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Light rack on the roof.


iLLlegal
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Hi everyone :takebow: Well its come time to possibly build a light rack for the roof of my pathy. sorry if I might of mist any past posts on this topic but how did everyone that has one go about mounting and doing things.

 

I want to have 4 round lights up top...also how did everyone go about wiring them up. through the roof I mean and down to were ever you have the switch. and I guess Im a little new but whats everyones fav lights to use??? If anyone can help me on this topic of light racks it would be greatly appreciated :bow:

 

 

 

and a little side note...after about half a year of owning my pathfinder I finally took it off roading!!! and wow was it fun. and to make things even better I pulled my buddys 94 GMC sierra off a jump he tried to go off and got stuck on the top. that was a great moment. anyways thanks for ya time.

 

 

 

~Shane

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search! hella, kc, lightforce, piaa, pro comp... and as far as the wiring goes, you could try searching for it! ;) maybe something like "roof rack wiring" :D i know you apologized first hand but really try looking around first, most of this stuff has been talked about a lot before.

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Yes, there are several write ups and threads about it. While 'search' is a good place to start, lets face it, the search function here is lame. It takes me a LONG time to find what I am looking for. Asking does no harm and maybe an author can chime in. 88 did a good one for his roof rack. Look in the garage maybe 6-9 months ago ? :shrug: Statikuz, maybe you could post a link or two ?? ;) Otherwise :X , eh ?? :P

 

B

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Mine's a two-door and I found a factory light bar and wiring harness to put on, so the wiring was kind of a no brainer for me. But as far a lights I'm using four Pro comp 100 watt spots. They're not top-of-the-line Piaa or Lightforce, but they're plenty bright, look good, and cheap enough to replace. The only problem is the covers. The light housings must have gotten hot in the sun and the plastic covers distorted from the heat in the center because they sit right against the lenses. Other than that they seem sturdy enough.

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and a little side note...after about half a year of owning my pathfinder I finally took it off roading!!! and wow was it fun. and to make things even better I pulled my buddys 94 GMC sierra off a jump he tried to go off and got stuck on the top. that was a great moment. anyways thanks for ya time.

 

 

 

~Shane

Was you mate going over the jump in slow motion? How in the world could he have got stuck going over a jump? Are you sure it was a jump and not just a drop off or a hump in the track? Seems to me the idea of a jump is to hit it pretty hard and see how far you go. 88 has some pics of his unit going over a jump, more than likely he is driving it too. Perhaps your mate could get some tips for next time.

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It was probably a 4x4 block he is talking about. I have seen many of them dirt biking and they are usually bulldozed in to keep 4x4's off the trail for various reasons. Yes, they are a he!! of a jump on a dirt bike, enough to be careful. If you tried it slow in a 4x4 its a guarenteed high center, and if you went fast its 50/50 that you do a forward roll. If you went real fast, you are 10 feet in the air, and I have not seen many trucks that can deal with that, much less make it back out or over the next 2. If you have not seen them before, trust me, they do their job well. Maybe I'm wrong though ? :shrug:

 

B

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It was probably a 4x4 block he is talking about. I have seen many of them dirt biking and they are usually bulldozed in to keep 4x4's off the trail for various reasons. Yes, they are a he!! of a jump on a dirt bike, enough to be careful. If you tried it slow in a 4x4 its a guarenteed high center, and if you went fast its 50/50 that you do a forward roll. If you went real fast, you are 10 feet in the air, and I have not seen many trucks that can deal with that, much less make it back out or over the next 2. If you have not seen them before, trust me, they do their job well. Maybe I'm wrong though ? :shrug:

 

B

We have them here in SoCal a lot....I tried one ONCE! Much bigger than it looked and really soft too. Buried the Pathy up to the tops of the wheel openings....

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I had a factory roof rack on my 95. itook it off and in its place, put a roof rack from an 87 i found in a junk yard. Then used my original roof rack as cross members and bolted my fog lights to the cross member.Drilled a hole right next to the bottom channel of the roof rack and ran the wire down the front collumn on the drivers side of the wind shield. stuck alittle weather proof caulk in the hole ( no leaks :D ) And i think the whole asembly looks realy cool :cool2: I will take some pics from different angles when i get home today. Every thing bolted togather useing original hard ware too. I was really suprised how easy it was. If any one has other questions about the instalation let me know.

