Roof top lighting and wiring is always a popular subject so I thought I would show you my approach. I was not interested in running the wires down the outside of the A pillar or on the outside in the rear so drilling a hole in the roof was the choice for me. I decided to run the wiring up through the “foot” for mounting the front part of the OEM Rack Tube.
THIS IS ONLY A SUGGESTION, HOW YOU WIRE YOUR OWN LIGHTING IS COMPLETEY UP TO YOU AND IS SOLEY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
How you wire up your lights and switches is up to you. I want to have a relay on each light circuit, 4 for me. Front lights, Back up lights, and side lights on both sides. A couple of things were important to me regarding placement of components. I wanted them inside the cabin as opposed to under the hood and I wanted them all located in one place and easy to access.
I had originally mounted a Painless Wiring 7 Circuit fuse block to the firewall on the inside just to the left of the steering column.
Adding Fuse Block
This was OK for just the fuse block but now I would be adding a Bus Bar and 4 relays to the mix and did not want to deal with the sound insulation material with all those items. I remembered seeing a thread that Shadow Warrior did about mounting a fuse block and he fabbed up a mounting plate ( very cool ) so I adopted that route. Thanks for the idea Shadow.
CLEAN 12v Fuse Block Accessory Install w/Pics
As you can see in the photos I was able to mount the fuse block, Buss Bar, and 4 relays to the mounting plate. The plate mounts to the extra long brake frame mounting bolts using two 6mm nyloc nuts. I also ran a grounding wire from one of those bolts to the fuse block, this is the ground that allows the 4 switched circuits on the fuse block to activate via the relay on the fuse block.
Power for the 4 roof top light circuits will be taken from the Buss Bar on the mounting plate. Power to the Buss Bar will come directly from the battery via a #8 wire run through the firewall with a 40 AMP fuse in line. All 4 circuits will also have an in line fuse. Switch power will come from the Painless Wiring Fuse Block. A ground wire will also be run directly from the battery to the Buss Bar.
I pulled the headliner down according to the instructions Toyota puts out for installing their Air Dam and lights. Take your time with this and make sure to put something like a towel between the rear plastic and the headliner so the headliner does not get damaged. The headliner can kink without a lot of effort so be careful.
C = Center
1.Measure the location of the C of the down tube in relation to the C of the foot bolts
2.Transfer that C location to the inside of the roof.
3.Remove 2 foot bolts, be careful not to spin Rivnuts inside of roof
4.Losten & remove cap screw up inside foot that holds foot to down tube
5.Remove foot and foot gasket from down tube
6.Remove cross piece that cap screw threaded into holding foot too down tube
7.Drill 1 1/8 hole in roof (yeah it scared the hell out of me too)
8.Drill 1 1/8 hole in side of rack tube
9.Debur both holes
10. Install Grommets in both holes, Advanced Auto, DORMAN products #80191
11.Drill out 7/8” holes in both the foot and the foot gasket
12.Re attach foot and gasket to down tube
13.Run wire loom through side of rack tube and down through hole in roof
14.Pull as much wire down through roof as you think you’ll need, then pull another foot
15.Bend the wire loom up close to the roof and toward the front of the vehicle
16.Wire tie wire loom to top of A pillar at roof line, there are a couple holes already there
17.Run wire loom down the front of the A Pillar in front of existing wires
18.Wire tie the loom to existing wires
19.Fish wire loom down beside dash and into the kick panel area
20.Apply silicone sealant under foot gasket and mounting bolt heads (Optional)
21.Re attach foot to roof, once again be careful with rivnuts, they spin rather easy
22.Re install headliner and related parts
23.Wire up roof lights as desired
24.Hook up switching as desired
I pulled power for 4 circuits, grounds for 4 circuits and 3 extra wires because I am not going through this again!!!
I hope that this helps those of you that want to add some roof lighting to your rigs. If you want to make a mounting plate as shown send me a PM and I can either FAX a template over to you or arrange to mail one. Good luck
Stan
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