Brush Guard And KC Lights For River!

So River is now a little tougher looking, she got a brush guard a few days ago (What a pain to put on...) because my little brother moved up from his 95 4Runner to an 01 4Runner (We basically STOLE that truck, great deal!). The ironic part is that the brush guard he had on his 95 was originally designed for a 96+ which would have fit his 01 if we didn't get it modified to fit his 95, since it fit the 95, it fits my 91! Anyways, after sweating out 2 gallons of water (It's HOT here, it hit something like 99 degrees in the shade) I finally got the brush guard fit. The guard itself is a little loose because the passenger side front bolt is messed up and I need to replace it, once that is fixed I should have it good and tight, then tighten down the driver side light guard to even it up.

 Anyways, "Charlie Whiskey" had 4 KC Off Road Lights given to him and
mounted 2 on his Isuzu Trooper that he likes for some stupid reason for general off road use, I begged and pleaded mentioned that I could mount the remaining 2 on my truck and then and only then would I forgive him for copying my idea on starting an EDC/DIY blog to document ideas and projects. Okay, so maybe that is a blatant lie, but seriously I just asked if I could mount them on my truck and since were friends and he got them for free, we hooked them up.

The lights are on here, by the way.

Not bad for a grand total of $12 I would say. Because I got the brush guard and lights for free that meant I spent my money on a 30 amp relay and a switch from radio shack, I really didn't need to buy the switch but it was better than what I had. I still have a momentary switch to hook up to a car alarm speaker and I will probably be getting a CB with a PA system in the next few weeks. We are planning a trip to a small island that is about 4 hours away so a CB would be great for a 4 hour road trip, the lights should be great for driving on the beach too! Back on topic I have not had any experience wiring up relays so I had "Charlie Whiskey" help wire it up, it took forever but since we also were screwing around and working on another Seth's truck (I know, we're such multi-taskers) that is usually to be expected. Honestly anybody could really do this with some help from Google and patience.

This was the hardest part, it's kind of hard to see but there is a 30 Amp relay tucked in there, I used a self tapping screw through the inner fender to attach it then once we figured out the wiring we ran wires from the lights and switch and hooked it all up. I don't have I diagram but I can explain it to the best of my abilities:
From the Switch:
1. Run Ground to the Negative Battery Terminal
2. Run Power to the Relay
From the Lights:
1. Run Black Wires (Ground) To Negative Battery Terminal
2. Run Red Wires (Positive) to the Relay
On Relay:
1. Run Ground Wire to Metal Contact Point
2. Run Power Wire to Positive Battery Terminal
3. Hook Switch and Lights up
4. Test, Rewire Accordingly, Repeat
5.???
6. Profit

 To mount the lights themselves I just marked holes in the brush guard (some brush guards come pre-drilled or with lights installed already) took a small drill bit, and drilled pilot holes, then took a medium sized bit and widened them out, then took the largest bit we had (1/2 inch) and widened them out more, then took a file and enlarged them slightly. Once that was done the lights just barely threaded through the metal, I set the lights and tightened them down properly after that.

I actually mounted them a few hours before I hooked them up but I was impatient and did not want to wait to mount them. They are slightly misaligned but River is a beater truck so it's not that important. Actually the lights look worse than they are because the brush guard is misaligned as well. I could fix it but I am really not concerned with a slight misalignment as much as I am with everything else that is wrong with River.

I took this right after I went playing in a puddle (the first picture) to prove that I do actually take care of my truck! Yes, River is beat on, is my daily driver, gets used for towing, and is a test bed for ideas, but I wash her and maintain her as best I can! I still need to repaint her, but I don't have the correct tools to strip everything down to bare metal and repaint her.

This one is just for fun, the cover showing the shift pattern fell off so I just stuck a bottle cap in there and it fit perfectly! I can also swap it out for any cap I feel like if I so wish to. I might get Cat to paint a few bottle caps with different things and rotate those out from time to time. Every once in a while I do something just to change the truck up a bit and do something different. That's all for now.