Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[jscherb]

My first step was to see where the lights could mount as they come from the factory using the standard mounting base. There are actually quite a few places that might be useful.

Several can be mounted on the side of the windshield using the factory windshield bracket screws:

There are 4 screws on each side. The lower two might be less useful because they're close to the side of the body but they could be useful with the 10-degree beams, I'll have to test that in the dark.

The screws on the front of the windshield brackets can also be used:

They can also be mounted using the cowl panel screws:

If you wanted them out on the hood, the tie-down loop can be removed and/or the windshield bumpers can be removed and they can be attached to those holes. For these photo I've just placed the lights on the hood in front of the bumpers that could be removed to provide mounting holes:

The tie-down loop could also be removed to provide mounting holes:

All four locations on the hood used:

I'd be interested to hear what you think of any of these locations.

 

[jscherb]

I was showing these lights to a friend last night and he suggested mounting one to the tail light housing to serve as a backup light.

All it would take is one hole drilled in the top of the light housing to mount the LED using the bracket that comes with the LED and connecting the wires from the LED to the backup light in the tail light housing.

He had a bunch of other ideas for these lights but since it was dark we couldn't take any photos of the ideas on his Jeep, which is equipped differently from mine (a Gobi rack and more) - there are places he could mount these lights that I don't have on mine. We're are planning to get together later in the week so I can take some photos.

 

[jscherb]

Here are a few other combinations that might be useful; for these some location-specific mounts could be made. I'm just holding the lights in place in these photos and in some photos I've taped them together with black tape so that I don't drop any of them while I'm trying to hold a bunch in place in one hand and take a picture with the other.

A strip of them on the side of the windshield, angled to match the windshield (I think this is my favorite):

A "mini" light bar replacing the tie-down loop on the hood, could be 3 (or 5, not shown) horizontally, or 5 in a pyramid. They're just sitting on the tie-down in these photos; the tie-down would be removed and replaced by a mounting bracket:

Brackets could be made up to attach them to the hood hinges. In the top photo the passenger side one is raised a bit, it'll need to be raised so the beam clears the hood bumper in front of it. Below are several possible configurations with one, two or three lights:

Maybe on the rear view mirrors?

I'm going to make up custom mounts for some of these locations, which ones do you think have the most merit?

 

[Sharky1528]

I don't think you will have any issues at Night !!!!

 

[Comanche Scott]

Flood lights at the rear would be cool.
The rear bumper on my Jeep has a couple of rear lights, which make it nice for backing into camp, and setting up.

 

[jscherb]

I was asked if the lights would fit in the slots in the grille...

My JK has inserts in the grille slots (they were there when I bought it), so I removed one to see how the light might work in the slots. Fits just fine.

For these inserts, it might look very nice to cut holes in the inserts with a hole saw to slip the light into. A custom look could easily be achieved by recessing a few lights into the grille inserts. I did a quick digital edit to see what it might look like:

I used the lights with the silver bezels in the photos and simulation above, the lights with the black bezels would be even more inconspicuous if making the lights less visible was the goal.

 

[jscherb]

Flood lights at the rear would be cool.
The rear bumper on my Jeep has a couple of rear lights, which make it nice for backing into camp, and setting up.

Camp lights are one of the things I'll be experimenting with on Thursday - my friend's Jeep has lots of camp-friendly hardware on it (a Gobi rack, etc.) that has a bunch of places that these lights could be mounted to for the campsite. Stay tuned...

 

[AgentOrange76]

Personally I'm not a fan of hood mounted lights, I like everything to be as dark as possible when driving out in the boonies and I would be afraid of light wash on the hood. I go frequently on the blue ridge parkway and deep in the forest to stargaze, ect and there will be times I don't run the high beams because the factory blue light that pops on in the dash blinds you after becoming so used to the darkness. For those who the hood was isn't bothersome, they look great up there. Impressive light output for those little guys, and it's really neat how they nest and how you can build your own configurations. I also like how they're pretty inconspicuous. Really interested in layouts for area lighting (the mirror mounts are pretty slick) around the vehicle. Also, these might be good for rock lights to illuminate under/near the tires. Personally not my style, but tons of folks run them and use the crap out of them on tecnical trails at night, I'm sure if I was into that I'd want some too.

