What are my options for mounting lights on my ZJ's bumper?

Jim311 · Mar 28, 2004

I know some of the ZJs came with stock fogs located on the bumper, but where can I find the proper brackets for this? I could use long bolts and washers to mount to the plastic, but I'd like something more substantial ideally. I tried a search, but the results were rather inconclusive.

Edit: I meant the location of the fog lights on TOP of the bumper. Not the brackets that are below the bumper. I already have those.

Jim311 · Mar 28, 2004

Nobody?

Guest · Mar 28, 2004

May wanna give it a little bit longer than an hour and a half . . . .

Jim311 · Mar 28, 2004

I know.. but I wanted to do this today and the hardware stores close soon.

:crazy

rjzj94 · Mar 28, 2004

I have the brackets from my factory fog lights if you want them. They don't work with my ARB. I don't think they will fit with any lights but those that they came with, and i dont have them anymore.

desertzj · Mar 31, 2004

the factory fog light brackets mount under the grill, you don't need the factory brackets, but they do make it easy. I took my stock brackets and ground down the tabs and drilled a hole through them to mount my KC's, I also drilled holes in the plastic bumper just large enough for the bolt of the lights to sit in.

white94zj · Mar 31, 2004

All you need to do is remove the grill and there are 2 big bolts on each side. Get a peice of metal around 4" long and make the holes and you are done. I wired mine to only come on with the high beams because they are very bright. They are actually the cheap walmart 55w lights that cost $10-15. They make a night and day difference and I wouldn't really care if someone took them compared to a set of piaa's or something.

Here are 2 pics. If "show picture" doesn't work click properties and paste the link and if it still don't work just forget it.

[96Grand] · Mar 31, 2004

On my '96 I mounted the lights off the front bumper with L brackets from the hardware store. They were 1.5" or 2" wide and had to re-drill the top hole for the lights to mount to it. I had to do some trimming to the bumper for the bracket and account for the bottom part of the bolt. I also had to drill holes in the metal bumper to mount the brackets - use caution because you get close to the radiator if you use a long bit.

Good Luck!

ViNcE-ZJ · Apr 3, 2004

i paid the $5 for the factory brackets, cut slits in the bumper, installed em, bolted my $50 crappy tire lights to those...its been a year now and they are still there and even work....bliding oncoming traffic right now.....i think aiming is in order...

doccjp · Apr 8, 2004

Several choices....

contact www.jeepsareus for the stock foglights and correct brackets. Then just dremmel out the foglight spaces in the bumper.

you can always get a bumper with brush guards and mount lights to that.

you can get 8 inch right angle brackets from Home Despot and pull the bumper, drill and tap so that they fit between the bumper and the grill, and attach to the protruding piece.

Finally, you can jerry rig stuff to attach to the diagonal crossmembers behind the grill and in front of the radiator that then protrude out from the grill.

grand94jeep · Apr 9, 2004

light

white94zj said:
All you need to do is remove the grill and there are 2 big bolts on each side. Get a peice of metal around 4" long and make the holes and you are done. I wired mine to only come on with the high beams because they are very bright. They are actually the cheap walmart 55w lights that cost $10-15. They make a night and day difference and I wouldn't really care if someone took them compared to a set of piaa's or something.

Here are 2 pics. If "show picture" doesn't work click properties and paste the link and if it still don't work just forget it.

I ran these same lights. Just a little advice. Take them apart every now and then and spray some oil on the rear of the housing. Mine rusted so bad the bulb was seized in place. I know they're cheap lights, but its still a PITA. :thumbsup:

tranceZJ · Apr 9, 2004

1. take off bumper
2. throw it away
3. put lights where ever you please.

white94zj · Apr 9, 2004

Re: light

grand94jeep said:
white94zj said:

All you need to do is remove the grill and there are 2 big bolts on each side. Get a peice of metal around 4" long and make the holes and you are done. I wired mine to only come on with the high beams because they are very bright. They are actually the cheap walmart 55w lights that cost $10-15. They make a night and day difference and I wouldn't really care if someone took them compared to a set of piaa's or something.

Here are 2 pics. If "show picture" doesn't work click properties and paste the link and if it still don't work just forget it.

Click to expand...

I ran these same lights. Just a little advice. Take them apart every now and then and spray some oil on the rear of the housing. Mine rusted so bad the bulb was seized in place. I know they're cheap lights, but its still a PITA. :thumbsup:

I ran them behind the grill of an old car I had and found that out. They are excellent lights for the price though. I would never run them on all the time because of that, just with high beams. I think the lenses crack easily because both of mine were pretty bad the jeep should be better because its higher. Also, the lights in my pic are straight. I don't know why it looks cross-eyed.
:thumbsup:

KevinsOffroad.com · Apr 12, 2004

What no body mentioned is that the '93>'95 models have two threaded holes for the M12 bolts to attach the stock brackets to the bumper. I don't believe that the '96+ models had these, so what ever you are going to have to do will probably require you having to drill a hole downward into the steel behind the bumper facia, putting some sort of all-thread poking upward with a nut on both the bottom and the top of the bumper steel, and then clearance out the bumper facia in order to allow the allthread to come through it. Place another nut on the bottom of your light bracket and one on the top, and you now have two light pedestals. Not sure how much they are going to bounce when you hit a bump (steel flexes, and so does all-thread), but that's about the only way I can come up with aside from welding in an L bracket to the top of the steel and clearancing the bumper around it.

I dunno...probably more work than it's worth, and then you have the lessened cooling factor as well.

Let us know how you decide to attack the problems.

-=Kevin=-

What are my options for mounting lights on my ZJ's bumper?

Jim311

Jim311

Guest

Jim311

rjzj94

desertzj

white94zj

[96Grand]

ViNcE-ZJ

doccjp

grand94jeep

tranceZJ

white94zj

KevinsOffroad.com

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities