Best location for Offroad pod light mounting???

[MAtoAZ]

Howdy all,

I want to add some bright (white) Offroad pods on my Wrangler JL, and there seems to be some differences in mounting locations: I'm primarily considering the (Metalcloak)bumper or the hood near the A pillars. I've read about glare from the hood with the high mount, and glare from trail dust with the low mount. If it makes a difference my Jeep is bright orange (Punk'in) and I live in Arizona. Couldn't find anything in the history on the +/- of mounting locations. Any counsel is appreciated.

While my question is specific to location, I'm also grateful for any counsel generally on the subject.

Mike

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[Deleted User 38384]

Howdy all,

I want to add some bright Offroad pods on my Wrangler JL, and there seems to be some differences in mounting locations: I'm primarily considering the bumper or the hood near the A pillars. I've read about glare from the hood with the high mount, and glare from trail dust with the low mount. If it makes a difference my Jeep is bright orange (Punk'in) and I live in Arizona. Couldn't find anything in the history on the +/- of mounting locations. Any counsel is appreciated.

While my question is specific to location, I'm also grateful for any counsel generally on the subject.

Mike

Well I mean you got the normal ditch light location on the cowls, and then if you want to get really fancy you get a roof rack on there you can put some on that. There's always the ones over the front window, those are pretty popular.

My personal favorite, though known actual need for them, so I haven't purchased this mount yet, but these personally are pretty dang cool if you were to go off-roading at night a lot, and would actually get the use out of them they deserve!
https://gatekeeperoffroad.com/products/jeep-jl-jt-knuckle-pod-mounts

All the cool kids are putting light pods on their knuckles!

Realistically though, if you're not going to be wheeling at night, you're really just wasting your money.

I guess if you live rural enough that you can run your light pods at night on your drive back home or wherever you going at night, that's a viable option as well. But otherwise you really just wasting money on something you don't need to drive on the road.

I believe it was @Ratbert who offroads a fair amount, and I believe it was him who told me he only has off-roaded at night like three or four times out of the hundred or so times he's off-roaded with his Jeep. So the question ends up becoming, do you really need them? Or are you just doing it for looks?

 

[MAtoAZ]

Well I mean you got the normal ditch light location on the cowls, and then if you want to get really fancy you get a roof rack on there you can put some on that. There's always the ones over the front window, those are pretty popular.

My personal favorite, though known actual need for them, so I haven't purchased this mount yet, but these personally are pretty dang cool if you were to go off-roading at night a lot, and would actually get the use out of them they deserve!
https://gatekeeperoffroad.com/products/jeep-jl-jt-knuckle-pod-mounts

All the cool kids are putting light pods on their knuckles!

Realistically though, if you're not going to be wheeling at night, you're really just wasting your money.

I guess if you live rural enough that you can run your light pods at night on your drive back home or wherever you going at night, that's a viable option as well. But otherwise you really just wasting money on something you don't need to drive on the road.

I believe it was @Ratbert who offroads a fair amount, and I believe it was him who told me he only has off-roaded at night like three or four times out of the hundred or so times he's off-roaded with his Jeep. So the question ends up becoming, do you really need them? Or are you just doing it for looks?

Thanks @Tredsdert - I appreciate the reply! I plan on some overlanding and some night wheeling, so these are a practical - not aesthetic - purchase. I have a good set of aftermarket LED headlights, but feel like I want some additional lighting in front of me when I'm Offroad. It might indeed be overkill, but it will relieve some anxiety!

 

[Deleted User 38384]

Thanks @Tredsdert - I appreciate the reply! I plan on some overlanding and some night wheeling, so these are a practical - not aesthetic - purchase. I have a good set of aftermarket LED headlights, but feel like I want some additional lighting in front of me when I'm Offroad. It might indeed be overkill, but it will relieve some anxiety!

I feel you on that one. I mean I'm going to be putting some pods on my cowl here shortly myself. The best I do is occasional night time driving on rural roads, but really for me it's for the looks.

 

[Bulletbill]

Well I mean you got the normal ditch light location on the cowls, and then if you want to get really fancy you get a roof rack on there you can put some on that. There's always the ones over the front window, those are pretty popular.

