First of thank you to
@jordanbrooks for the motivation, I've done some odds and ends, with a couple of big projects in the works. First odds and ends. I installed gear loops in the ceiling of my cargo area so I could install the raingler net I used in my Xterra. Not a perfect fit but it keeps the dogs in the back and will prevent getting beaned with any flying gear if things get sporty.
Next I added front recovery hooks to the Jeep.
At some point i also filled the space under the cargo floor where the spare tire used to reside with all kinds of rig related gear, recovery straps, jumper cables, snow shovel, truck bag, ratchet straps, etc. Really convenient place to be able to store a lot of gear. I might end up installing a second battery in here when I go to a dual battery setup, haven't decided yet.
I wired up and installed an electronic trailer brake controller, but didn't take pictures because, it looks just like every other brake controller you have ever seen. Installation was pretty straight forward. I had to run power and ground wires directly from the battery and install a 20amp circuit breaker on the power line, then I had to tap into the brake light switch signal wire and finally attach the output voltage line from the controller to the wire for the trailer brakes that is part of the factory 7-pin trailer wiring. The only annoying part was taping into the brake light switch wire. Lying on your back under the dash with a soldering iron inches from my face is not my idea of a great time. But its done and now my Jeep is ready to tow a small travel trailer out to the ocean for our annual thanksgiving camping/clamming trip. Campers are not my idea of camping, but since we will have an infant with us, my wife insisted.
Finally the main thing I have been working on is my lighting issues. They performance of the stock headlight and fog light seems weak to me on the road, let alone in the mountains so something had to be done. I pick up a couple of cheap($50-60) 6.5" 35w degree light bars from Amazon to install in place of the stock fog lights to be a all around on/off road aux light. They are cheap knock offs of rigid industries lights but had positive reviews, except for their waterproofness. When mine arrived I could see the seal issues around the lens that was mentioned in most of the reviews. So I disassembled the light, applied some rtv silicon where it needed it and reassembled it. Besides the waterproofing and the plexiglass lens I'm pretty impressed with the solid construction of the lights for their price. Wiring was easy, I cut off the stock fog light plugs, making sure there was enough tail left on them to reinstall them if necessary, and soldered in some waterproof connectors, male one the light side, female on the Jeep side. I drilled a couple of holes to mount brackets and was done. When it was all said and done they looked sweet installed in place of the stock fog lights, I wish I had taken pictures, fail, I know. Below are some shots of the light output.
Just the stock fog lights, no headlights.
6.5" LED Light bars only.
The light bars worked great, too well in fact. They through light at least 40' in all directions, when I ordered them I assumed that being cheap knockoffs they would under perform and just meet my needs, instead they worked far better than I could of hoped. I loved the light they put off but I couldn't leave them installed. These were meant to be used not just for aux light on the trail but also on the street like normal fog lights. They were way too bright for that, it hurt to look at the front of the Jeep when they were on. I'm too nice of a guy to drive around blinding all the on coming traffic. So back to the drawing board I went. After a little research I decided to reinstall the stock foglight housing and wiring, modified with a standard 9005 low light headlight bulb instead of the stock 9055 fog light bulb. 9055's are a 55w bulb, 9005's are a 65w bulb, the extra 10 watts, along with using GE Nighthawk bulbs, gave me a bright enough fog light to use on forest roads and still be tame enough for street use. The below picture was taken before I adjusted them a little higher, to throw light a little farther out.
Modified stock foglight.
I have ordered another set of 6.5" 35w LED light bars, this time the narrower 30 degree spot to mount along with my now surplus 60 degree light bars for off road use. I just need to figure out where I am going to mount them. I want to mount all 4 directly to the Jeep, not to the roof rack, so I'm not sure how I'm going to balance that yet. I don't want to mount any lights to my roof rack because hopefully it won't be there for much longer. I have drawn up some plans to build a swing gate to mount my spare tire on and get it off the roof. When I do that I will remove the roof top basket and only install it when I am going to use it, like a ski rack. I wasn't impressed with the idea of the spare on the roof to start with and having it up there for a month now hasn't endeared it to me. I can hear the roof rack rattle under the weight and whistle in the wind. I don't thing it looks great up there, I can feel the change in the center of gravity and its not very practical. The tire takes up most of the roof top basket and to get it up and down isn't easy. I'm 6'1" and i still have to climb onto the roof to secure it. There is no way my 5'3" wife will ever get it down if she needed it, not to mention it weighs half what she does. I've got my design figured out, I just need to order the heavy duty hinge and latch, pick up some steel stock and start welding. I don't know how to weld at the moment, but I'm going to rent a welder and figure it out. I will post and update and maybe a full blown diy build thread on it when its done. Although I am building one for a WJ, it would apply to anyone with a lift gate that doesn't want go with a full-blown aftermarket number. The basic concepts could be applied to Xterras, 4Runner s, Land Cruisers, etc with minor modifications to the mounting and measurements. Ideally I will have this done before my Thanksgiving trip but we shall see. I have plans to include read mounted lights for trail use, a work light for camp sites, a fold down work space, shovel mount and at some point a hi-lift mount when I buy one.