Ape Factory
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2025
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- 71
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- Location
- San Antonio
- Current Ride
- Bronco Raptor
The planets must have aligned as everything I ordered for my ditch light setup arrived on Monday. Never happens. Ever.
I took it upon myself to get them installed after work, to at least run the wiring and get the lights set up. Was easy enough that I have it 99.99% done and just have to connect the wires under the hood. I purchased the lights from 4x4trucleds and they include a plug and play harness which plugs right into the lights and terminates in butt connectors on the other end. So super simple installation that takes about an hour taking your time.
On the BADASS mounts, fairly simple installation but zero instructions anywhere which seems to be a theme amongst companies that make Bronco products. I sense a potential business model, LOL. In addition to the mounts, I bought anti-theft hardware from Diode Dynamics along with transparent smoke covers to protect them when not in use.
One comment on the BADASS mounts, and perhaps I simply had the wrong screws but the OEM Bronco screws for the cowl/ditch light panels are not long enough, one set of them anyway. I have one with a larger head and one with a smaller head. Both screws appear to be M6 and the smaller head screws weren't long enough to use with the included dowels which space up the Bronco mount off the cowl plastic. I had to improvise and luckily I had two longer M6 stainless screws which I'll use temporarily until I come up with a better security screw setup. BADASS does not include two screws with their Bronco mounts. You basically have the BADASS swivel mount itself and a Bronco-specific adapter plate. But no screws. There are screws included for the BADASS swivel mount itself however.
On the Diode Dynamics, I'd originally ordered the pro's but they're severely back ordered and paid a bit more for the max. I was a bit hesitant to continue on with the DD lights as it seems like they're having production issues and if I ever need a replacement part or light in the future, I want to be able to get one fairly quickly and not wait two months. None the less, I upgraded to the Max which allegedly throw a lot more light than the pro version. I like the fact I can change out the lenses on them. I've started out with the combo beam but may end up going fog or flood, not sure yet. I have a spot 40" light bar on the roof which literally melts the paint off of walls. Street signs within 100 feet (not that I've EVER flipped the power on a public road, LOL) are unreadable as the light bouncing off them is so bright. I also have upgraded Ford Performance (Rigid) driving lights and the OEM fogs in the bumper. So it may make sense to go with flood or fog lenses.
I knew they were 3x3 but didn't expect them to look as small as they did. I actually think they'll go with my Rigid light bar which is pretty sleek. When I have the full JCR rack on, the light completely blends in and almost looks like one of the cross beams. I kinda like that.
On wiring, I pretty much had the plugs coming out the same spot in the cowl as everyone else seems to do. One thing I may have done differently is I used the channel in between the cowl and the water seal to run the wiring and fed the plugs and extra wiring through small holes which allow for an invisible under-hood installation for the most part. The 4x4truckleds harness is more than long enough so there's a ton of wiggle room and it's also easy/tension free to adjust the length of the wire coming out of the cowl as you swivel the lights. It's really hard to show how I ran the wires across the engine bay to the passenger's side.
If you look on the right side, you can see a bit of the wiring/sheathing peeking out of the channel I used to run the wiring.
There's a hole in the channel where there's enough room to slide the plug through on both sides. This keeps the wiring from potentially getting pinched by the hood brackets and makes a cleaner, invisible installation. Gotta clean those leaves out! Passenger's side below. The driver's side is a tighter fit and takes a bit more finesse and both hands but you can fit the plug AND the excess wiring through the driver's side.
My only complaint with the included wiring harness is it's definitely on the long side after the left and right side wiring comes together. It leaves you plenty of options I guess. The harness I ordered is for the upfitter toggles. The lights are amber back-lit so I'll be taking up two toggles. It'd be nice if there were a tap to a 12V switched power source but I've been told that'll freak out the electronics. Since both lights use less than 10A, you can hook them up to any of the toggles. I currently have my rear lights hooked up to the 2nd, 15A toggle and I may switch them to one of the 10A. If I simply keep those on the #2, then I'd have two toggles next to one and other to control both the back light and the main lights. Or maybe have the back lighting on #6 and just leave it on all the time since it's switched to acc power.
Anyway, going to finalize the wiring today and will take it out tonight to test. Love the swivel and tool-less ability to point them wherever (another reason to maybe get flood lenses). Went with the anodized red tops since my tow hooks and grab handles are both red as well. Probably should have gone all black for less bling.
