Fog Lights

The fog getting too thick for you to see through?

Your rig too high for your Fog Lights to do much good?
Well here's something that will help brighten up those dark foggy nights.

Somewhere I heard that fog lights are useless on a 4x4. Well it's is somewhat true that fog lights work better when they are close to the road. I've run fog lights up to about 28" off the ground and at higher level they do help a little, but are much more efficient low to the road. Now one of the things mentioned about fog lights being bad on a 4x4 is that if you do mount them low then there's a good chance in breaking them in deep snow or when wheeling.

Well I love the snow and Rock Crawling and do have to drive through some heavy fog at times in the winter months. I've always thought about mounting my lights lower, but never got the motivation up to do it. Besides they were doing ok where they were, but after hearing that they were useless on a 4x4…. it was time to make them better.

I started by looking at the front of my truck and thinking about were to mount them at. I came to the conclusion that the axle/spring u-bolt plate looked like the best place for this application. So this is what I came up with.

HOW IT’S DONE:

Take some 1/16" sheet metal and make two 2 3/4" x 3" (3" was the width of the light mounts) extension plates. Clamp them together with a pair of vice grips and round off the lower corners to about a 1/2" radius (you could also do the top corners for a better look if they will be visible). Then drilled two 1/4" holes at 2 1/2" apart and a 1/2" from the bottom of the plates. Check where the nuts are at on the u-bolts. Some aftermarket u-bolts use a larger size nut so you may need to make the hole a little closer. You want to make sure that when it comes to drilling the holes in the u-bolt plate you don't drill into the nuts. You also want to have enough clearance to fit a small mounting nut on the back if needed (I'll explain this later). Also depending on if you have the stock 1/2" diameter or went to a 9/16" diameter u-bolt will make a difference.

Next drill two more 1/4" holes for mounting the light mounts to the extension plates. Put the light mount flush to the top of the extension plate and marked the center of the adjustment slots on the light mount and drill the holes. Separate the plates and clean up all the edges.

Now it's time to drill the holes in the u-bolt plate. I used all 1/4" bolts for mounting, but I drilled these holes at 15/64" and tapped them for the thread size of my bolts. The way to mark these is to hold the plate centered on the u-bolt plate and use a can of spray paint or marker to mark the holes, then drill. Or you could securely clamp the plate onto the center of the u-bolt plate and drill. After the holes were all drilled I painted the extension plates gloss black to match the mounts that came with the lights and the axle. Remember three or four thin coats is always better then one thick coat.

NOTE: I tapped the holes so I don't have to deal with the nuts. You could just drill 1/4" holes and use nuts instead. The nuts could be loose or tack welded. Could even drill the holes big enough for the nut to fit into them and tack weld them in the holes so they’re flush with the front of the u-bolt plate.

Next was putting the mounts together. Bolt the new extension plates onto the u-bolt plate first then the light mounts to them. Lightly tightened so they can sill move a little for adjusting. Measure to the bottom of each side of each light mount and adjusted them to the same height. Remember since the u-bolt mounts are not at the same height the adjustment for the mounts will also be at different levels. I also had to flip one of the light mounts to achieve the same mounting height. And since the ground can some times have its little ups and downs, even on a fairly level area, I also checked the mounts with a level. To do this I used a 3' level on the ground parallel to axle for reference and a small torpedo level on top of the mounts. A longer (4') level across to each mount would be better, but my 3' level was too short and my 6' wouldn't fit between the tire. When adjusted to your likings tighten them up.

Now all that's left is to run the wire and mount and adjust the lights (see the instructions that came with your lights).

Here's a picture of if it all done (almost - read on)

THE WIRING:
Now to keep from having to unplug each wire at each light (total of 4) and then having to tie the wiring up somewhere out of harms way. I got a two-way connecter (red arrow) and spliced it in the middle of the two wires going down to the lights. One simple connection and already out of the way with no wire to tie up. The blue arrow just shows the location of the relay for the lights.

I also shorten the wiring between the lights so I didn't have extra wiring in the way that also needing to be tied up to the axle. I also place the wire in a small diameter wire loom along the axle for added protection. As you can see in the picture the wire is taped to the axle. This was just a quick attachment to test this setup.

then added three quick wire wraps that I welded to the top of the axle. I put one next to the drive side light, one at the bottom of the arch of the pumpkin (pictured), and one on the top of the pumpkin toward to passenger side to hold the wires going to the passenger side light. Just make sure the wire wraps you use are long enough to go all the way around the wire loom.

HOW DOES THIS MAKE IT GOOD FOR WHEELIN’?
Well it doesn’t really, but with this setup it takes less then a minute to remove the lights when you plan to go wheeling. And about a minute to put them back on.

Note: It took me 51 seconds to remove them and a minute and 5 seconds to put them back on without rushing it.

THE REASON FOR THE EXTENTION PLATE:
You could just mount the light mount directly to the u-bolt plate, but every time you need to take them off you'll have too remove the light to get to the bolts for the light mounts. Then when you put them back on you'll need to readjust the mount height and the lights themselves (lots of wasted time). This set-up the bolts are below the light and easy to get to. Putting them back on… Well bolt 'em up and go. NO adjusting needed.

Well that’s it…
To remove them you have four bolts, one connecter, and a few quick wire wraps. Then put them somewhere safe and go have fun.

by: Robert Bickford a.k.a. DEADLYPEACE

DISCLAIMER

world-of-tlc.blogspot.com takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information above. world-of-tlc.blogspot.com, it's owners, or Toyota Motor Company deny any liability for actions taken based on the information in this article and will not accept responsibility for damage incurred to any vehicle, parts, or person, based on those actions. As always, world-of-tlc.blogspot.com encourages its visitors to seek the advise of a professional before attempting any modification to any vehicle.