Off Road Additions Headlight Install
02-06-2016, 12:16 AM
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Off Road Additions Headlight Install
I purchased the Off Road Additions Night Guard headlights and fog lights for my 2012 Jeep. Here is a write-up on their installation. Please be gentle, this is my very first write-up. 
They arrived well packed and in good condition.
Here is what I received:
• ORA Night Guard headlights – Qty. 2
• Anti-flicker harness – Qty. 2
• Harness Adapter – Qty. 2
• ORA Fog lights – Qty. 2 (Not pictured)
Tools I used (some optional):
• Trim removal tool
• ¼” drive ratchet
• ¼” drive extension
• ¼” drive T-15 torx bit
• Small flat blade screwdriver
• Wire cutter
• Wire stripper
• Wire crimp tool
• Soldering iron
• Heat gun
Materials (some optional):
• 18 gauge copper wire (Red) – Qty. ~10 ft.
• ¼” braided cable sleeve – Qty. ~10 ft.
• 18-20 gauge heat shrink crimp butt connectors – Qty. 4
• Adhesive lined heat shrink – various sizes
• Solder
• Flux paste
• Electrical tape
• Zip ties
• Dielectric grease
• Rubbing alcohol
• Black Paint (I used flat black)
I took some pictures of the stock headlights for aiming and comparison purposes. Unfortunately I did not capture any on-road pictures of the stock lights before they were removed. I think it is well known the stock lights are pathetic. There are times when you can’t tell they are even on.
Low beams on garage door:
Step 1. Prep the lights for install
A. This red wire is a power lead for the daytime running lights. You can connect the DRL’s several ways or not connect them at all if that is your choice. I chose to connect them to the park lights so that they are on when the park lights are on. The headlights have an internal switch so that when you turn on the headlights the DRLs turn off, even though the park lights are still powered on.
B. I crimped an 18 gauge butt connector to this lead.
C. I guesstimated about 3 feet of 18 gauge wire lead for connection to the park lamps. I stripped ¼” of insulation off one end and crimped this to the other side of the butt connector in Step 1B above.
D. I then shrank the heat shrink insulation on the butt connector. I am a bit over cautious when it comes to connections like this so in addition to the butt connector heat shrink, I slipped a length of adhesive lined heat shrink tubing over the entire connection and shrank it too.
E. I slipped some ¼” braided cable sleeve over the length of wire (I used split braid) along with a small length of the adhesive lined heat shrink with an ID that would fit the braided sleeve inside. I then shrank the tubing over the braid, this helps to hold the braid in place. I left the other end of the braided sleeve uncut so that I could cut it to length during the final installation.
F. I added some dielectric grease to all the connectors for the headlight harness, harness adapter and anti-flicker unit. I then assembled the harness.
G. Lastly, I zip-tied the DRL wire to the headlight harness assembly and trimmed the excess zip tie leads flush with the heads.
H. Complete steps A-G for the other head light.
Step 2. Remove stock headlights.
A. The first step is to remove the grill. Since this has been heavily covered all over the internet I won’t go into detail. My removal was actually a chore due to the close proximity of my winch. Be sure to remove the parking/turn signal sockets from the light housings before pulling the grill free of the Jeep.
B. Once the grill is removed you will need to remove the trim ring that retains the headlight. There are four (4) screws holding the retaining ring to the headlight bucket. You will need a T-15 torx driver to remove them. Be sure to hold on to the headlight as you remove the last bolt as the headlight may try to fall out of the bucket. NOTE: Make sure you only remove the four retaining bolts on the trim ring. There is another T-15 torx screw there that is for headlight adjustment. Don’t touch that bolt at this time. See example below.
C. Once the trim ring is removed you can gently pull the light from the bucket enough to reach behind the light and unplug the light from the vehicle harness. You must push the red latch on the connector “up” to the other position on the connector and then you can pull the two connector halves apart and remove the stock headlight. See photos below:
D. Complete steps B and C for the other light.
Step 3. Trim ring prep.
A. This step is optional. The trim ring has a shiny metallic appearance stock. The ORA headlights have a black outer ring and installing them with the trim ring as it comes stock tends to clash a bit. I painted my trim rings to camouflage them better. NOTE: BE CAREFUL WHEN HANDLING THE TRIM RINGS, THEY ARE MADE OF THIN METAL AND THEY HAVE SOME SHARP EDGES THAT CAN CUT YOU.
B. I thoroughly washed the trim rings with warm water to remove dirt and grime.
C. Dry them thoroughly, paint won’t stick to water.
D. I them used some rubbing alcohol to remove any oil or grease from the rings. I am wearing latex gloves for this because the oil from your hands is part of the reason for cleaning with alcohol.