 

[AgentOrange76]

I said before how the incognito aspect of the lights was really appealing. I have been searching for a while for a way to add more lighting capabilities to my Jeep. I had bought cheap amazon leds on amazon as a gift a while back and was blown away at the amount of light they throw out. Totally blew my halogen KCs out of the water. I was so impressed I bout a little bar for myself intending to mount it on my winch fairlead. I was avoiding hood/cowl areas for aforementioned hood wash in addition to getting in the way of the folding windshield. While the light output was mind boggling for 20 bucks, I couldn't bring myself to mount it because I couldn't get into how it looked. I know, me and my old school dinosaur thoughts....guess I'm one of the few old young people around these days....

Long story short, I think these lights offer practical use without any bling bling. Maybe just my opinion, but maybe there are some folks out there that think like me.

I think two of these would nestle nicely on the winch fairlead in the pre-drilled holes. Perhaps even a bar wouldn't look bad. Not sure if they would be small enough to snuggle underneath without risking damage?


Very cool idea with the spare tire tray. Looks pretty handy. I was actually going to ask if you had thought of a way to carry ammo cans, Jerry can, ect on the spare tire using a webbing style mount.

Using straps or webbing of some sort (kinda like my cheap-o bike rack does), you could hang fuel, water, ect off the sides of the spare tire while still allowing use of the back of the spare for bikes or one of the several trays I've seen affixed to the back or your Jeep, among other things.

 

[jscherb]

I think two of these would nestle nicely on the winch fairlead in the pre-drilled holes. Perhaps even a bar wouldn't look bad. Not sure if they would be small enough to snuggle underneath without risking damage?

The lights are only 2.2" long and 1.7" high so they can fit in many small places, and they have mounting holes on the side and in the back, so they can be mounted in different ways.

It looks like the overhang of the fairlead in front of the bumper might be longer than the LED housing, so they probably would tuck nicely under there, although then they would be in front of the license plate.

Here's a crude photo-edit, I've put four of these lights on top of the fairlead, and two on each side of it...

 

[Sand1235]

What brand are these lights? I'd like to look into them a little more. Thanks

 

[jgaz]

As far as you working on some brackets for the lights. Id like to see them mounted on the A pillar, at least as a trial. I also like the idea of mounting them in the grille and as back up lights. I don't think I'd want them on the hood.

 

[jscherb]

What brand are these lights? I'd like to look into them a little more. Thanks

There is no brand yet. I found the manufacturer of these lights at the SEMA Show, they don't sell retail and were there as an exhibitor looking to find companies to partner with to bring them to market. As soon as I saw the product, its specs and the wholesale price I liked them a lot, so I introduced a Jeep accessories company to the manufacturer. The Jeep company liked them too, so they arranged to get some samples, some of which they forwarded to me.

It's likely that the Jeep accessories company will bring these to the Jeep market soon, they're as impressed as I am so far.

If you've got any questions or want any more info I'll do my best to answer.

BTW: I don't get paid for this, I do these things as a hobby. It's fun to go to the SEMA Show, fun to seek out new products, fun to act as a broker putting manufacturers and companies together, fun to get samples to play with, and fun for me to design custom brackets and other product components for them. My "compensation" is seeing people use these on their Jeeps once they become a product, and also I usually get to keep whatever samples I work with, so that's some compensation too. But I don't ask for anything from either company for having all this fun .

 

[jscherb]

As far as you working on some brackets for the lights. Id like to see them mounted on the A pillar, at least as a trial. I also like the idea of mounting them in the grille and as back up lights. I don't think I'd want them on the hood.

The A-pillar brackets are the first ones I'm going to do. Stay tuned.

 

[GadgetPhreak]

Take a look at the KC Highlights Flex, they are the first to brand them as far as I've seen.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk