Yeah it took me a little while too. I wish you would've asked me where to put the wire through the fire wall I could've helped you out. I just stuck a coat hanger through the hole where the cable for the parking brake goes through then tape the wire to it and pull it back through. Someone did a good write up on it on here so I just followed those instructions. Your right though Hella's instructions suck. I replaced my two driving lights with 100W bulbs. I'm going to try and mount some light force HID lights in place of the Hellas when I get some extra money because your right they arent that bright especially because I have HID's in all my normal lights. I love the look of the lights in the lower grille though. Good job man!

 

Yeah that was 54warriors write up and I followed it as well but even shoving the coat hook through was a PITA. The first time I didn't have it taped good enough and the wires came off halfway through and it was a pain just to get the coat hanger shoved up through to a spot where I could reach it. Then Hella didn't have enough wire to reach a few spots and I had to run out and grab some wire and connectors because the cheap a$$es only supplied 4 with the kit. Oh well, it's done now and they look really awesome. I LOVE the look of lights in the lower grille and if I didn't have such a cool front tag I'd like to run 3 or even 4 down there. I think what made it so difficult though really is that electrical is my weak point. It took me about 3 times as long to do these lights as it did to install my leveling kit! HAHA

 

I suck at electrical crap too. I went over and did it at my old mans house so he could help me.

 

Yeah I have a friend that's real good at it but he had to work today and I got too impatient and decided to tackle it myself. I got it done but it took me around 3 hours. Granted there was a TON of stuff you have to take off to mount them where I did like the grille and drivers headlight along with having to cut the little plastic grille crap out of the lower grille.

 

How do u like those tires? They pretty heavy?

 

I love them! Yeah they are heavy but then again any 35" M/T is gonna be. They are lighter than the same size toyo m/t though. According to cooper they are 78lbs a piece. They surprisingly didn't kill the performance though. You can tell they're there and they're heavy but it still gets up and hauls a$$ when you nail it. These tires took very little weight to balance and run really smooth and quiet. I would compare the noise and ride with an A/T, not a M/T. I listen to my radio on the same level as I did with the stock tires and you can easily hold a normal conversation at 75-80mph. These tires ROCK offroad too even at street pressure and look SOOOOOOO bada$$ on the truck. They were MUCH cheaper too than the bfg km2's, toyo m/t's and kumho kl71's. I got mine OTD from discount tire for less than the best price I found for the other 3 for just the tires!

 

Any issues with rubbing or with the stock wheels?

 

Nope, no rubbing with the PWM mod done. And the stock wheels are a little narrow for this wide of a tire but they still work and their are several people on here running a 325 wide tire without problems. The stock wheel and its offset is what makes it possible to run this size tire with just a leveling kit. A wider aftermarket wheel with a different offset would make these tires not fit. As it is though I love this setup. It rides great and even handles better thanks to the stiffer tires.

 

PWM mod? Que?

 

Looks pretty good! I just did this yesterday (with MUCHO help from TitanBlue at our MVP meet). I did it 54warrior style with 3 Hella 500ff's in the lower grill. I'll get some pics up eventually.

OH, and I haven't listed them for sale yet, but I bought 4 clear covers for the Hella's, only I bought the 500 covers and not the 500ff's, and of course they don't fit the ff's. Let me know if you want a couple.

 

Ohh my friend and I started my foglight mission somewhere early January. We got almost nothing accomplished the first night. The next time we tried was a couple weeks later..and I think it's coming along now..We have everything hooked up but we haven't tied them in with the high (or low) beams, and haven't drilled a hole for the switch..so almost

 

Thanks for the offer on the covers but I'm going to just leave mine like they are. I was really thinking about getting the FF ones also because they match or style headlights but in the end I just got the regular 500 driving lights. They still look really awesome though, they just REALLY disappointed me with their light output. I love the look of the 3 up front and I may go that route one day actually it's just right now I have a really cool browning logo front plate that I got at the Old Town V meet and I cant have a third light and a front tag. I was just thinking when I move to PA this summer and get my 6" lift you, 54 and me will be all pretty much identical except color! HAHA We really need to make a trip to rausch creek together too. I can't wait to see that place in person!

 

I was just thinking when I move to PA this summer and get my 6" lift you, 54 and me will be all pretty much identical except color! HAHA We really need to make a trip to rausch creek together too. I can't wait to see that place in person!

Man that would be sweet to have our 3 trucks all lined up for a pic at Rausch! I have yet to visit that place either. Sounds fun tho!

 

Hey Lurch, just to let you know I just got 2 hella 100w bulbs for my lights for $9.56 with free shipping from 4wheelparts!!! I've read up on them too and thye said they REALLY wake up the 500's with almost twice the light output. They also sell a 130w bulb for them but from what I read they said that is really pushing the wiring harnesses capability and the housings heat range. I'll let you know how the 100w bulbs work. This is a temp fix until I can convert them to HID. I also found an awesome writeup with excellent pics that a guy did on yotaforums on how to convert the 500's to HID!

 

Awesome man, I'm excited to hear how the 100w bulbs work out for ya. I'd be worried about those dinky little wires carrying that much load. Did you use the wiring provided in the kit? I haven't really taken the time to try out mine yet; been cramming for an Oral Pathology exam tomorrow.

If those 100w bulbs work just fine then I'll jump on 'em for sure. I'm not interested in changing them to HID, but it would be nice to have a whiter halogen bulb. Maybe something from Sylvania?

 

I read several threads of people running the 100w's on the stock wiring that the kit came with for a few years and not having any problems. Yeah I just used what came with the kit (I think it was 16ga) and thought it was kinda puny. I'll let you know how they work though. If you want something whiter they have the hella xenon ultra white bulbs for around $39 for the pair at 4wheel parts too. I just wanted the basic since I will be upgrading them to HID shortly.
I thought you went on that one ride they had at RC already? Yeah i'm really excited to ride there because it looks like a really awesome offroad park and I'll be living about 20 minutes away!

 

Oh ok, gotcha. Man, $40 for a set is a bit steep to me. Maybe I'll try the $10 ones you suggested. I'll leave as-is for a lil while tho.

Yeah I was going to go to RC but things got too busy and it's quite a drive for me. Hopefully within the next yr or so I'll make the trip!

 

I am however very disappointed in the light that these cast. They are not even as bright as my high beams and don't go any further than my high beams. I'm gonna have to convert these to 55w HID's. I had a set of the pro comp 130watt driving lights on my ford and they were MUCH, MUCH brighter and shined WAAAAAAAAY down the road. I understand they were 130w vs. 55w but still.

Well you have a couple of things not going with you...

1) Your lights are mounted low for driving/pencil beams. To get farther out, you need to mount them higher..

2) Your lights may fit the grill, but bigger lights put out more light...(Those Pro-Comp 130 watt lights were big, right?)

3) 55 watt bulbs...Really why bother!...I wouldn't run (and never have) anything under 100 watts...and most time 130 watt, BUT I do my own wiring and wire for 130 watt bulbs...

 

Yeah I know they're a little low to go WAY out there but these things don't even match the high beams of my truck! And it's a dull yellowish light.

Actually my procomps that I had were the 6" ones that looked like KC daylighters. They were 130w though so they lit up waaaaay down the road and I didn't have them mounted much higher, just on top of the front bumper.

Yeah that's why I bought their 100w bulbs last night. These 55's are just way too weak. And I have heard/read of quite a few people running the 100w bulbs on the wiring that came with the kit, they just don't recommend running the 130w without upgrading the wiring and even then they said the heat is a little on the high side for that small of a light with a plastic housing.

 

I'm still going to try to stuff 170 HID strikers in the lower grill.

 

Well I tried out my Hella 500FF's in the lower grill this morning. Not bad, but yeah I'm kinda wishing I had 100W bulbs in there. Gonna have to see what I need to do to make it happen with the way I have them wired...

 

I run 100W bulbs in my middle two driving lights with no problems.

 

Its not hard to change the bulbs on the Hella's is it?

 

No not at all. Its super easy.

 

Unfortunately, it's only one screw that you need to separate the housing.

I did this just to hide the screw. It's just a screw cover with rubber cement so it's not so obvious. Also, I have the 500 clear covers from AutoBarn

Oh yeah, I ordered H3C (C=compact) HID kit for my 500 Black Magic. The regular H3 HID kit should fit in the regular 500 series.