E. Again, make sure they are dry. Now they are ready for paint.
F. I then gave each ring a good coating of flat black paint and allowed them to dry thoroughly before continuing the installation. Follow the manufacturer directions for your chosen paint. If you find any light coverage or missed parts hit them with a second coat.
continued in next post...
They arrived well packed and in good condition.
Here is what I received:
• ORA Night Guard headlights – Qty. 2
• Anti-flicker harness – Qty. 2
• Harness Adapter – Qty. 2
• ORA Fog lights – Qty. 2 (Not pictured)
Tools I used (some optional):
• Trim removal tool
• ¼” drive ratchet
• ¼” drive extension
• ¼” drive T-15 torx bit
• Small flat blade screwdriver
• Wire cutter
• Wire stripper
• Wire crimp tool
• Soldering iron
• Heat gun
Materials (some optional):
• 18 gauge copper wire (Red) – Qty. ~10 ft.
• ¼” braided cable sleeve – Qty. ~10 ft.
• 18-20 gauge heat shrink crimp butt connectors – Qty. 4
• Adhesive lined heat shrink – various sizes
• Solder
• Flux paste
• Electrical tape
• Zip ties
• Dielectric grease
• Rubbing alcohol
• Black Paint (I used flat black)
I took some pictures of the stock headlights for aiming and comparison purposes. Unfortunately I did not capture any on-road pictures of the stock lights before they were removed. I think it is well known the stock lights are pathetic. There are times when you can’t tell they are even on.
Low beams on garage door:
Step 1. Prep the lights for install
A. This red wire is a power lead for the daytime running lights. You can connect the DRL’s several ways or not connect them at all if that is your choice. I chose to connect them to the park lights so that they are on when the park lights are on. The headlights have an internal switch so that when you turn on the headlights the DRLs turn off, even though the park lights are still powered on.
B. I crimped an 18 gauge butt connector to this lead.
C. I guesstimated about 3 feet of 18 gauge wire lead for connection to the park lamps. I stripped ¼” of insulation off one end and crimped this to the other side of the butt connector in Step 1B above.
D. I then shrank the heat shrink insulation on the butt connector. I am a bit over cautious when it comes to connections like this so in addition to the butt connector heat shrink, I slipped a length of adhesive lined heat shrink tubing over the entire connection and shrank it too.
E. I slipped some ¼” braided cable sleeve over the length of wire (I used split braid) along with a small length of the adhesive lined heat shrink with an ID that would fit the braided sleeve inside. I then shrank the tubing over the braid, this helps to hold the braid in place. I left the other end of the braided sleeve uncut so that I could cut it to length during the final installation.
F. I added some dielectric grease to all the connectors for the headlight harness, harness adapter and anti-flicker unit. I then assembled the harness.
G. Lastly, I zip-tied the DRL wire to the headlight harness assembly and trimmed the excess zip tie leads flush with the heads.
H. Complete steps A-G for the other head light.
Step 2. Remove stock headlights.
A. The first step is to remove the grill. Since this has been heavily covered all over the internet I won’t go into detail. My removal was actually a chore due to the close proximity of my winch. Be sure to remove the parking/turn signal sockets from the light housings before pulling the grill free of the Jeep.
B. Once the grill is removed you will need to remove the trim ring that retains the headlight. There are four (4) screws holding the retaining ring to the headlight bucket. You will need a T-15 torx driver to remove them. Be sure to hold on to the headlight as you remove the last bolt as the headlight may try to fall out of the bucket. NOTE: Make sure you only remove the four retaining bolts on the trim ring. There is another T-15 torx screw there that is for headlight adjustment. Don’t touch that bolt at this time. See example below.
C. Once the trim ring is removed you can gently pull the light from the bucket enough to reach behind the light and unplug the light from the vehicle harness. You must push the red latch on the connector “up” to the other position on the connector and then you can pull the two connector halves apart and remove the stock headlight. See photos below:
D. Complete steps B and C for the other light.
Step 3. Trim ring prep.
A. This step is optional. The trim ring has a shiny metallic appearance stock. The ORA headlights have a black outer ring and installing them with the trim ring as it comes stock tends to clash a bit. I painted my trim rings to camouflage them better. NOTE: BE CAREFUL WHEN HANDLING THE TRIM RINGS, THEY ARE MADE OF THIN METAL AND THEY HAVE SOME SHARP EDGES THAT CAN CUT YOU.
B. I thoroughly washed the trim rings with warm water to remove dirt and grime.
C. Dry them thoroughly, paint won’t stick to water.
D. I them used some rubbing alcohol to remove any oil or grease from the rings. I am wearing latex gloves for this because the oil from your hands is part of the reason for cleaning with alcohol.