 

KILLVOX

post-1-1122385887.jpg

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sure, you go to the search dealy, you type in "+roof +wiring" you pick no time limit, and search in all forums, and you get this one: http://npora.ipbhost.com//index.php?showto...hl=roof++wiring ... which isn't too bad. i'm sure with some more searching you could find some more threads =)

 

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=3060&hl=

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2628&hl=

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=304&hl=

 

there's some links, so now i don't have to :X, eh? :aok:

Edited by statikuz
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if you want a cheap light bar and you already have the OEM cargo rack you can use one of the large bars...thats what i did. take a drill, make the holes, bolt on the lights. as far as wiring you need to link them all together, run the power wire to a relay, ground the grounding wires (duh), install a trigger wire with switch, finish hooking up the relay. not hard at all. took me an afternoon to do everything. as for my lights...baja walmart specials. their plenty bright and i wont cry if someone steals them (lets face it, all they gotta do is unscrew a couple knobs and clip the wire) or they get knocked off. personally they light up the entire way like its daylight out...for 40 bux for all 4...plus im not rollin in the dough enough to be spending hundreds of dollars on designer brand lights.

 

EDIT: im feeling nice..here is how/where i mounted my lights..and here is also a wiring schematic

 

pathy_001.jpg

 

light_schematic.jpg

 

as you can see the blue trigger wire runs from an ignition source (key position 'on') to a switch (to turn on the lights) then runs to the relay which has the ground, power (from batt), and power lead (red to lights) also connected to it. i think the rest is pretty self explanatory.

Edited by DSM_guy
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I have a custom-made light bar bolted across a set of Yakima racks. To get the wiring up there, I pulled back the headliner inside and drilled a hole, then installed a grommet and ran the wires up the driver's side pillar next to the windshield. Two relays fit nicely behind the kick panel on the floor.

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It was probably a 4x4 block he is talking about. I have seen many of them dirt biking and they are usually bulldozed in to keep 4x4's off the trail for various reasons. Yes, they are a he!! of a jump on a dirt bike, enough to be careful. If you tried it slow in a 4x4 its a guarenteed high center, and if you went fast its 50/50 that you do a forward roll. If you went real fast, you are 10 feet in the air, and I have not seen many trucks that can deal with that, much less make it back out or over the next 2. If you have not seen them before, trust me, they do their job well. Maybe I'm wrong though ?  :shrug:

 

B

thats exactly what happend. it was accually ment for quads. he slowed down to much at the bottom. and to be honest HE did it once got stuck.. did it a second time got over it. 3rd time got stuck AGAIN..did he learn anything yet???.....but my buddy put the chain on one of the 2 hook things under the bumper..not the accual tow and the chain ripped clean out of it. flying and smashing his foglights(servs him right)

 

anyway thanks for the help everone on this subjectof light racks. I THINK i got the just of it. I might accualy go with the idea of DSM guy.of mounting it to the stock roof rack. or get some pipe or something. ill post on my updates and mabey some pics to go with it. . P...

 

thanks again. wow im suprised at all the help I get here :bow: :bow: :bow:

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.....but my buddy put the chain on one of the 2 hook things under the bumper..not the accual tow and the chain ripped clean out of it. flying and smashing his foglights(servs him right)

 

Wow. A guy from some Jeep forum recently died due to a similar act of negligence. A tow hook smacked him right in the back of the head. You should be more careful man...

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ya it flew out reallly fast. thank god everyone was in there trucks. cuz ya I agree with you they can do some damage. and IF i had hooked it up. it would of gone on the tow hook not some flimsy hooks under the body.

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Like Jason said, their have been quite a few injuries and deaths from improper "yanking" tools and techniques. One reason it's a good idea to even switch from a steel to synthetic winch line.

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There it is... It doesn't matter if it is steel cable, chain or synthetic strap. You put 5000-10,000 lbs force in it and it lets go, it's going to whip crack something fierce. Only drawback to cable it that you dont have to be hit by a shackle, the thin diameter combined with the weight and rigidity can cut you real deep also. Whole point is caution, no matter how you do it.

 

B

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Well, you always stand back from a winch line no matter the type. Even with a synth line you are still using steel attachments at the end that can fail. However if a synth rope its self brakes it will disipate the energy a lot quicker than a steel winch rope.

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