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ROAM Side Steps light wiring (or any step lights with door open illumination.)

gpoverland

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Is there a trick to these rivetnut things? I can’t get to start swelling up like it’s supposed to by I can’t keep it even with the frame. I’m very near saying F-it with this last support on my JLUR. Ugh... anyone have any ideas?
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TTEChris

TTEChris

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Is there a trick to these rivetnut things? I can’t get to start swelling up like it’s supposed to by I can’t keep it even with the frame. I’m very near saying F-it with this last support on my JLUR. Ugh... anyone have any ideas?
I wish I could help you. I have yet to install a version that requires the rivnuts. For smaller rivnuts I have a rivnut tool I use, but if they are larger hex style like the ones for the front bumper I usually just use a bolt/nut/washer to compress them(hard to explain, but I'm sure there are videos on it).
 

GunnersJL

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Rivnuts are a bear. I have two in over the past two days. Using the jig they supplied. It froze up on number 3. I’ll get some grade 8 hardware tomorrow and try again. They don’t want to buckle. They just spin. Very frustrating.
 

Rollbar

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You could do that, it probably wouldnt hurt anything(others have done it)but I prefer to isolate the circuit from the already small wires going to those footwell LED lights. :beer:
Do you happen to know which wires are which to the led underneath the dash.. I'm considering splicing into the harness under there to utilize a few spare oxium LED's I ordered by accident (ordered 8 not think I have a 2 door and only needed 4) Just not sure offhand which I would connect the red and black to.
 

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I just did this again for a customer today, and rather than purchasing the harness I listed on Amazon I purchased 16gauge wire(Red/Black Wire in one shielded strand.) It made for a cleaner install, but yes you are essentially taking all the red/black and putting them together from the steps up to the relay. From there you take a separate red wire from a post on the relay(Refer to the pictures/writeup for which terminal #) to the battery with an inline fuse. All the Grounds(Black wires) go to one terminal on the relay(Including the battery ground), and the fourth terminal on the wire is the trigger wire(Whichever color you want) that goes into the cabin and connects to the yellow/brown wire on the footwell lighting.

I like to have the steps on a bench or set of stands so that I can wire all the lights together first and put a connector to make removal easy if you ever have to. Here is what I purchased for the quick connectors
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A6LTK44/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

By far the worst part of the job is dealing with the wires on the lights in the steps..... They are so thin/fragile and I have a hard time not snapping the wires with just my fingernails as wire strippers or keeping them together long enough to solder them :angry:
I have found you can twist three of the red/black wires together from the rear most lights and then run a set of wires to the front to connect them together.

Refer to the #'s on my writeup for the relay wiring. I had to do it the second time around as well :blush:

Great write up. I have 2 questions for ya if you don’t mind.
1) what is the link for the 16 gauge red/black shielded strand you bought for a customer vehicle as stated above.
2) what size shrink tubing did you use? I was looking at 1/4 ID link:https://www.amazon.com/Heat-Shrink-...nk+tube+50+ft&qid=1553658550&s=gateway&sr=8-5
 

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TTEChris

TTEChris

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Do you happen to know which wires are which to the led underneath the dash.. I'm considering splicing into the harness under there to utilize a few spare oxium LED's I ordered by accident (ordered 8 not think I have a 2 door and only needed 4) Just not sure offhand which I would connect the red and black to.
It's really easy to figure out if you have a test light, but I believe the positive for the footwell lights it is the yellow/brown on the passenger side. You can run the ground to one of the steps underneath the kickpanel, or use the ground wire(Black I would assume) on the footwell light.

Great write up. I have 2 questions for ya if you don’t mind.
1) what is the link for the 16 gauge red/black shielded strand you bought for a customer vehicle as stated above.
2) what size shrink tubing did you use? I was looking at 1/4 ID link:https://www.amazon.com/Heat-Shrink-Tubing-2-1-100FT/dp/B0030W62P2/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=1/4+heat+shrink+tube+50+ft&qid=1553658550&s=gateway&sr=8-5
I purchased it on Amazon, but cannot seem to find the link. I searched for 16 gauge 2 wire and made sure it had black shielding so I wouldn't have to shrink tube the entire harness like I did previously. For the connections I just purchased an assorted size of marine shrink tubing and used what I needed.
 

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Is there a trick to these rivetnut things? I can’t get to start swelling up like it’s supposed to by I can’t keep it even with the frame. I’m very near saying F-it with this last support on my JLUR. Ugh... anyone have any ideas?
Yea I had a hard time trying to figure it out, I spent I want to say an hour maybe two just trying to put one in but after I figured it out it wasn't too bad. The reason was I didn't know which nut to turn as I've never installed rivetnuts before, but what I ended up doing was I took some pliers held the rivetnut and tighten the bottom nut until it couldn't move. Then I took the both wrench's to hold both the bolt and bottom nut and proceed to turn the bottom nut clockwise until the rivetnut bulged enough so I could barely fit it through the hole, this made things easier since I only had to make a few turns before the rivetnut had enough pressure to hold in place. Sometimes the rivetnut would move down the bolt and didn't have any pressure for it to compress so I would then repeat the process of moving the nut and rivetnut to the top of the bolt, retighten the bottom nut to the rivetnut and proceed with using the wrenchs again.
 

arok99

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I purchased it on Amazon, but cannot seem to find the link. I searched for 16 gauge 2 wire and made sure it had black shielding so I wouldn't have to shrink tube the entire harness like I did previously. For the connections I just purchased an assorted size of marine shrink tubing and used what I needed.
I was thinking about using low voltage outdoor wiring to make my wiring harness, something similar to this (see link below). Think this will be an issue using it for automotive purpose?

https://www.amazon.com/Malibu-Brink...=1553728345&s=gateway&sr=8-39#customerReviews
 
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TTEChris

TTEChris

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I was thinking about using low voltage outdoor wiring to make my wiring harness, something similar to this (see link below). Think this will be an issue using it for automotive purpose?

https://www.amazon.com/Malibu-Brink...=1553728345&s=gateway&sr=8-39#customerReviews
I used something similar to below. I would be worried that the outdoor lighting isn't very flexible(Could be 100% wrong)
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Ni.../2+wire+black&qid=1553735836&s=gateway&sr=8-3
 

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@TTEChris any chance you stumbled on a solid state switch the was single pole doubly throw? I joe know why you went digital for your relay. Hahaha
 

gpoverland

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@TTEChris any chance you stumbled on a solid state switch the was single pole doubly throw? I joe know why you went digital for your relay. Hahaha
Ended up ordering this relay. We'll see how it works. I didn't have the issue with the dimming, but the buzzing caused by the electromagnetic switch at low as the dome light switched on or off. It made me laugh.. I had an "Owwwweeee" moment.. hahahaha
https://www.amazon.com/ELK-PRODUCTS...ZGSXGNWXVBB&psc=1&refRID=MJHDX9S6ZZGSXGNWXVBB
 
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TTEChris

TTEChris

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Do you know what size this bolt is to mount the relay? I don’t feel like buying a bunch to figure it out.

E8654043-19B5-4A89-8402-63711B71CCB1.jpeg
You can just move the relay back a bit and use the existing fender mount bolt. That's what I've done on the last two I installed. If you don't want to do that pull out that bolt and take it with you to the hardware store. I'm fairly certain they are the same size.
 

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Yea I had a hard time trying to figure it out, I spent I want to say an hour maybe two just trying to put one in but after I figured it out it wasn't too bad. The reason was I didn't know which nut to turn as I've never installed rivetnuts before, but what I ended up doing was I took some pliers held the rivetnut and tighten the bottom nut until it couldn't move. Then I took the both wrench's to hold both the bolt and bottom nut and proceed to turn the bottom nut clockwise until the rivetnut bulged enough so I could barely fit it through the hole, this made things easier since I only had to make a few turns before the rivetnut had enough pressure to hold in place. Sometimes the rivetnut would move down the bolt and didn't have any pressure for it to compress so I would then repeat the process of moving the nut and rivetnut to the top of the bolt, retighten the bottom nut to the rivetnut and proceed with using the wrenchs again.
Great tip. The only thing I will add is to make sure the nut locking side is away from the rivnut so it spins and doesn’t grab the rivnut and turn it.
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