


Here you can see the mount bolt for the console behind the switch panel. There isn't enough room for that panel with the switches in, plus with the panel off, there is a handy hole exactly in the middle that allows a good run for wires. No need to drill a hole. It's already there. Once you exit your wiring through the back of the console, you can run it down and out in both directions as you wish. Plenty of room for the wiring runs once you get past the console. I need to tuck my wires in a little better. I'll get to it.

Wiring the switches is a bit of a hat trick. I did all of my switch wiring this way:
first, I took the switch housing and broke the two top end mounting tabs off. That leaves a large square hole suitable for putting a small bolt and flat washer up through to hold the panel.
Next, I drilled the bottom of the dash to accept the bolts. I drilled the holes with a bit held in my fingers from the top. It's soft plastic and drills very easily.
I tested the fit of the panel and then took it out.
I mounted the switches (with bolts and washers in place!) by popping them in. I then wired the switches completely, leaving 2 foot long wires for the connection. I then put the wires through the hole in the dash and mounted the switch panel. It's tight and you need to be clever but it'll go.
I ran my wires from the lights and relays in to the console and just connected the wiring behind the console. No problem. I highly recommend you do a test of your switch wiring so you don't have to take it all back out to fix something. In the event you do need to pull it out to change the bayonet connectors or add a circuit, there's room to pull the whole works out once you access the nuts behind the heater control panel. Make sure to leave a few inches of extra wire so you can pull it out far enough to work on. It's not too bad.

Here's the engine compartment wiring and relay for my driving lights. I ran a power wire directly off the battery for the relay. The control wire for the relay comes from the utility socket circuit. I have the utility socket fuse in the "off with key" position. (That bit is in the owners manual. A great feature)
I ran the wiring around the engine bay under the radiator cover after putting it in plastic wire loom and then taping it. The relay is a standard 30 amp square relay commonly available. You can see the relay up in the corner behind the passenger side strut tower.


My driving light brackets. It's common L-bracket cut to length and drilled. I cut slots into the top of the license plate mount to cover the bottoms where they bolt to the bumper. You need to drill waaaaaaaayyyy in to find some solid ground under the bumper fascia.


Top-front offroad light mounts.


Top-rear mount with light and CB antenna mount.


For the top light mounts on the Yakima basket, I used these:

https://www.denniskirk.com/497402.sk...ad=45713345557

They're low profile and fit a 1" bar. About $30 bucks for two. I ordered them through my local Honda Motorcycle dealer. You can probably get them online for less...

A word or two about the relays. As shown, I mounted the relay for the driving lights in the engine compartment. It's close to the lights and makes sense. The relays for the top lights are mounted in the left rear corner of the car under the spare tire valance. I put them there because I used the power socket there to power the relays. I ran wiring from the rear relays (in a plastic loom) under the tire valance, under the carpet for the rear seat, up into the the bottom of the center console and then up around the front of the console into the switch housing. For the driving lights, I ran the control circuit through a hole I drilled in the dash on the passenger side right below the large factory wire loom plug. Be careful not to drill the heater core. Drilling the hole and putting in the grommet for the driving lights was probably the most difficult part of the whole thing.
I ran the wiring for the top lights and CB antenna down the bottom of the yakima basket to the rear, down into the rear hatch well next to the gas strut and under the right rear taillight. Once behind the taillight, there is a body hole to get everything inside the car to the relays. It's a lot of putzing, but not hard to do.

Here is a photo of my dash/center console. As you can see, the switches don't show much and there's really no need to try and make them fill the space. They look pretty good from most positions.


I detest any wires hanging and dangling in the way. Here's the GPS mount I put together from GoPro accessories. It mounts to my CB, is moveable in every direction and isn't in the way for passengers, should I have one....




WilliamA

WilliamA

Hey, I see the link I provided is for 1 1/4" mounts. They come in several sizes and both powdercoat and chrome (if chrome blows your dress up). Just look around in the link and you'll find them in 1". Ooops...

WilliamA