E. Again, make sure they are dry. Now they are ready for paint.
F. I then gave each ring a good coating of flat black paint and allowed them to dry thoroughly before continuing the installation. Follow the manufacturer directions for your chosen paint. If you find any light coverage or missed parts hit them with a second coat.
continued in next post...
Last edited by SidewaysTA; 02-07-2016 at 03:22 AM.
02-06-2016, 12:18 AM
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continued
continued...
Step 4. ORA headlight install.
A. Take the ORA headlight assembly connect the open connector on the anti-flicker unit to the vehicle harness. Once fully seated, be sure to slide the red lock completely to its original position. It may be difficult to move. I used a small flat blade screwdriver to move the red lock.
B. Feed the harness with the DRL wire assembly into the headlight bucket and tuck neatly behind it. Try to direct the DRL wire down toward the parking/turn signal lamps below the headlight buckets.
C. The headlights and buckets are keyed to allow for only one way to install the headlights. See the pictures below. Insert the notches on the back of the headlight into the sockets on the headlight buckets. When installed properly, the DOT SAE label on the headlight lens should be in a top orientation.
D. Like the headlight, the trim ring can only be installed one way. The mounting tabs are offset so be sure to orient the trim ring so that the mounting tabs line up with the corresponding bolt holes in the bucket. Insert and tighten the T-15 torx screws into each of the four trim ring mounting tabs. Don’t get carried away tightening them. Just make sure they are snug.
E. Repeat steps A through D for the other headlight.
Step 5. Daytime running light connection.
A. I am connecting the DRLs in the headlights to my parking lights on the parking/turn signal connectors below the headlight buckets. The wire for the parking lights on my Jeep are the middle wire in the connector. On my jeep they are color coded white wire w/ a green stripe for the driver side parking light and white wire w/ a brownish stripe on the passenger side. The wiring diagrams list the parking light and turn signal light wires as the same color but that wasn’t the case on my Jeep. The main thing to remember is the wire I used is the middle wire as shown in the pictures. NOTE: Be sure to determine your correct wire on your vehicle as manufacturers sometimes do weird stuff. You can always test it out with a meter or test light to make sure.
B. I removed the tape on the end of the factory split loom and pulled the parking lamp wire out from it to give me more wire to work with.
C. I cut the wire a couple inches above the connector and stripped a ¼” of insulator off the end of the wire from the factory wiring loom.
D. I lined up the red wire from the ORA headlights with the stripped wire in step C and cut it to the same length. I then stripped ¼” of insulator from this wire as well.
E. When attempting to run two wires into one end of a butt connector I prefer to solder them together. This helps prevent them from slipping out. To facilitate this, I temporarily taped these two wires together with electrical tape whilst soldering.
F. Twist the two leads together and apply some flux paste to them. Then lightly tin them with solder. After the wires are together, remove the electrical tape.
G. I slipped a small length of adhesive lined heat shrink over the wires sized large enough to fit over the butt connector. I then inserted the two wires into the end of a 18 gauge butt connector and crimped.
H. Strip back ¼” of insulator from the wire on the parking/turn signal socket. Insert this wire into the other end of the butt connector and crimp.
I. Slide the heat shrink tubing over the butt connector and shrink it down.
J. I then tucked the factory wire back into the factory split loom along with the lower portion of the red wire and the butt connector. I also cut the braided loom to the length of the light connector. I opened the split braided sleeve and worked it so that it wrapped the factory split loom all the way down to the light socket.
K. Then I ran electrical tape over the loom/sleeve assembly to hold it all together.
L. Repeat steps B through K for the other light.
Step 6. Final assembly and payoff.
A. Now just reinstall the grill. Reinstall the parking/turn signal sockets into the light housings.
B. Try out the new lights. I did a rudimentary aiming procedure based on how the stock lights patterned on my garage door. I am going to be installing 35” tires soon so I will go through a more thorough aiming procedure after they are installed. Here are some comparison shots on my garage door and some shots of the new lights in use.
Comparison stock vs ORA projected on garage door:
ORA DRLs and Fog Lights:
ORA Low Beams and Fog Lights:
ORA High Beams:
For Sh!ts and Giggles, ORA High Beams and Rigid Dually D2 Driving and Wide Beams
:
Hope y'all enjoy!!!
Step 4. ORA headlight install.
A. Take the ORA headlight assembly connect the open connector on the anti-flicker unit to the vehicle harness. Once fully seated, be sure to slide the red lock completely to its original position. It may be difficult to move. I used a small flat blade screwdriver to move the red lock.
B. Feed the harness with the DRL wire assembly into the headlight bucket and tuck neatly behind it. Try to direct the DRL wire down toward the parking/turn signal lamps below the headlight buckets.
