Driving lamps (additional)

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Introduction

Installing some additional driving lamps (either for forward or reverse driving) is on most people's wish list.

Installing additional external lamps on a vehicle might be illegal in some regions of the world, or may require that the vehicle goes through some recertification process.

Two possible mounting points for the driving lamps are either somewhere on the roof, or somewhere on/around front or rear bumpers.

Lamps mounted on the roof

Since most Jimnys have factory longitudinal roof rails, the best way to mount the lamps on the roof is to install transverse roof rail(s) and then mount the lamps on transverse roof rail(s).

The wiring then must be put through the cabin up to the roof.

Advantages of roof mounted lamps:

• You can install many (up to ~10);
• They can be mounted either on the front end of the roof (for illumination when going forward) or on the rear end of the roof (for illumination when reversing).
• They do not restrict air flow to the engine;
• They do not pose a hazard to pedestrians in the case of collision, so they have more chances of being legal (but check with your local laws);
• No need to drill or glue anything to vehicle's body;
• They look prominent on the vehicle;

Disadvantages of roof mounted lamps:

• They increase air resistance during high speed driving;
• They may induce significant wind noise during high speed driving;
• They might get damaged if they tangle up in low branches when driving through a forest;
• The need to carry something else on the roof might be hindered by the presence of the lamps on the roof;
• They give off a prominent glare from the bonnet, reducing your forward vision

Lamps mounted on or near the bumpers

If you want to mount the driving lamps on/near the bumpers, you have a problem that Jimny has modern soft plastic bumpers. They are inadequate to be mounting points for the headlamps.

Rear bumper

In case of the rear bumper, (very small) driving lamps can be installed only in the bumper itself (by cutting a hole in it somewhere near the rear lamps). Mounting anything on the bumper is out of the question, unless you don't plan to ever open the rear door.

Front bumper

In case of the front bumper, it is not advisable to mount anything in the bumper holes where there are factory ventilation grilles (except for very small lamps), because that might severely restrict the air flow towards the engine heat radiator, and towards the intercooler in case of 63 kW K9K diesel engine.

One pretty solution is to install a metal "bull bar" ("nudge bar") in front of the front bumper, and then mount the driving lamps on the bar. However, bull bars are illegal in certain world regions. Also, most bull bars significantly reduce vehicle's ground clearance (specifically: approach angle).

One simple solution (in theory) is to simply drill two holes on the top of the bumper (in front of the hood) and mount the driving lamps on the bumper itself. However, as the bumper is made of thin plastic, it vibrates and wobbles during driving, and so will the lamps that it would carry. Unless you fancy looking at the "dancing lamps" in front of your vehicle while driving, you might quickly get sick of that annoyance.

The vibration issue can be remedied by one of two methods:

1. Reinforce the top of the bumper (from the inside) so that it becomes thicker / stronger / stiffer and does not vibrate and wobble. This is typically done by applying one or two layes of special plastic net soaked into thick epoxy resin (that's what vehicle bodywork restorers do when they fix damaged plastic vehicle panels). However, this solution might not entirely fix the vibration issue, depending on the weight of the driving lamps.
2. Fabricate and install / weld your own metal mounts behind the front bumper, which would hold onto the chassis. The mounts should end right below the top of the bumper. Then drill two holes in the top of the bumper just above the mounts. This will enable the driving lamps to be screwed into the mounts, and the bumper will have no weight bearing function whatsoever. This is the best solution, and completely eliminates the vibration / wobble issue. However, any future removal of the front bumper requires prior removal of the driving lamps.

One more solution is to buy these Chinese-made metal carriers, or fabricate your own of a similar design: Link

Lamps mounted on bull bars (nudge bars)

Bull bars are excellent mounting points for driving lamps. In fact, that is their most useful role. Both the front and rear bull bar could be used as a mount for the driving lamps. However, bull bars have several disadvantages.

Read the wiki article "Bull bar (nudge bar)" for more information.

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Page last edited on 21/02/2019 by user Bosanek