Aftermarket headlights

[smelly$cat]

I want to add some aftermarket headlights. Looking for ideas on what lights to purchase and where to mount them. Suggestions? Pictures?

Thanks!

[Pipeless416]

bar mounted trail tech torch lights.. or lazer star HIDs. both are way brighter than stock, look pretty good, and being bar mounted makes a world of difference. my brother and i both have trail tech's.

[bkelley]

I've always thought Pipeless' lights were pretty sick. I want to put the Trail Tech MR11 HIDs (http://www.trailtech.net/371-H400F.html) on mine.

[smelly$cat]

Thanks for the response pipeless. For whatever reason, I'm not terribly fond of the idea of mounting lights to the bars. I think I just really like the clean look of my bar set up and want to keep it that way. I'm picturing mounting something lower. Top of the shock tower area? Frame behind the bumper? Hmmmm. Do you think your torch lights could be mounted in other places? Do you recall want sorts of mounting hardware it came with? Thanks man!




Originally posted by Pipeless416
bar mounted trail tech torch lights.. or lazer star HIDs. both are way brighter than stock, look pretty good, and being bar mounted makes a world of difference. my brother and i both have trail tech's.

[Pipeless416]

the frame rails in front of the shocks are another popular area. you can buy the torch lights with or without the bar mount, and if you buy them without, you can get frame mounts for them. that will basically allow you to place them wherever you want.

[bkelley]

Yeah, something like this.

http://www.trailtech.net/HIDV-875.html

[smelly$cat]

Yeah, I like those. Good call. Going to get my research on...


Originally posted by bkelley
Yeah, something like this.

http://www.trailtech.net/HIDV-875.html

[smelly$cat]

Pulled the trigger on these. 223 to my door. Not the cheapest option I'm sure, but, since when has that been an issue. lol!


Originally posted by bkelley
Yeah, something like this.

http://www.trailtech.net/HIDV-875.html

[bkelley]

Nice, dude. Be sure to post some pictures. might go with those instead of the handlebar mounts.

[smelly$cat]

Will do!


Originally posted by bkelley
Nice, dude. Be sure to post some pictures. might go with those instead of the handlebar mounts.

[smelly$cat]

Called them back and ordered the little covers in Red. Should look tight with the red in the elka's and my nerf nets. I'm excited to get them on there!

http://trailtech.net/light_covers.html

[bkelley]

Ha, those are cool. I really want to get a pair but I gotta save up for my 426 kit first. Gotta love being a broke college kid.

[smelly$cat]

Ha! It's all good man. Took me 4 years of working through community college to get my AA in computer networking. I hung up the towel after that. I'm 31 now and making good money. Just stick in there. There will be a time when money isn't such an issue and you'll be able to have 8 torch lights on you quad, just cuz you can :)


Originally posted by bkelley
Ha, those are cool. I really want to get a pair but I gotta save up for my 426 kit first. Gotta love being a broke college kid.

[goldfish]

You managed to be successful with an AA? I was beginning to think it was impossible!

I graduated summer of 08 with my AA in computer graphics and got a job as a graphic designer making $9/hr, I'm up to $10.50 now but its still not nearly enough to live off of.

Looking for new jobs and every place wants at least a BA with 3-5 years experience!!

[smelly$cat]

In my opinion, it all comes down to experience and attitude. Stay positive and upbeat. Be honest and trust worthy. I've spent the past 10+ years working in tech support centers for 3 high tech companies. Started as a entry level customer service rep, routing calls to the right support groups based on the product they were calling on. Then started actually doing the technical support. Then moved to a different company as a "technical account manager", basically just keeping their top customers satisfied and managing their support issues to ensure everything went smooth and problems were solved as quickly as possible. Also acted as a escalation point for them. Then moved onto be a manager of one of the support teams there. This was a big step in my career as it allowed me to start accumulating management experience. Did that for a couple years, then moved to a different company as a technical account manager again, then 6 mo later, they moved me back into a management role over one of the support teams. Did that for 3-4 years, then moved into my current role managing a team of field consultants who install and customize our product on site for our customers. Been in this role for 2 years and hope to be in this role for many more years to come. In a nut shell, that is my story. I've worked with a lot of different people. The folks that seem to be successful have solid common sense, have good written and verbal communication skills and have a good attitude. Or, they just have crazy good technical skills, but, even those folks are limited in the positions they can achieve.

