O'erlanderwagen build
- Thread starter mk216v
- Start date
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Thanks! I will post about the lights here.
Yes, must have been me. I frequently drive by Duniway and that area.
I spy a Highland Green Audi Allroad in your avatar. How do you like it, 2.7T or 4.2L?(I had a 4.2L before my current G500).
G0to60
Observer
Tough to see in the picture but it is the Alpaca (I think) Beige. Hides the dirt pretty well. It's a 2.7T Auto and I love it. It has it's quirks for sure (I still own a Corrado so I'm kind of used to that) but it's a great mountain car and does everything I need it to. In two weeks the wife and I are going to do the first and maybe second stages of the Washington Backcountry Discovery route in it so that should be fun.
Jwestpro
Explorer
Driving the Audi? Cool! I thought a couple sections were more true 4x4 though? What tires will you be using and I hope you will have not only a full size spare but also a way to deal with a damaged tire. Some sections would have you walking quite a while to get out. A couple mtn bikes might be a good thing to have with you.
G0to60
Observer
I did about 40 miles of it on my way home from my parents house a couple weeks ago in the Audi (Trout Lake to Carson) to make sure there was no snow or wash outs. Audi did great with no issues at all. There were two places where I was glad to have air suspension as there were a couple trees down but high enough to drive through on level 1. I do have a full sized spare but will just take it easy. We're not in a rush and if we only get the first section done (Carson to Packwood) then that's fine. I won't clog up his post with my adventures or potential disasters but I'll post up a something in the completed expeditions after we're done.
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Yeah, stock heights for all levels. Makes for a nice change to my other lower cars.
Impressive. You could probably 402 to sit higher...unsure how that will affect cv life and such(but there are plenty of people who have 402'd to where the car is dumped, mine was 1" lower, and I didn't have any issues).
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Lights have arrived! They appear very high quality, custom stainless adapter ring for G and hardware.
Life and work has gotten in the way recently so I'm trying to get them installed ASAP (biggest time consumer will be dissecting the OEM setup(already aimed perfectly) to use the main headlight bucket for the Nolden setup--and then re-aim the headlights....plus it's my daily driver so I need to find a day/night to do all of this AND take before/after pics). Thanks for your patience!
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Thanks for your patience all. Finally had time to get the lights fitted...and thankfully it wasn't as much of a headache as I anticipated(my biggest concern was how the Nolden stainless adapter ring would fit and affect the aiming of the lights).
Their stainless adapter ring works very well(they have an adapter ring specific for G's as these 7" round lights are also used on other applications like Rover, Jeep, VW, etc). I didn't use their supplied round white insert clips(for the ball socket adjuster screws) for the adapter ring. Eventually, after figuring out with the first lamp that I wouldn't need to use their white clips, I just popped the 3 black clips(circled in green in picture below) out of the factory headlight and then moved the entire black plastic "bucket" w/ 2 headlight adjusting screws and 1 mounting stud from the factory Mercedes light onto the Nolden adapter ring and light. This way the aiming wasn't affected. I double checked the aiming of course.
The biggest hurdle was securing the factory Mercedes rubber headlight trim rings--these fit around the very edge of the headlights so that when the body-colored headlight surrounds(left and right of center grille) are re-fitted, there is no gap between them and the light itself. I ended up using gaffers tape to secure the rubber rings to the backside edge of the body-colored headlight surround as they are just a tad bit too large to fit securely on the Nolden's.
Lighting output and cutoff pattern is excellent. There is a very distinct cutoff line. The bottom "halo" (circled in green in picture) will take some getting used to, but I assume this is present because of the parabolic "eye" in the headlight.
Nolden LED on left side, factory Mercedes/ZKW H7 halogen w/ PIAA NightTech bulbs on right; LOW BEAM(yes, I know I was too close to the door but I was just using it as a before/after line of reference using the masking tape, as my OEM lights were already aimed correctly);
HIGH BEAM;
One small issue I have is the wiring for the position light wiring. Their connector is a very high quality "weatherpack" connector whereas the Mercedes factory uses a lower quality blade-style connector. I have not adapted their wiring to the Mercedes blade-style connector as their wiring lead talks about warranty being void if tampered with, so I'm waiting to hear from them on what they'd like me to do. I'd rather modify the light vs the truck in case someone wants to go back to OEM halogen's for some reason.
