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Shortest lived mod..

4K views 27 replies 16 participants last post by  mikey 
#1 ·
Installed a set of cowl light mounts with 3" LED cubes today.

Broke clips
Ran wires
Cursed
Hooked it all up

Stepped back and admired my work and.....I did not like it. Didn't even make the 3 min mark.

Took it all out. Amazing how fast you remove a mod.
 
#2 ·
You have much more patience than I do. I would have added a curse after the broke clips step, and one before and after the whole process just for good measure.
 
#3 ·
I don't blame you they take some getting used to. Especially seeing them from the driving position inside. I remember initially being unsure if I liked them or not.

Similar to a lot of things on my FJC I've grown to like them!
 
#5 ·
Love my cowl lights and didn't expect to! The side lighting advantage is superb, and haven't found they block my view. They're the only set of aux lights I can see from inside, and remind me of a pair of watchdogs....nice to have when visiting haunted barns (see it?) :surprise
 

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#6 ·
The view from the cab didn't bother me at all.

The external look was kind of ho hum, maybe a bigger light would have been better??

I think the things that nagged be the most about this were:

Loosing the self centering hood bolts
Over all fit between the cowl panels and mounts
Probably the biggest - would be having to remove everything to have a windshield installed.
 
#7 ·
Mikey,
If you don't get rid of that stuff ASAP, you will be putting it back on in a few months.... Then you will say to yourself.... Why the hell did I put those back on... and you will take them back off again.... Hummmm.... I wonder how I know that?

Cheers
 
#8 ·
Mine was 1 winter: I wanted to take my time to mount some nice back-up lights, but it was already cold out and I was lazy as we were nearing winter, so I bought some Zinc plated incandescent bulb fog type lights from Wal-Mart for $12 and mounted them under the rear bumper behind the splash guards. I wasn't concerned about damaging them given their cost and expected a few seasons out of them, even though I was planning to replace properly in the late spring. Come the end of the that winter, these things looked like they had seen 10 winters. Completely rusted crap after one season, even the bolts broke removing them and you could see that water had been inside. I bought 2 sets (one for front fog, one for rear back-up) of LED lamps made with black painted aluminum housings, o-ring sealed with SS hardware from Amazon, that still look great and work perfect for $35. Took my time and mounted them above rear bumper, which I had always intended, but had to remove it of course. Not much difference in cost, no comparison in quality.
 
#19 ·
I was thinking bigger actually might look better but in the end its all moot.

Uninstalling all of it when having to have the windshield replaced is a strong reason. Don't need lights dangling by their wires scratching up my paint then fighting hood alignment with out the self centering bolts.

I think a lower a pillar mount with the mount offset a bit to bring the light to the right spot would be a good choice.

Oh Dave @Trailworx .......
 
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