C. The headlights and buckets are keyed to allow for only one way to install the headlights. See the pictures below. Insert the notches on the back of the headlight into the sockets on the headlight buckets. When installed properly, the DOT SAE label on the headlight lens should be in a top orientation.
D. Like the headlight, the trim ring can only be installed one way. The mounting tabs are offset so be sure to orient the trim ring so that the mounting tabs line up with the corresponding bolt holes in the bucket. Insert and tighten the T-15 torx screws into each of the four trim ring mounting tabs. Don’t get carried away tightening them. Just make sure they are snug.
E. Repeat steps A through D for the other headlight.
Step 5. Daytime running light connection.
A. I am connecting the DRLs in the headlights to my parking lights on the parking/turn signal connectors below the headlight buckets. The wire for the parking lights on my Jeep are the middle wire in the connector. On my jeep they are color coded white wire w/ a green stripe for the driver side parking light and white wire w/ a brownish stripe on the passenger side. The wiring diagrams list the parking light and turn signal light wires as the same color but that wasn’t the case on my Jeep. The main thing to remember is the wire I used is the middle wire as shown in the pictures. NOTE: Be sure to determine your correct wire on your vehicle as manufacturers sometimes do weird stuff. You can always test it out with a meter or test light to make sure.
B. I removed the tape on the end of the factory split loom and pulled the parking lamp wire out from it to give me more wire to work with.
C. I cut the wire a couple inches above the connector and stripped a ¼” of insulator off the end of the wire from the factory wiring loom.
D. I lined up the red wire from the ORA headlights with the stripped wire in step C and cut it to the same length. I then stripped ¼” of insulator from this wire as well.
E. When attempting to run two wires into one end of a butt connector I prefer to solder them together. This helps prevent them from slipping out. To facilitate this, I temporarily taped these two wires together with electrical tape whilst soldering.
F. Twist the two leads together and apply some flux paste to them. Then lightly tin them with solder. After the wires are together, remove the electrical tape.
G. I slipped a small length of adhesive lined heat shrink over the wires sized large enough to fit over the butt connector. I then inserted the two wires into the end of a 18 gauge butt connector and crimped.
H. Strip back ¼” of insulator from the wire on the parking/turn signal socket. Insert this wire into the other end of the butt connector and crimp.
I. Slide the heat shrink tubing over the butt connector and shrink it down.
J. I then tucked the factory wire back into the factory split loom along with the lower portion of the red wire and the butt connector. I also cut the braided loom to the length of the light connector. I opened the split braided sleeve and worked it so that it wrapped the factory split loom all the way down to the light socket.
K. Then I ran electrical tape over the loom/sleeve assembly to hold it all together.
L. Repeat steps B through K for the other light.
Step 6. Final assembly and payoff.
A. Now just reinstall the grill. Reinstall the parking/turn signal sockets into the light housings.
B. Try out the new lights. I did a rudimentary aiming procedure based on how the stock lights patterned on my garage door. I am going to be installing 35” tires soon so I will go through a more thorough aiming procedure after they are installed. Here are some comparison shots on my garage door and some shots of the new lights in use.
Comparison stock vs ORA projected on garage door:
ORA DRLs and Fog Lights:
ORA Low Beams and Fog Lights:
ORA High Beams:
For Sh!ts and Giggles, ORA High Beams and Rigid Dually D2 Driving and Wide Beams
:
Hope y'all enjoy!!!
Last edited by SidewaysTA; 02-07-2016 at 03:46 AM. Reason: Edited to add missing comparison shot
02-08-2016, 07:39 AM
#7
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I'm very pleased with them. I can see the road/trail much better now. I can actually tell they are on. LOL It's definitely one of the best mods I've done so far in regards to the night and day difference gained (pun intended). I also love the look, they are different from the mainstream LED headlights on the market.
Only concern I had was blinding oncoming drivers but that doesn't seem to be a problem. I have yet to be flashed etc. Once I get the bigger tires installed I will go through a proper adjustment procedure.
I also installed their backup LED's too. I'll be posting a (much simpler) write-up about those soon.
Only concern I had was blinding oncoming drivers but that doesn't seem to be a problem. I have yet to be flashed etc. Once I get the bigger tires installed I will go through a proper adjustment procedure.
I also installed their backup LED's too. I'll be posting a (much simpler) write-up about those soon.
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02-09-2016, 05:13 AM
#10
JK Enthusiast
Amazing write up! Thanks for taking the time to do this. I'm sure everyone will use this as a reference for installing headlights. I know I will whenever I get around to buying some new headlights. Like the heat shrink, I'm a little anal about stuff like that also.
Last edited by 2014Wrangler; 04-21-2016 at 05:05 PM.