My personal favorite, though known actual need for them, so I haven't purchased this mount yet, but these personally are pretty dang cool if you were to go off-roading at night a lot, and would actually get the use out of them they deserve!
https://gatekeeperoffroad.com/products/jeep-jl-jt-knuckle-pod-mounts

All the cool kids are putting light pods on their knuckles!

Realistically though, if you're not going to be wheeling at night, you're really just wasting your money.

I guess if you live rural enough that you can run your light pods at night on your drive back home or wherever you going at night, that's a viable option as well. But otherwise you really just wasting money on something you don't need to drive on the road.

I believe it was @Ratbert who offroads a fair amount, and I believe it was him who told me he only has off-roaded at night like three or four times out of the hundred or so times he's off-roaded with his Jeep. So the question ends up becoming, do you really need them? Or are you just doing it for looks?

Those are pretty sweet! If I was going to get pod lights that would be the way I would go. However, just like as you mentioned, the few times I have off-roaded at night I have managed without them.

 

[Ratbert]

Well I mean you got the normal ditch light location on the cowls, and then if you want to get really fancy you get a roof rack on there you can put some on that. There's always the ones over the front window, those are pretty popular.

My personal favorite, though known actual need for them, so I haven't purchased this mount yet, but these personally are pretty dang cool if you were to go off-roading at night a lot, and would actually get the use out of them they deserve!
https://gatekeeperoffroad.com/products/jeep-jl-jt-knuckle-pod-mounts

All the cool kids are putting light pods on their knuckles!

Realistically though, if you're not going to be wheeling at night, you're really just wasting your money.

I guess if you live rural enough that you can run your light pods at night on your drive back home or wherever you going at night, that's a viable option as well. But otherwise you really just wasting money on something you don't need to drive on the road.

I believe it was @Ratbert who offroads a fair amount, and I believe it was him who told me he only has off-roaded at night like three or four times out of the hundred or so times he's off-roaded with his Jeep. So the question ends up becoming, do you really need them? Or are you just doing it for looks?

Yeah, it's probably four-ish trips that were explicitly night-only that we wouldn't have been able to do without the gobs of lights that we've got. I consider that a win. We've used them tons of times in other less perilous / fun situations.

@MAtoAZ, I've never experienced dust glare from bumper-mounted lights. That's a new one for me. I also have a 20" row of 16 fog light LEDs below the bumper that are amazing in fog and snow.

 

[Bulletbill]

Yeah, it's probably four-ish trips that were explicitly night-only that we wouldn't have been able to do without the gobs of lights that we've got. I consider that a win. We've used them tons of times in other less perilous / fun situations.

@MAtoAZ, I've never experienced dust glare from bumper-mounted lights. That's a new one for me. I also have a 20" row of 16 fog light LEDs below the bumper that are amazing in fog and snow.

Do you have a pic of your row of led fog lights?

 

[ChoSunJuan]

You could go white pods on A Piller mounts and amber SAE (street legal) fogs on the bumper.

 

[Grayhound]

I went with cowl mount, and diode dynamics mount for a couple reasons

1. They are located to the side of the hood and glare is minimal
2. I can still lay the windshield down.

 

[MAtoAZ]

@Ratbert @Grayhound @ChoSunJuan thank you all very much!

@Grayhound it looks like you have DD pods, too. They are my front runner choice, mainly because Morimoto (as a company) has given me pretty lousy customer service with a different product. Do you have any regrets with the DD pods?

 

[Terrymo]

So far I only have a couple of Baja Designs amber ditch lights.

 

[Grayhound]

@Ratbert @Grayhound @ChoSunJuan thank you all very much!

@Grayhound it looks like you have DD pods, too. They are my front runner choice, mainly because Morimoto (as a company) has given me pretty lousy customer service with a different product. Do you have any regrets with the DD pods?

I absolutely love them. These are the sports and they light up the deer like nobody's business!

 

[Ratbert]

Do you have a pic of your row of led fog lights?

 

[Deleted member 107602]

Here is my current set up, mainly for forest trails, still tweaking but do really like those skid plate lights, you can see still too much of the A pillar lights hitting the hood. I mainly use those to cover the higher ditch area watching for animals crossing.

 

[Bulletbill]

Very nice set up. Trying to think of how I could do something similar, but unfortunately my bumper doesn’t have that opening.

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