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The rain and snow took a break today so I got up at the butt crack of dawn to start on my Recon CCL install that I have been waiting two weeks to do.
I followed the directions that came with it except for the measuring part. They made it super complicated and my way worked fine. Basically I put a piece of blue painters tape on the outside of the glass at the bottom of the rear view mirror bracket. I measured the width and found the center. Then I took my tailors tape and taped it to the glass and ran it up to the roof to make my center line.
I put down some of the 3" blue tape at all light locations because it made it easier to mark & it left a cleaner hole when I drilled. Also I didn't have to mark up the paint. Since I couldn't fit my marker through the hole of the light I used a small phillips screwdriver to make my marks on the tape then moved it and used a fine point marker to make a small dot. I then made a mark half way between the front & rear screw holes. When making your marks for holes I find it easier to make the smallest dot possible. The smaller the mark, the easier it is to find the center of it and the more accurate your holes will be.
Even though the lights came with a harness I made my own because the factory one sucks. I used 16ga wire and made a positive & negative branch type harness like the instructions state. I then taped them together in a few places to make it easier to work with and attached the butt connectors.
After snaking the wires into place through the roof I cut the plugs off the lights and crimped them to my harness. The wires off the lights are a very small gauge so I stripped them longer and folded the end in half before crimping it to the harness. This gave it a better connection. I taped both ends of the connector for extra insurance. I used 4" from the edge of the roof to the FRONT of the light for the middle three and 5" for the two outer lights. My spacing was to the CENTER of each light and is as follows:
0---13---0--8--0--8--0---13---0
I connected my lights to the parking lights and fused the lead with a 15A fuse. I spent a while looking for the correct wire and even posted a thread & shot a few PM's, which I got NO responses to. So for all of you out there interested in doing this, the parking light wire is green, carries a positive (+) polarity and is located in the drivers kick panel in a black plug pin #1.
I finished off by going around each hole with a little clear silicone and running the screws in by hand until they were snug.
This is actually a lot easier than I thought. Once you get over the fear of drilling the roof you'll be OK. I measured everything a bunch and even tucked the plugs all the way into the light so I could set them on the roof and line up my marks and look at it before I started.
I followed the directions that came with it except for the measuring part. They made it super complicated and my way worked fine. Basically I put a piece of blue painters tape on the outside of the glass at the bottom of the rear view mirror bracket. I measured the width and found the center. Then I took my tailors tape and taped it to the glass and ran it up to the roof to make my center line.
I put down some of the 3" blue tape at all light locations because it made it easier to mark & it left a cleaner hole when I drilled. Also I didn't have to mark up the paint. Since I couldn't fit my marker through the hole of the light I used a small phillips screwdriver to make my marks on the tape then moved it and used a fine point marker to make a small dot. I then made a mark half way between the front & rear screw holes. When making your marks for holes I find it easier to make the smallest dot possible. The smaller the mark, the easier it is to find the center of it and the more accurate your holes will be.
Even though the lights came with a harness I made my own because the factory one sucks. I used 16ga wire and made a positive & negative branch type harness like the instructions state. I then taped them together in a few places to make it easier to work with and attached the butt connectors.
After snaking the wires into place through the roof I cut the plugs off the lights and crimped them to my harness. The wires off the lights are a very small gauge so I stripped them longer and folded the end in half before crimping it to the harness. This gave it a better connection. I taped both ends of the connector for extra insurance. I used 4" from the edge of the roof to the FRONT of the light for the middle three and 5" for the two outer lights. My spacing was to the CENTER of each light and is as follows:
0---13---0--8--0--8--0---13---0
I connected my lights to the parking lights and fused the lead with a 15A fuse. I spent a while looking for the correct wire and even posted a thread & shot a few PM's, which I got NO responses to. So for all of you out there interested in doing this, the parking light wire is green, carries a positive (+) polarity and is located in the drivers kick panel in a black plug pin #1.
I finished off by going around each hole with a little clear silicone and running the screws in by hand until they were snug.
This is actually a lot easier than I thought. Once you get over the fear of drilling the roof you'll be OK. I measured everything a bunch and even tucked the plugs all the way into the light so I could set them on the roof and line up my marks and look at it before I started.
thats why duallys all come with them standard...the cab lights and the red ones across the tailgate, or under the tailgate, etc. plus they also have clearance lights on the fenders front and rear to indicate the exterior dimension. now, alot of makers (ford for one) do install clearance lights when not necessarily required by law...in that case its just mainly for looks...superduty single wheel axle trucks for example.
