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Whats up guys, I figured I would share something I tried out and think some of you budget wheelers will enjoy. I tend to spend my pennies on things that are not super important when it comes to wheeling, lighting being one of them. I am not a fan of the generic lightbar what so ever, and I really enjoy the look of old school lighting. I was looking into a set of KC HiD lamps, and was discouraged by the $850 price tag.
So, I set off to build my own. This is my first "write up" so bare with me! I will do my best to explain everything I can! It's super simple, and I spent close to $55 all said and done, and I am EXTREMELY happy with the results. I plan to do a video comparing led bulbs to the HiD kit I used!
-Here is a list of the things I used!
Harbor Freight 6" Off road light
Your choice brand/color H3 HiD kit
Wire Strippers/ Dykes
Soldering Iron
Heat Shrink
Phillips Head screw driver
Needle nose pliers
Lets get started! There is two small phillips head screws with a nut holding these two bands around the lights. Un-bolt both bands and remove the plastic clip for the corrugated tubing protecting the wires on the back of the housing.
So, Now that you have the two halves apart you can start replacing the bulb with your HiD bulb! There is one tiny phillips head screw and a small tab you must carefully remove to get the original bulb out. Save the philips screw, toss the ground wire though! Just do the reverse process to insert your new bulb!
WARNING *Do not touch the HiD H3 buld!* the oil from your skin can ruin it!
Final stretch!
The plugs on the HiD light are far to big to run through the back of the light housing. I cut the plug staggered. This way when I got to solder the plug back on, the ground and positive will be in separate places. Once you have the plugs soldered back on you can re assemble the light! Don't forget to shrink wrap your connections! After that, solder whatever type of plug you plan to use on your onto the ballast and you are good to go!
Now, mount the lights and ballast wherever you like! Make sure you keep the ballast in a safer area, mine claim to be waterproof but I used a small project box to seal them in on my roof rack. This way they don't take the direct impact from the elements. I really like how they turned out, and for roughly $55 I was able to achieve that old school look with that modern HID light! I briefly tested mine and am satisfied with the results. I plan to fully mount and aim them tomorrow night, as well as a comparison to just a standerd LED bulb. I hope you guys can put this to use!
Last edited by CherokeeChamp2000; Dec 27, 2017 at 09:46 PM.
I am happy with how everything turned out, for the amount of money spent, and the old-ish school look it left. I hope someone can find use from this small write up, as its very easy. inexpensive, and I think the end results are worth the money paid!
Thanks! I enjoy every bit of taking it out. I haven't been too active lately. Just got all moved back into South Dakota.
I hope to take mine on a road trip to Alaska, so I'm a little jealous. It won't be for a while yet, but it's in the future for sure. Thanks for giving me hope!
It's been a quite couple months. Nothing really new. Having some transfer case problems, praying that its the linkages and the boostworks kit will solve that. Other than that, its been pretty quiet.
Last time I spoke with you all Judith was having some hardcore T-case issues! It ended up being a detent in the transfer case getting stuck! We polished it up and threw on a Boostwerks kit and she shifts buttery smooth! Haven't really been up to much build wise! Just been wheeling her, a friend bought a JL Rubicon so we hit the hills pretty hard this summer! The trails just closed so I'll be building a Dana 30 HP I picked up for $20, and a set of Sky jacker mid-arms, with drop units I picked up for $250! Other than that I'll drop pictures, and link a few youtube videos of what we've been up to! I apologize for so little info on such a long hiatus. All we've done is hit trails!
So! I'm going to split this up in to two posts as there is alot of pictures!
So, I ended up getting a Daily driver from work! It's a 2004 Grand with the 4.7L V8 HO, Quadra-drive, 156,000 miles for $1,200! I took it out for alittle put around in the hills and try out the Quadra-drive, thing is a tank!
Anyway, like I said. We spent alot of time wheeling over this summer! Really got to test the capability of Judith, I am beyond impressed at how well it did! Most of the time being on 31's keeping up with guys locked on 35's. Always had a great time!
Anyway, got some Mastercraft M/T 32's, all 5 for $700. Couldn't say no for the price! It's an alright tire for the money!
