Stumptaco Expedition Vehicle Build-Up
- Thread starter StumpXJ
- Start date
StumpXJ
SE Expedition Society
Nah.... I have to run 116 octane race gas now, the detonation was intense after the initial install of the window stickers. Its totally worth it though. They also gave me 6 more inches of flex in the scary stuff... Why spend thousands on a solid axle swap when you can get these stickers for FREE?
:jumping:
Thanks!
~James
:jumping:
Thanks!
~James
StumpXJ
SE Expedition Society
Christmas came, a little late...
I was beginning to wonder if I had gotten screwed out of my money when I ordered these 5 weeks ago, but they finally showed up! (2) Hella 4000 Euro Driving lights, and (2) Hella 4000 Pencil Beams. I also got the HID conversion kits for them in the background... I just have to figure out where to mount the ballast boxes, as these are going to replace the Ebay Junk lights that are on my roof rack. Should have sufficient lighting soon, these things are HUGE!
Still havent gotten the sliders mounted, or my shower system installed. I am officially not starting any more projects until these are finished! More pictures during the weekend install.
PS, never mind the junk in the background, believe it or not, I work on and sell radio controlled boats for a living.
~James
I was beginning to wonder if I had gotten screwed out of my money when I ordered these 5 weeks ago, but they finally showed up! (2) Hella 4000 Euro Driving lights, and (2) Hella 4000 Pencil Beams. I also got the HID conversion kits for them in the background... I just have to figure out where to mount the ballast boxes, as these are going to replace the Ebay Junk lights that are on my roof rack. Should have sufficient lighting soon, these things are HUGE!
Still havent gotten the sliders mounted, or my shower system installed. I am officially not starting any more projects until these are finished! More pictures during the weekend install.
PS, never mind the junk in the background, believe it or not, I work on and sell radio controlled boats for a living.
~James
StumpXJ
SE Expedition Society
They are finished!
Ok, well I burned the midnight oil on Friday night to get these things mounted and re-wire my entire rack/lighting system. I started on the project at about 3:30pm, and walked in the house with the project completed at 1:15am. Total cost for the lights were $430.00 shipped (ebay), and the HID kits (ebay) were $160.00 shipped, for a total of $590.00 dollars, and about 10 hours of labor, I now have a ************ lighting system that I could not be happier with!
After my installation was mostly complete, I took the truck up to the top of the mountain just to see what they would do, and honestly I never thought they could be as bright as they are. They were not aimed yet, so the patterns were all over the place, but I swear it was like driving in broad daylight.
Jump forward to this morning, and I got the preliminary aiming done, using my garage door as a guide, and a good guess from last night. I will take the truck out tonight to see how the aiming actually faired, and will get some "lit up" shots then.
Thanks to the guys at TTORA for giving me the idea to convert them straightaway to HID, I HIGHLY recommend anyone who is not happy with their light output to convert your auxillary lighting as soon as you can. The difference is un-describable!
Here are the pics...
Here you can see the boxes that I had to make to hold/protect the HID ballast (or whatever you call them) boxes and wiring. These lights barely fit in my cage, but they look much better than the el cheapo ebay lights I had on there before. The boxes are just plast bins from the local hardware store, and each one is held on to the mounted base with 4 screws. The boxes are packed in foam, and are fairly water/element proof. (yes, I am standing my 300 pound *** on my roof rack, with no trouble!)
Preliminary aiming this morning. The 2 pencil beams are mounted in the center, with the 2 Euro driving beams mounted on the outside. I figured this would be the best arrangement...? (below the HID light beams you can see my yellow factory high beams.... how sad is that!)
Couple poser shots from this morning with the rock covers on. I also put on my new TTORA stickers..
Without the covers on. (yeah, its a lot of pics, but I am proud of them)
This is with the "euro" light lit up. They will be on while the normal headlights and or parking lights are on. I know this is legal in Germany, but not sure about the states. All of the big truckers have them on their rigs, and they look cool as hell coming down the road. I have the driving beams (outer lights) hooked up to come on with my trucks high beams, and the Pencil beams (inner lights) are on a switch mounted on my dash.
