lights on the roof (wire running help)

[xj_man_646]

i have 4 roof rack mounted aux. lights on my 98 xj. i have one wire for each pair of lights actually running into the vehicle from the roof, thats it. one on the driverside, one on the passenger side. heres my question.

who knows a good way to drill/seal a hole in the roof, and do you have any pics of it? i tried searching google, but i didnt have much luck, because i dont really know what to search for. any help would be awesome.

[deke]

ground wire? how you grounding them?

i've had luck with a hole and an *** ton of RTV, silicone, and rubber cement

on my own rig i will run a plug for electrical cabinets.

[xj_man_646]

i dont really wanna ghetto RTV it, i wanna make it real clean. what is this plug you speak of?

the lights are successfuly grounded to the light brackets..the lights work, i jsut wanna clean up the wiring real nicely

[xj_man_646]

someone please help me

[agoldxj]

dont drill throught the roof. get some zip ties and tie them up tight next to the rack.

[xj_man_646]

i want to drill through the roof because i dont want a wire exposed goin from the roof, through the door, and other possibilities of it becoming damaged...all i need is a clean way that drilling through the roof can be accomplished. deke might have something there, but hes not replying to me yet. have to wait and see. plus i dotn like the looks of a wire runnin on the roof into the door

[agoldxj]

did you run it to the hatch or the door? i did mine through the hatch and cant see the wires unless im up higher than my jeep.

[xj_man_646]

mine go through the door...too much wire to go through the hatch

[agoldxj]

i have 3 wires. power, ground, and my cb wire going through with no problems.

[sawedoff90XJ]

you can use a small firewall plug to run the wire through the roof, but chances are it will still leak. I drilled through one of the roof rack mounting screws, ran the wire through and used clear automotive goop(good for underwater glueing) - never leaked at all and looks good.

[ January 30, 2005, 02:12 PM: Message edited by: sawedoff90XJ ]

[xj_man_646]

Originally posted by agoldxj:
i have 3 wires. power, ground, and my cb wire going through with no problems.

not just that, but too much wire to run...its like 13 feet total.

[agoldxj]

ohh i see. its not to bad.

[XJ Thule 2000]

i have a whole mess of wires going through the door. doesn't leak and it is pretty cleanish looking.

[xj_man_646]

yea but i want to through my roof, ineed someone tohelp me. i remember a pic that 98XJDMB posted, some sort of connector that deke told him about? i need a pic of this

[Logans96ZJ]

Dude what you need to do is find out what they use when they mount Cb Antennas to the roof they drill a hole and use silicon or something like that but rounting it through the door is so much eaiser and you never have to worry about leaking and then if you ever sell your jeep you don't have a hole in the roof...

[agoldxj]

yup no drilling. just clean up your wiring and be done with it.

[JEEP4x4XJ]

ive gota agree with agold on this ive got my cb antina and 3 wires runnin in my hatch about the easyest non leak way to do it

[JEEP4x4XJ]

oh yeah the only thing i did difrent is i ran the wires from the front to the back threw the tubes on the rack

[xj_man_646]

im not sellin my jeep...ever. i dont want to see anywires going into the jeep...under the roof that is. i want no wires runnin down the rack, across teh roof, through the door, or any of that bs. i want it done right...clean...so you cant tell where it goes other than through the roof.

[agoldxj]

doing it right isnt always the pretty way. drilling a hole in the roof isnt a good idea selling it or not. but its your call since its your rig.

[JEEP4x4XJ]

well mines clean its ahole lot beter than leakin and u cant even see it so i dont see how it aint clean

[xj_man_646]

Originally posted by agoldxj:
doing it right isnt always the pretty way. drilling a hole in the roof isnt a good idea selling it or not. but its your call since its your rig.

why not? if you do a hole the right way, you dont need to worry about anything.

Originally posted by JEEP4x4XJ:
well mines clean its ahole lot beter than leakin and u cant even see it so i dont see how it aint clean

post a pic of it then [img]icon_smile_wink.gif[/img]

[File 5]

Hey, find the local radio shop. Find one that does the local police cars. They usually do the lights and sirens for the cops too. Here in Syracuse, NY United Radio does em for us and the most of other local PDs. Try walking up to a cop and asking if he minds if you look to see how the wires go through the roof. I'll take a few pics tonight of our trucks and their lights and how the wires are mounted. Would that help?
Trust me, I'll be doing the same thing you are when I get my rack. The connector on the roof thing sounds like a good idea. I'm going to look into that. That way I could take the rack off if I wanted to and not have to worry about cutting wires. I LIKE!!!

It'll take me a couple of days to get the pics developed.

[xj_man_646]

Originally posted by File 5:
Hey, find the local radio shop. Find one that does the local police cars. They usually do the lights and sirens for the cops too. Here in Syracuse, NY United Radio does em for us and the most of other local PDs. Try walking up to a cop and asking if he minds if you look to see how the wires go through the roof. I'll take a few pics tonight of our trucks and their lights and how the wires are mounted. Would that help?
Trust me, I'll be doing the same thing you are when I get my rack. The connector on the roof thing sounds like a good idea. I'm going to look into that. That way I could take the rack off if I wanted to and not have to worry about cutting wires. I LIKE!!!

It'll take me a couple of days to get the pics developed.

thank you. that would help a whole lot. pics would be good. ill have to ask if i can look at a cop car, too. great idea. thanks for the help man

[xj_man_646]

COME ON SOMEONE