Lights suggestions.

tacozombie · Dec 7, 2010

Hey guys, this is my first post in the forums and i wanted to say hello and comment on all the amazing tacos i have seen.

I am going to buy one of the grill craft grills probably after the first and i was wondering about the lights you guys are putting behind there. What brand, are they difficult to install, hid/no hid! Any suggestions would be great. See yall around!

JayARRGHH · Dec 7, 2010

Welcome! Honestly the best thing is go to Walmart or harborfreighttools.com and get the cheapo $20 Aux lights then put some aftermarket HIDs in or what have you

pauls2ndblessing · Dec 7, 2010

Hello and welcome to the forums!

IDK about the lights though, but TW has some great information!

holeymoley · Dec 7, 2010

pauls2ndblessing said: ↑

Hello and welcome to the forums!

IDK about the lights though, but TW has some great information!
Click to expand...

agreed.

PLC721 · Dec 7, 2010

most do hella's converted to hid, i've seen light force behind there too, ans piaa.

tacozombie · Dec 7, 2010

I checked out the light force but wow, what a price lol. I was thinking hella with hids! Just looking to get suggestions!

jusmac · Dec 7, 2010

IMO dont cheap out on lights, i see it time and time again where guys will spend all kinds of money on lifts/tires/wheels etc. But them skimp on otehr stuff. Dont buy cheap stuff and try to charlie brown it up cuz it just looks cheap in the end.... i wouldnt be happy with that. I have had to the chance to test various lights on the market and wouldnt run anything but PIAA's, but also understand people dont alwasy have big budgets. So do some research and really think how you will use them and get something that will fit your needs and budget. If budget isnt and issue....PIAA HID shock lamps are on the only way to go. Just my two cents

PLC721 · Dec 7, 2010

here ya go

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/gr...00ff-700ff-hid-plug-play-off-road-lights.html

tacozombie · Dec 7, 2010

jusmac said: ↑

IMO dont cheap out on lights, i see it time and time again where guys will spend all kinds of money on lifts/tires/wheels etc. But them skimp on otehr stuff. Dont buy cheap stuff and try to charlie brown it up cuz it just looks cheap in the end.... i wouldnt be happy with that. I have had to the chance to test various lights on the market and wouldnt run anything but PIAA's, but also understand people dont alwasy have big budgets. So do some research and really think how you will use them and get something that will fit your needs and budget. If budget isnt and issue....PIAA HID shock lamps are on the only way to go. Just my two cents
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This is the last thing that i wanna do is get something i have to replace 100 times or something that is not going to match. My plan now is to leave all the lights non hid the way they are stock. I would suppose the PIAA hid would look good even with the others non hid?

PLC721 · Dec 7, 2010

if your going that route go all out and get a led light bar

tacozombie · Dec 7, 2010

Lol..... that looks bright! that group buy you posted looks interesting, like i said i am over my head on this, i have never really been one to mess with this stuff to much. I really just like the was they look behind the grill craft grill, just cant decide on hid or not.

PLC721 · Dec 7, 2010

here's hella's

tacozombie · Dec 7, 2010

nofords08 said: ↑

here's hella's

Click to expand...

I like those....

jblaze805 · Dec 7, 2010

not mine but heres a nice how to thanks to Klipp11:

now on to mounting these bad boys...

i've seen other mounting methods where the hellas are attached to pieces of plastic on the grill surround, however i was looking for a more solid type of mount that wouldn't jostle around as i'm driving. i wanted to mount my 500's to metal, not plastic. with the satoshi it's a little tighter back there than if i had mounted the grillcraft flush with the front. so this is what i had to work with

the tranny cooler was in the way along the bottom, so i decided to mount the hellas from the top. i started by removing the hood latch cover (just remove the two 10mm bolts that hold it on). you'll find two steel tabs that stick out at the bottom of the latch mechanism that are also in the way. i just cut them off flush with a cutting wheel (sorry no pic)

for the bracket i used a 4' piece of 1/8" angle iron available at any hardware store. i went with aluminum so i wouldn't have any rusting issues.

i cut a section about 28" long for the light support and 2 brackets 2" wide

after you drill your holes and bolt it together (i used three 1" long, 1/4" thick stainless bolts with locknuts), you'll have something like this (you can position your lights wherever you want, i measured and drilled so that the hellas would be centered horizontally in the grill and flush with the grillcraft when the grill was back on)

simply use the rad support bolts on either side to secure the ends and use the pre-existing center support bolt to secure the middle of the light bracket.

looks good. take it all apart, scuff the aluminum with 400 grit sandpaper, and paint it. i used flat black spray paint

now you've got this

installed looks like this

setup allows 2.5" clearance between the lights and the rad

with satoshi grill in place (great fit!!)

BAM!

Click to expand...

Hella Hid conversion also by Klipp11:

here you go boys! this is how i converted my hella 500's to hid using a 55w 5000k kit from ddm tuning and mounted them behind my satoshi grillcraft. see here for my satoshi writeup: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd...ow-w-pics.html

started by taking the hellas apart to swap the halogen bulb for the hid bulb.
remove this screw to take the plastic housing off

remove the stock wiring above. release the metal clip that holds the halogen bulb in place, then remove the clip from the light

the hid kit includes a ballast and bulb for each side (this is the digital slim 55w ballast)

plug in the wires (they will only fit in one place) and you'll see two wires left over, one red (power) and one black (ground). touch the red wire to the +ve terminal of your truck's battery and ground the black wire to ensure your ballast and bulb are working properly.

i chose to connect the power and ground to the kit outside the light housing, so i cut the blade connectors off and slid the wires out of the rubber seal.

then filled any gaps left by removing wires from seals with silicone II to make it watertight. (silicone II will adhere better than silicone I)

remove the hid bulb from its plastic housing (do NOT touch the bulb itself)

place it carefully into the light

and bend the metal tabs in slightly to keep the bulb's base in place

prep the bonding surfaces with rubbing alcohol, allow to dry, then epoxy the bulb to the light to seal it in.

this is the 2 part epoxy that i used on both my satoshi mod and this mod

because the back of the hid bulb sticks out further than the halogen one, i drilled a 7/8" hole in the plastic housing to accommodate it.

then simply slide the seal down to the housing and pinch it in to the plastic cover so that it sits in the seal's groove

next post: my solid mount behind the satoshi grillcraft...
Click to expand...

PLC721 · Dec 7, 2010

here's my mount

tacozombie · Dec 7, 2010

Wow.... awesome write up. I think i am going to go with The Hella 500ff for now, may do the hid conversion later. Thanks for the opinions guys.

PLC721 · Dec 7, 2010

tacozombie[OP] said: ↑

Wow.... awesome write up. I think i am going to go with The Hella 500ff for now, may do the hid conversion later. Thanks for the opinions guys.
Click to expand...

i have a bad ass mount being made, will have pics up soon

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