Please bear with me as this is my first write-up. All standard disclaimers apply. I purchased a pair of Hella Rallye 4000 lights and the appropriate harness for installation. I also ordered a KC Hilites switch to replace Hella's bulky, non-illuminated version.

When I received my lights they were way too big to fit on my Mopar brackets. The problem is the wiring harness sticks out too far and at an angle that touches the windshield pillar preventing the light from mounting flush (see below).



Instead of swapping the lights for a set of Rallye 4000 Compacts, I chose to modify the harness. I started by disassembling the light and removing the black connector from the lamp housing. A spare set of internal harnesses was included for lights that come with the city light option. I cut the spare harnesses down flush to the base using a Dremel tool (see below). I also removed the plugs from the harness so I could later attach the wires inside the lamp.



I started the wiring by mounting the supplied relay at the front of the engine compartment. The Hella harness comes with all of the terminals already installed. I chose this location for the relay so I wouldn't have any excess bundles of wires hidden in the loom. The wire provided for the switch was too short and had to be extended across the engine compartment to the interior (see below).



I ran all of the wires through 3/8" wire loom that I zip tied to the factory loom. I still need to conceal the yellow power wire where it enters the passenger compartment. (see below).




The wires that go to the lights were concealed underneath the cowl at the base of the windshield. The lights are grounded to bolts underneath the cowl (see below).



I removed the grill and driver's side headlamp to tie into the high beam wire (white with green stripe). I used a simple t-tap for the connection (see below).



To connect the lights to the harness I mounted the empty light housings to the brackets and then connected the wires inside the lamp housing before reattaching the front bezel (see below).



I entered the passenger compartment through the thin rubber material in the firewall above the driver's side foot well. I'm guessing this is where the clutch mechanism would mount with a manual transmission (see below).



I drilled a 1/2" hole in the dash for the switch and connected the load (from relay), signal (from high beam) and ground wires. I had some extra cable sleeving and heat shrink around and decided to make everything somewhat pretty (see below).



The lights still sit a bit too low and close to the windshield for my taste, so I am now making a pair of spacers that will raise the lights slightly (see below).



I installed both the Hella clear protective covers and the black grills together. The mounting tabs are offset enough so that both stay attached (see below).



I have to say that I am impressed with the quality of the Hella lights and the 100w Euro beams put out a great amount of usable light with zero hood glare. I'll update this thread when my spacers are completed.

 

Yeah, I really like those too. Do you have any pics from a lille further away from the Jeep?

And what beam pattern are those? Pencil beam, or what?

 

Do you have pics of the rocker switch location?

 

thanx for the write-up!
I am just installing some hella 500s and wasn't real comfortable wiring them - you pushed me over the edge!

 

These lights have the euro beam, but are available with other lenses. I don't have a good pic, but here's one I took.

 

Updated pic. The switch requires a 1/2 inch hole for mounting.

 

Thanks. I appreciate the comments.

 

Spacers update...

When I mounted my lights the studs were almost touching the hood. I decided to make spacers to mount the lights a little higher. I started with some steel I picked up at teh hardware. The thickness is .125" and the width is 1.25".

I cut the steel into four 3" long sections (2 for each side) and drilled .5" holes in the center for the lamp studs. I primed and painted the pieces flat black.



I used 3M double-sided adhesive tape to bond the pieces together.





To protect the steel and adhesive from the elements I covered the spacers in black heatshrink and sealed the cut off ends with black silicon.





The finished product turned out pretty good.

 

Nice Hella Install. I have a pair of Hella 4000 Cornering lights from my old vehicle that I think I want to install on the windshield brackets.

How is the visibility with them there?
Is there any glare / reflections on the hood etc.?

Thanks!

 

Thanks. Visibility is great. Even with the wider Euro beam pattern, I don't have any hood glare. The only other thing I'm going to modify is the clear covers. When the lights are on the light travels through the hooks that hold the covers on and the light is visible through the windshield. I picked up some black plasti-dip to fix this.