Wiring finished, went with #5 and #6 toggles, #6 being the backlight. The backlight is still easily visible with the smoke covers on and they don't get hot. Wouldn't run the actual lights like this though.
I took it upon myself to get them installed after work, to at least run the wiring and get the lights set up. Was easy enough that I have it 99.99% done and just have to connect the wires under the hood. I purchased the lights from 4x4trucleds and they include a plug and play harness which plugs right into the lights and terminates in butt connectors on the other end. So super simple installation that takes about an hour taking your time.
On the BADASS mounts, fairly simple installation but zero instructions anywhere which seems to be a theme amongst companies that make Bronco products. I sense a potential business model, LOL. In addition to the mounts, I bought anti-theft hardware from Diode Dynamics along with transparent smoke covers to protect them when not in use.
One comment on the BADASS mounts, and perhaps I simply had the wrong screws but the OEM Bronco screws for the cowl/ditch light panels are not long enough, one set of them anyway. I have one with a larger head and one with a smaller head. Both screws appear to be M6 and the smaller head screws weren't long enough to use with the included dowels which space up the Bronco mount off the cowl plastic. I had to improvise and luckily I had two longer M6 stainless screws which I'll use temporarily until I come up with a better security screw setup. BADASS does not include two screws with their Bronco mounts. You basically have the BADASS swivel mount itself and a Bronco-specific adapter plate. But no screws. There are screws included for the BADASS swivel mount itself however.
On the Diode Dynamics, I'd originally ordered the pro's but they're severely back ordered and paid a bit more for the max. I was a bit hesitant to continue on with the DD lights as it seems like they're having production issues and if I ever need a replacement part or light in the future, I want to be able to get one fairly quickly and not wait two months. None the less, I upgraded to the Max which allegedly throw a lot more light than the pro version. I like the fact I can change out the lenses on them. I've started out with the combo beam but may end up going fog or flood, not sure yet. I have a spot 40" light bar on the roof which literally melts the paint off of walls. Street signs within 100 feet (not that I've EVER flipped the power on a public road, LOL) are unreadable as the light bouncing off them is so bright. I also have upgraded Ford Performance (Rigid) driving lights and the OEM fogs in the bumper. So it may make sense to go with flood or fog lenses.
I knew they were 3x3 but didn't expect them to look as small as they did. I actually think they'll go with my Rigid light bar which is pretty sleek. When I have the full JCR rack on, the light completely blends in and almost looks like one of the cross beams. I kinda like that.
On wiring, I pretty much had the plugs coming out the same spot in the cowl as everyone else seems to do. One thing I may have done differently is I used the channel in between the cowl and the water seal to run the wiring and fed the plugs and extra wiring through small holes which allow for an invisible under-hood installation for the most part. The 4x4truckleds harness is more than long enough so there's a ton of wiggle room and it's also easy/tension free to adjust the length of the wire coming out of the cowl as you swivel the lights. It's really hard to show how I ran the wires across the engine bay to the passenger's side.
If you look on the right side, you can see a bit of the wiring/sheathing peeking out of the channel I used to run the wiring.
There's a hole in the channel where there's enough room to slide the plug through on both sides. This keeps the wiring from potentially getting pinched by the hood brackets and makes a cleaner, invisible installation. Gotta clean those leaves out! Passenger's side below. The driver's side is a tighter fit and takes a bit more finesse and both hands but you can fit the plug AND the excess wiring through the driver's side.
My only complaint with the included wiring harness is it's definitely on the long side after the left and right side wiring comes together. It leaves you plenty of options I guess. The harness I ordered is for the upfitter toggles. The lights are amber back-lit so I'll be taking up two toggles. It'd be nice if there were a tap to a 12V switched power source but I've been told that'll freak out the electronics. Since both lights use less than 10A, you can hook them up to any of the toggles. I currently have my rear lights hooked up to the 2nd, 15A toggle and I may switch them to one of the 10A. If I simply keep those on the #2, then I'd have two toggles next to one and other to control both the back light and the main lights. Or maybe have the back lighting on #6 and just leave it on all the time since it's switched to acc power.
Anyway, going to finalize the wiring today and will take it out tonight to test. Love the swivel and tool-less ability to point them wherever (another reason to maybe get flood lenses). Went with the anodized red tops since my tow hooks and grab handles are both red as well. Probably should have gone all black for less bling.
Wiring finished, went with #5 and #6 toggles, #6 being the backlight. The backlight is still easily visible with the smoke covers on and they don't get hot. Wouldn't run the actual lights like this though.
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