Ok, well I burned the midnight oil on Friday night to get these things mounted and re-wire my entire rack/lighting system. I started on the project at about 3:30pm, and walked in the house with the project completed at 1:15am. Total cost for the lights were $430.00 shipped (ebay), and the HID kits (ebay) were $160.00 shipped, for a total of $590.00 dollars, and about 10 hours of labor, I now have a ************ lighting system that I could not be happier with!
After my installation was mostly complete, I took the truck up to the top of the mountain just to see what they would do, and honestly I never thought they could be as bright as they are. They were not aimed yet, so the patterns were all over the place, but I swear it was like driving in broad daylight.
Jump forward to this morning, and I got the preliminary aiming done, using my garage door as a guide, and a good guess from last night. I will take the truck out tonight to see how the aiming actually faired, and will get some "lit up" shots then.
Thanks to the guys at TTORA for giving me the idea to convert them straightaway to HID, I HIGHLY recommend anyone who is not happy with their light output to convert your auxillary lighting as soon as you can. The difference is un-describable!
Here are the pics...
Here you can see the boxes that I had to make to hold/protect the HID ballast (or whatever you call them) boxes and wiring. These lights barely fit in my cage, but they look much better than the el cheapo ebay lights I had on there before. The boxes are just plast bins from the local hardware store, and each one is held on to the mounted base with 4 screws. The boxes are packed in foam, and are fairly water/element proof. (yes, I am standing my 300 pound *** on my roof rack, with no trouble!)
Preliminary aiming this morning. The 2 pencil beams are mounted in the center, with the 2 Euro driving beams mounted on the outside. I figured this would be the best arrangement...? (below the HID light beams you can see my yellow factory high beams.... how sad is that!)
Couple poser shots from this morning with the rock covers on. I also put on my new TTORA stickers..
Without the covers on. (yeah, its a lot of pics, but I am proud of them)
This is with the "euro" light lit up. They will be on while the normal headlights and or parking lights are on. I know this is legal in Germany, but not sure about the states. All of the big truckers have them on their rigs, and they look cool as hell coming down the road. I have the driving beams (outer lights) hooked up to come on with my trucks high beams, and the Pencil beams (inner lights) are on a switch mounted on my dash.
StumpXJ
SE Expedition Society
Well, a few last pictures of the lights in action. This is on the same hill from earlier today. I still need to do some adjusting as the beams are still not quite where I want them, but they are much better than before. With beams this bright, 1mm of adjustment is like 50 feet at the end of the pattern. The only real way to do it is in the dark, which will happen tommorow night.
These are both taken from inside the cab of the truck. The tree line in the far distance is .47 miles from this spot in a direct line. As you can see, if I pointed the pencil beams up more, I am fairly certain I can direct UFO's to safely land in the fields around our house.
With my regular low beams on.
With all four lights on and the high beams from my truck. Pretty noticable difference I think.
From outside the truck:
Thanks, James
These are both taken from inside the cab of the truck. The tree line in the far distance is .47 miles from this spot in a direct line. As you can see, if I pointed the pencil beams up more, I am fairly certain I can direct UFO's to safely land in the fields around our house.
With my regular low beams on.
With all four lights on and the high beams from my truck. Pretty noticable difference I think.
From outside the truck:
Thanks, James
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
Those lights are impressive! :rockon:
Rezarf <><
Explorer
great write up! Very impressive install and comparison! thanks for posting up, my wife got me a set of 4000's for Christmas as well. Can't wait to fire them up!
Rezarf <><
Rezarf <><
Overland Hadley
on a journey
stumptaco said:
Excellent.
adventureduo
Dave Druck [KI6LBB]
The HID's came out nice. Always wondered how the 4000's/converted to HID looked. HID's are like night and day difference between regular halogen IMHO. We have the VisionX 6500's on our rig and HELLA's halogens and i never even use my HELLA's anymore. On the last trip i ran my HID's for probably 40 mins straight and then went back to regular lighting.. i almost crashed! Felt like my lights were off!