Adding an LED light bar to your Jeep XJ Cherokee is a popular upgrade that not only provides excellent trail illumination at night, but also improves the vehicle's appearance. While there are several LEDs and mounting brackets available for the Jeep XJ, we wanted to consider three important factor in this installation. The first comes from experience in knowing how bright a large 40- and 50-inch LED light-bars can be. So we wanted to use one that features amber and white LEDs. It's well documented that amber-colored LEDs are just as bright as white LEDs, but they don't produce glare or reflections when they shine against fog, dust, rain or snow. This makes it much easier to see in these conditions and can provide better visibility.

Secondly, we didn't want to drill a bunch of holes in our Jeep's roof to mount brackets or route the wiring harness for the LED light bar, and we wanted an incredibly durable and waterproof light-bar that could truly withstand the rigors of off-road driving and the elements.

Our criteria brought us to the Rigid Industries E-Series Amber/White LED light-bar (PN-140312AW). We selected the 40-inch bar as it fit the contours of the Cherokee's roofline better than a wider 50-inch bar, and it still provides more than enough light (13,240 raw lumens) to illuminate the trail. The light has a row of white and a row of amber LEDs that can be operated by a three-position switch that's included in the kit. The light bar is waterproof, weighs only 11.5 lbs., and only uses 160 watts of power. So the light bar will only need approximately 11.11 amps from the battery to operate, meaning it can be left on for a while if the Jeep's engine isn't running.

To mount the Rigid 40-inch LED to the Jeep, we used a set of OR-Fab light-bar mounts. These are made from 3/16-inch thick steel, feature a black textured powder coat, and mount the light-bar by clamping onto the Jeep's factory drip rails. This avoids having to drill any mounting holes into the roof and worrying about water leaks in the future.

Routing the wiring harness to the engine compartment without drilling holes presented a challenge. But we discovered that the harness would fit along the gap between the window pillar and under the windshield molding. A small gap between the hood cowl and the fender would allow us to reach the engine compartment with the harness from the light bar. For whatever reason the gap on the driver's side of the windshield had more room than the passenger side, so we flipped the Rigid LED light bar so that the wiring harness would come down on the driver's side. According to Rigid's tech department, on a standard Spot/Flood LED, this won't affect the beam of light from either the white or amber LEDs, so we went ahead with the rest of the installation.

The Rigid wiring harness was well insulated and the use of weather-tight connectors made it simple to install and made it very reliable. Every wire and connection on the harness had heat-shrink to cover the connections, including the two relays that were screwed onto the Jeep's firewall.

Once the installation was done, it was easy to see the difference between the brightness of the amber and white LEDs when you're on the trail. The white LEDs provide a bright wide pattern that flood light everywhere ahead of the vehicle, making it easy to see everything ahead for more than a couple thousand feet (approximately 680 meters according to Rigid's specifications). Switching to the amber LEDs you can see the same distance in front of the vehicle, but the intensity of the light is much more subdued and is truly easier on the eyes. This makes it great if you come around a corner at night and avoid blinding another vehicle coming up the same trail.

It's also important to note that the amber LEDs are not colored lenses or filters. These are LEDs that produce an amber light. Along with Rigid's large heat sink and silicone waterproof sealing, the E-Series 40-inch Spot/Flood Combo with amber and white LEDs will provide this Jeep with plenty of reliable light for a lifetime of night trail riding.

SOURCES
Rigid Industries
799 N. Colorado St. 
Gilbert, AZ 85233
480 655-0100
http://www.rigidindustries.com/

OR-Fab
P.O. Box 3450
Chino Valley, AZ 86323
928 636-78069 
http://www.orfab.com/