Nolden vs OEM;
Nolden's;
I haven't driven much at night with them yet but from the small amount of driving I've done, the clarity of light is much appreciated. We'll see how it does in the Oregon rain.
Their stainless adapter ring works very well(they have an adapter ring specific for G's as these 7" round lights are also used on other applications like Rover, Jeep, VW, etc). I didn't use their supplied round white insert clips(for the ball socket adjuster screws) for the adapter ring. Eventually, after figuring out with the first lamp that I wouldn't need to use their white clips, I just popped the 3 black clips(circled in green in picture below) out of the factory headlight and then moved the entire black plastic "bucket" w/ 2 headlight adjusting screws and 1 mounting stud from the factory Mercedes light onto the Nolden adapter ring and light. This way the aiming wasn't affected. I double checked the aiming of course.
The biggest hurdle was securing the factory Mercedes rubber headlight trim rings--these fit around the very edge of the headlights so that when the body-colored headlight surrounds(left and right of center grille) are re-fitted, there is no gap between them and the light itself. I ended up using gaffers tape to secure the rubber rings to the backside edge of the body-colored headlight surround as they are just a tad bit too large to fit securely on the Nolden's.
Lighting output and cutoff pattern is excellent. There is a very distinct cutoff line. The bottom "halo" (circled in green in picture) will take some getting used to, but I assume this is present because of the parabolic "eye" in the headlight.
Nolden LED on left side, factory Mercedes/ZKW H7 halogen w/ PIAA NightTech bulbs on right; LOW BEAM(yes, I know I was too close to the door but I was just using it as a before/after line of reference using the masking tape, as my OEM lights were already aimed correctly);
HIGH BEAM;
One small issue I have is the wiring for the position light wiring. Their connector is a very high quality "weatherpack" connector whereas the Mercedes factory uses a lower quality blade-style connector. I have not adapted their wiring to the Mercedes blade-style connector as their wiring lead talks about warranty being void if tampered with, so I'm waiting to hear from them on what they'd like me to do. I'd rather modify the light vs the truck in case someone wants to go back to OEM halogen's for some reason.
Nolden vs OEM;
Nolden's;
I haven't driven much at night with them yet but from the small amount of driving I've done, the clarity of light is much appreciated. We'll see how it does in the Oregon rain.
@ mk216v
if i remember correctly, you said before that the shimmy you encounter might be due to the size of the tires. if you have so much trouble getting rid of this shimmy, why not go back on or two tire sizes? In the army they told me always that you could better have a small high tire instead of a wider one, because if you air down the smaller higher one, your imprint on the soil wil be longer, and therefore you have more surface to the ground compared to the wider tire.
I hope this might work for you?
if i remember correctly, you said before that the shimmy you encounter might be due to the size of the tires. if you have so much trouble getting rid of this shimmy, why not go back on or two tire sizes? In the army they told me always that you could better have a small high tire instead of a wider one, because if you air down the smaller higher one, your imprint on the soil wil be longer, and therefore you have more surface to the ground compared to the wider tire.
I hope this might work for you?
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Mainly because I've already bought these BFG's.
The shimmy has mainly subsided, so that's good news.
Thank you for your thoughts.
The bi-LED 7" headlights are really wonderful, incredibly bright in high beam mode...I had aimed the low beams down from where I originally set them, after being flashed once when coming up over a rise on a dark country road, but I might raise them a smidge as I feel like I can overdrive them a bit where they're aimed currently.
G0to60
Observer
Very nice lights! Did you ever figure out an adapter for the wiring or did you end up modifying one side? I'm also curious how they will do in snow/icy conditions. Granted we don't get much of that in Portland but if you go up to the mountains are you concerned about build up since the LEDs run so much cooler?
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Thanks! I'll post night time pics soon. I just re-adjusted the aiming tonight, back to where I originally had them(but had one car flash me on a rise). With them aimed lower I was outdriving them. Now with them aimed correctly again (38.5" off the ground) they are providing fantastic coverage.
I spoke to Nolden and they just had me cut off the weatherpak connector plug and I added two male spades. City light LED's work!
Great question on the ice build-up. I'll have to see on that. With my hot halogens up in the snow, there was still some snow built-up so these LED's may have more built-up that doesn't melt off. I may have to carry a can of the de-icer.
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