Ha! This thread has gone way off base!

[bkelley]

Originally posted by smelly$cat
Ha! It's all good man. Took me 4 years of working through community college to get my AA in computer networking. I hung up the towel after that. I'm 31 now and making good money. Just stick in there. There will be a time when money isn't such an issue and you'll be able to have 8 torch lights on you quad, just cuz you can :) Yeah, I know. I'm finishing up my AA this semester and starting classes at ITT Tech this month. Going to be majoring in Electronics and Communications Engineering. I'll have my associates in that after 1 year and 9 months and should have a job in the field within a year. It's another two years to complete the bachelors program. I'm pretty excited about it.

[goldfish]

Yea I know you gotta start somewhere before you can expect to get anywhere. I just honestly didn't expect to start out THIS low. I could of stuck with my grocery store job and been making more money then this job.

It's nice to know that if you keep plugging away you'll eventually move up, even with only an AA. :)

[smelly$cat]

Ha! I hear you. It will pay off though. Just hang in there. Accumulate experience, then shop for a job while you still have a job. Don't try to jump around too much. As a hiring manager, I like to see folks stick with their jobs for 2 year chunks if possible. I used to bag groceries too. No way I'd be making what I'm making now if I would have stuck with that. Plus, there is only so much elevator music one can stand in their life. I did have some good times in that job though racing the carts around the parking lots with my fellow baggers. LOL! Also getting ripped on Zima (what was I thinking?) in the bathroom before heading back out to the checkout line to finish my shift. Man, some memories are coming back to me while I write here... My first job when I was 14 was just a summer job, but, I was a "runner" for a company called baby diaper service. I would go out on the routes with the drivers that tried to call in sick. I would run the clean diapers to the door and bring the dirty bags back to the truck. Now that was a ****ty job! Made me appreciate my grocery bagging job though!


Originally posted by goldfish
Yea I know you gotta start somewhere before you can expect to get anywhere. I just honestly didn't expect to start out THIS low. I could of stuck with my grocery store job and been making more money then this job.

It's nice to know that if you keep plugging away you'll eventually move up, even with only an AA. :)

[goldfish]

Yea I would highly suggest to anyone that their first job be at a grocery store. It's such a great place to meet people..especially if you go 15-20 mins away to a store not everyone from your highschool works at. I met a ton of cool people i would of never met had I gotten the job at the store down the street.

Some funny *** times working the 6pm-close time, never underestimate the creativity of a few bored baggers/cart pushers.

[smelly$cat]

Yeah, that's a good call. I worked at a store pretty close to home and saw all sorts of folks that I knew. Lots of new folks too though. I met some of the folks at the bank that was in the store and that was actually my next job as a bank teller. I actually got robbed at finger point one time. Some crazy people out there...


Originally posted by goldfish
Yea I would highly suggest to anyone that their first job be at a grocery store. It's such a great place to meet people..especially if you go 15-20 mins away to a store not everyone from your highschool works at. I met a ton of cool people i would of never met had I gotten the job at the store down the street.

Some funny *** times working the 6pm-close time, never underestimate the creativity of a few bored baggers/cart pushers.

[smelly$cat]

So, I got these in the mail yesterday. All was well, except the finish on them is not chrome. They call it "anodized aluminum". It's basically a flat aluminum color, but the mounts are still chrome looking. I called them and they said they just haven't updated their website yet. They said they have had tons of problems with the chrome quality on the previous generation lights.

http://www.trailtech.net/HIDV-875.html

(sigh)

I was really expecting the chrome finish as that would match my bumper/a-arms/steering stem etc... These more match my nerfs / exhaust.

