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Bumper and foglights queston

Alienspecimen

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Best Coast RI
I would like to know if my front bumper is original. Apparently, it has been in a minor accident before I bought my XJ and whoever had it at the time changed the bumper and endcaps.

The reason I ask is because I would like to install fog lights. Here is what it looks like now:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/alienspecimen/detail?.dir=8071&.dnm=43f8.jpg&.src=ph
How different is it? I bought this:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/alienspecimen/detail?.dir=8071&.dnm=f8ac.jpg&.src=ph
It looks to me like the original, but without the brackets. Even with them, I would think that on the current bumper, they will stick too far to the front of the holes, just like this:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/alienspecimen/detail?.dir=8071&.dnm=551e.jpg&.src=ph
and I assume that it should be mounted like this:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/alienspecimen/detail?.dir=8071&.dnm=ba65.jpg&.src=ph
waaaaay into the holes.
I might be wrong though...based on what I have seen, these foglights look exactly like the ones the dealer installs and as you see, they fit the holes perfectly.
In addition to that, I would like to know, if instead of running the harness through an additional switch and fuse, I just wire it up to my headlights and change the fuse, so when I turn the headlights on, the fog lights would be on too. Are there any dangers in doing that? As I said already, I would be replacing the fuse with one that has better rating. Any suggestions what that would be?
Thanks in advance
Boris
 
The factory ones are mounted behind the holes. The safest way to wire them to the headlights would be with a relay that senses when the low beams are on.
I'd get a relay that was about 30amps. The relay willa have 4 prongs on it that are marked 86, 85, 30, and 87.

Prong 85 would be grounded. Prong 86 would get connected to one of your (+) headlight low beam wires. Prong 30 would get connected to the battery. Prong 87 would get connected to the (+) side of your new fog lights. Then the foglights (-) would be grounded to the bumper/frame.

With this setup the relay will sense when current is going to the headlights and automatically switch on the fogs. This setup will put no extra strain on the factory headlight wiring.
 
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Looks like a 97+ XJ, the jeepsareus site has the kit, sans the lights which are crap anyway. The factory ones have the mounting bracket as part of the light housing and they mount to 3 bolt holes under the bumper. I bought the wiring kit and installed the inside portion which consists of a new switch panel that you swap your existing switches into and add the fog light switch, it's got 3 open holes vs 2. When you have the face panel out you will see a connector there, it's for the fogs, forget it, it will light the switch but it goes to the power distribution center where the factory fogs get their power from, there will be two empty relay sockets in the PDC but there are no plugs under the plastic base.
Once the wiring kit is in you will have ONE yellow wire that you run to the engine compartment, run it thru the firewall, I made a small hole in that area where the wiring bundle comes into the passenger compartment under the master cylinder, I used a small ice pick to gently 'drill' a hole and not hit any of the existing wires.
Once you get it thru the firewall run it up near the battery alonside that big wiring bundler that goes across the top of the firewall, tywrap the wire, install a relay on the fender well, there are two bolts there, a ground for the battery and a smaller one next to it. I used a Hella FUSED relay, then I installed my Hella fogs under the bumper where the factory ones go but not behind the air dam. The switch wiring and fog light wiring are two seperate things, don't let a relay scare you, all a relay is is a remotely controlled switch that is operated by a mechanical switch. The reason for using a relay is that the lights draw alot of amps and a switch will burn up, it will arc internally each time you turn the switch on and off, a relay does too but it is so fast it keep arching to a minimum. Use a relay, I prefere the hella fused relays because they keep the fuse RIGHT THERE and not hanging like an inline fuse will.
Don't 'rig' this, use a relay and a fuse. If you do the internal wiring correctly your fogs will go on and off with the hi/lo beams and the switch. The add on kit from jeepareus is all plug and play to existing wiring with only ONE splice needing to be made, it's just a PIA working twisted from the ground under the dashboard.
If you look under the steering wheel you will see a plastic panel, that is held on by 3 bolts at the bottom of the dash, remove them and pull the plastic panel out a bit then pull the top straight out, there are two spring clips holding it in, behind that is a steel knee panel held on by two bolts on top and two tabs on the bottom, remove that. Then pull the centerbezel around the radio/ac controls straight out from the bottom corners, this is held in also with spring clips, two on the bottom and two on the top, move your shifter as far back to the rear as you can and chock the wheels. Thats your working area.
 
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