Onto, my buddy ended up getting that 2018 JLUR,the thing is impressive! The fact that hell go where ever we go in the $52,000 jeep is ballsy!
I'm going to drop some links to a few videos of us out on the trails! Everything is ranked around a 4 of 5 difficulty. Which is generally 35's+, front and rear lockers, armor, that kind of thing!
One last video! This is a group of us out in a wintery Camp 5 area. This went from 4+ to 5+ really quick! Don't judge too hard as this was my FIRST time spotting!
I love it when a build thread becomes a here is where we went thread!
Me too except that it makes me feel like I have so far to go. I've only had it a month and haven't worked on it but about 3 hours.
Guess I should start taking pictures so I can start my own thread.
as I sit watching the Cheep Cherokee build on trucks
Long time, no talk. I'm going to try and break this all up into several posts. I've spent most the winter wrenching on the Cherokee just getting her ready for the season! I'll start off by showing off!
Recently a local friend out here in good Ol' South Dakota picked up the "Cheep Cherokee" from the trucks show on power nation (what I'm watching as I type this).
Would ya look at that!
Anyway, I'll list out what all went on this winter!
I picked up a home made rear bumper. It really needed cleaned up and some modification to work on my "newer" model cherokee.
I also, purchased an old school SkyJacker rock ready mid arm kit. There was lots of work to get this in usable shape but I picked it up shipped for $250. I also found a pretty rough HP dana 30 from a '96 for $20! So, I went through with rebuilding that! I will continue the rest in the next post and go into depth!
Alright, I'll start with the bumper. I went through and cleaned up all the crustiness about it. Had it altered to fit my jeep slightly better. Threw on some paint, and got it mounted up. The thing is pure beef. Ties into my IRO gas tank skid plate that I picked up, and mounts up in 16 places all together (the factory bumper mounts, and the original nut plate that goes into the unibody). Mounted up the IRO skid plate, and the bumper, then started up on the front (which took some time).
Before I started cleaning it up Laying paint The IRO gas tank skid all bolted up
Once the bumper and what not was on I started on the front. This turned into being quite the process. The HP dana 30 needed some love. So, I stripped it down, cleaned up the housing, and went to work. I installed new upper and lower ball joints, seals, bearings, wheel bearings. Installed some exterior axle seals. A good friend gifted me one of his Upper control arm reinforcement brackets, and installed some zone lower control arm skid/reinforcement plates as well From there I laid paint, and sealed everything up!
So, those old school mid-arms? There's a million reasons why I decided to run them, and I won't dive too far into it all. I went ahead and had the mounts and Upper control arms sand blasted. Purchased new johnny joints, and had a set of lower control arms made. These things are BEEFY, 2" DOM tubing and a currie joint on the end. Sprayed all this up with tractor implement paint, and mocked it up to the front diff!
Now, while I had everything dropped off the front I decided I'd go with a little more lift. I went through and picked up some 1" coil spring spacers, and a Rustys 1" shackle as well. All together I am at 4.5" of lift, I had installed a set of Bar pin eliminators front, and rear to install a set of Rubicon JK shocks. I ditched my RC track bar for a Freedom Offroad track bar. I used a set of rubber YJ brake lines for the front to accommodate for the 4.5" lift.
Mounting up the new Cross member Mocking up the T-case skid. I ll have to fix this later on Suspension all in place! Swapped in a ZJ V8 tie rod on in the end! And she's on her feet! Just kidding , a project the guy that made my LCAs is building
Once I had swapped everything over, I bought a set of Pacer rims from a friend, and then a set of 33x10.50R15 KM3s from work, and hit the trails! Oh, forgot to add, while the axle was out I went ahead and did the rear main seal. 33x10.50r15 KM3s Before 32x12.50r15 after 33x10.50r15 back on her feet and went for a stretch! Been putting these KM3s to work right away! Just got the spare mounted up the other day
Those KM3s looks awesome! I had 33x10.50 KM2s and they did great up here in the North Atlantic area. Moved to 35x12.50 KM2s and still going strong no worries.
Harbor Freight HID light conversion