I'm a little less than satisfied so far. I'm going to mock them up tomorrow night and see how I like them. Hopefully I will like them as I really don't want to send these back. Time will tell.

They were cool on the phone and were willing to accept them back as a return. Just feeling a bit bummed about the misrepresentation of their picture online.

Pics once they are installed...

[Pipeless416]

the chrome on my is peeling pretty good now that you mention it. not on the actual lights, but the mount. TT's customer support is top notch however.

[smelly$cat]

Cool, well, it still came with the chrome mounts. I"ll have to keep an eye on them. They might actually be stainless steel. Maybe they switched those too. I'll just have to see how it all looks. As you know, they came with a decent wiring set up and a push button rubber covered switch which I thought was cool. I think I'll mount that under my air box or somewhere else hidden. I don't really plan to use the lights all that often. I also bought the inline 15amp fuse. My friend and I are going to "tech out" as we like to call it on Sat night to do the install. He just bought a YFZ and his giant order from Rocky Mountain ATV came in this week, so, it should be a long night... :)

[steve181]

mounted mine behind the front bumper
used the bolts from the bumper to mount the lights


http://i45.tinypic.com/rclbg0.jpg

[rmcfadden68]

i bought $10 55w lights from wal-mart. they looked like small bullets almost the exactly the same as trail tech lights. i ran all the wiring thru gas line from the battery to the bars. siliconed the ends. they have lasted over three years!!!

[smelly$cat]

Just got these installed tonight. They look sweet! Being HID, they slowly come to life when you turn them on. Once fully lit, they are bright! They look good with the red covers on as well. I mounted them both inward of the front frame rails *(close together). I'll get a picture soon. I ran the switch back to the air box. Happy camper so far.

[bkelley]

How easy was the wiring?

[smelly$cat]

Pretty easy. I had to buy some additional 16 GA wire to do it the way I wanted it done (switch in the rear), but, it was very straight forward. I didn't even look at the instructions. It comes with connectors that make it very easy.

[bkelley]

Nice, figured it'd be pretty straight forward. Make sure you get some pictures of them at night, too!

[rmcfadden68]

itll take me takin a look at them again. but i used only the wiring that came with the lighs. the wires were plenty long enough. i do remember having to wire the grounds off each light to each other. then running to battery. you have to run both hot and ground wires to the battery since the battery is not grounded to the frame. the switch that came in the kit is not made for outside. so i went to the hardware store and bought a $2 toggle switch. they do run hot. so dont touch em and keep away from brake, clutch cableand water. itll melt the sheathing. dont get discouraged. this is a lot of typing to tell ya this was very easy. i ran the hot wire from the battery to the off side of the toggle switch. from the on side of toggle switch to the hot wires on both head lights. and both grounds off the lights straight to the ground side of battery. put the wires in something that will protect them from the elements. silicone the ends and they wont corrode. i havent yet figured out how to attach pics. they always tell me they are to big of a file. if you can zoom in on my avatar you will see them there. i will tell ya they r they the same ones i use as driving lights on my silverado. so yeah the are bright and being on the brs i can point them wherever i want.

[smelly$cat]

Here's a pic I took this past weekend. Let's see if this posts.

[smelly$cat]

Sweet, it posted.

So, anyway, there they are, mounted up.

The first night I went out to use them, they turned on, but as soon as I got up to speed, they shut off. Went back to camp and found the fuse had popped. 10 min later, I found a little bit of exposed wire at one of my connectors that was touching a frame bolt. It was shorting out the circuit. I patched that up with some electrical tape and they worked great from that point on.

I got lots of comments from the guys I was riding with. They were WAY brighter than any of the stock lights out there, which is all anyone had that I was with.

I wasn't entirely satisfied with the distance I could see. I think I expected more. I think the top bar on the bumper was in the way a little. I'll have to keep playing with them. Bar mounting probably would have functioned better.

Looks wise those, they totally rock. You can run them with or without the colored covers. I didn't try running with the covers at night to see how well they would work. Probably not that great.

Anyway, I'm happy with the way they look and I'll dial the mount/angle in more so I'm more happy with the function.