What should I do with my roof lights?

[spechuy]

so I've had the KJ for about 1/2 a year now and its awesome! I have all the mods I wanted, it is a daily drive so I don't wanna get too crazy but mild... very mild off-roading. well I like to do as much as I can when I go but I only go like 5 times a year. other than that its strictly on pavement.

With that being said, I'm debating whether to take the 4 KC lights off the rack. The absolutely kill my gas, I can't fit in the garage, I don't remember that last time I turned them on, and I'm not sure if its the lights, rack, combo of lights and rack... or just a lifted truck thing but the KJ seems to struggle to keep 70-75 on the freeway in the wind. On the OTHER hand, they look awesome

I'm keeping the two amber KC fogs and the basket, just debating whether I should take off the 4 roof lights or not.

... and if I should and someone else wants them at a fairly discounted price, I'll take that into consideration too!

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Thanks!!!

 

[Midgear]

if you take them off.. give em here LOL (emphasis on give)

looks fine with em on though.

 

[alexmolinavr6]

how much shipped to 77571 (roof rack and ligths)

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

Spec, you sure it's the lights killing your gas mileage rather than the basket?

ThunderbirdJunkie would build new brackets to mount them lower

 

[mag03kj]

X2 tbj

 

[kb0nly]

I have the same Rola and two Hella's on mine, with crossbars that make it sit a little higher than i like but its good until i can afford to do something different for the crossbars...

Anyway, didn't make any huge difference here. I would gues .2-.4 mpg difference watching the average on the EVIC, and doing the math before and after its maybe a half mpg difference before and after.

I would guess something else is killing your mileage. Well not to mention the KJ is like driving a brick into the wind soooo..... It's not the most aerodynamic vehicle on the road.

 

[tommudd]

Drop your basket down below the roof rails, lower your light about 5 inches at least and you'll hardly know they are there anymore.

 

[04 Silver Renegade]

I say Keep them. They look great !!!!!

 

[J-Thompson]

I say dump them
I had 4 100W KC's on my TJ ,never used them
Then I installed 4 50W cheepo lights as "rock lights" they got trashed
I had factory installed fog lights ,they got trashed
I some times wish I had the fogs back and I may get some that I can mount out
of the way for driving back roads at night
but for the most part the others ,off road lights, I never used
I see not reason to have something that cost you money ,gas, that you dont use

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Are we comparing the mileage from when it was bone stock to now lifted? Or do you have MPG numbers from lifted, bigger tires, but no lights?

I'd lower them, or even take them off. I'd want to fit in garages.

 

[spechuy]

as far as lowering the basket, the pics are older so you can't tell but I did follow one of the dyi's to build lower rack bars but that didn't seem to make a difference. I only have mpg numbers from stock and now haha because I threw on all the mods within about a week's span so I don't know hat really is hurting the gas but all I know is I went from about 20 to 15 with the same commute.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Have you reprogrammed the speedo?

 

[kjweston]

Your gas mileage is because you have bigger tires.. I have 265/75s and usually average 13 in the city not revving past 2k rpm. but recently it hit 14mpg and I almost threw a party..

 

[Boiler]

Drop your basket down below the roof rails, lower your light about 5 inches at least and you'll hardly know they are there anymore.

x2

Lower your rack, lower the lights so you can get into the garage, and at the pump, pay to play. Baskets themselves are going to cause a bit of wind resistance. All those little bars catch wind, even if they are in line with each other.

I really like the look of lights that are close to the roof IMO.

 

[spechuy]

so the rack is as low as it can be, the cross bars are almost touching the roof.. but how do I go about lowering the lights 5 inches?? I have the tube mounts that fit onto the tubes of the basket so they're not really adjustable in height..

.. I know pay to play, gas mileage actually isn't my biggest concern, its more so the noise and not fitting in the garage that bothers me the most.

 

[kb0nly]

I would bet your biggest decrease in gas mileage is due to your lift and bigger tires, that always makes a difference.

The problem with the KC lights you have is they sit on a bit of a pedestal which makes them higher. Best suggestion i can give is sell the KC's and replace them with something smaller, lower profile. I have Hella 500FF's on the front of the basket and they are on the same style bracket on the lower tube, they are about even with the top of the basket.

The other thing you could do is flip the brackets around so the tab comes off the bottom instead of off the top. Know what i mean? That should give you about 1 1/2" or so of height reduction. You could even angle the brackets down after flipping them and then angle the lights back up a bit and maybe get another 1/2" or so.

Just have to play around with it!

 

[ThunderbirdJunkie]

as far as lowering the basket, the pics are older so you can't tell but I did follow one of the dyi's to build lower rack bars but that didn't seem to make a difference. I only have mpg numbers from stock and now haha because I threw on all the mods within about a week's span so I don't know hat really is hurting the gas but all I know is I went from about 20 to 15 with the same commute.

Dude the LIGHTS aren't what's killing your fuel economy

 

[KJ zGal]

Build a taller garage!

 

[ridenby]

(lol)

 

[Clyde Frog]

Looking bad ass > gas mileage