I got the Michigan State Police Motor Carrier after me on putting warning lights on our Repo trucks. We are plated as a wrecker, but only work we do is repossession. The issue I ran into was dragging a Chevy 2500 from a driveway by lifting the front end and pulling it to the road in order to lift the drive wheels to go down the road. I was out in the side street and they threw a fit I had no warning lights. This has never been a issue in 4 years until 2 nights ago.
I purchased some Code 3 PSE XT6AA led lights with mounting brackets that are a L shape. I would like to install them in the upper corners of the rear window as well as the front. Looks like I will need to pull down the headliner some to get in there. A quick look at it appears that the oh s#$% handles will have to be removed, plastic trim on the A pillars and trim around the seat belt area will have to also be removed so I can get up there to mount them. Has anyone lowered the headliner before on these trucks to see what Im up against??
The DOT officer was fine with LED lights saying I did not need a light bar. I do not want to make the truck look any more obvious then what it already is with a lift hanging out the back and the name on the side of the door now.

This is what Im working with.....


Thanks,

Nick

 

Just a quick question Nick. Have you thought about getting a headache rack and maybe installing the LEDs in place of the red lights on the back of it. And a couple of stealth LEDs in the grill would work too I would think. Just a thought but some of the repo guys around here have done that to avoid drilling into the roof area, etc. Something like this:



There are several kinds of headache racks out there but you get the idea. It wouldn't take much to replace the lights on top with LEDs. And the grill lights can be mounted where they can barely be seen until they're lit. Just a thought like I said.

 

Buy suction cup mounts for the LED's and just run the wires behind the plastic trim panels. There is no need to drop the headliner. Look for Gen 2 or later heads and linear tubes will give you better off-axis warning. We favor Whelen LINZ6 heads, but there are many in the marketplace. Sirennet , AW Direct and Galls have a variety of mounting options.

 

I don't really know anything about the LED light racks, but for a clean look would strobes in the headlights and tails be enough to fulfill the requirements? I thought about doing orange and white for plowing just so people could see me. Your thoughts...

 

I too am interested in the OP question...how hard is it to remove the headliner?

 

try this it will tell you what your up against

http://www.gorecon.com/download_file...ownload_key=38

Koboss

 

I bought a set of roof clearance lights from parts guy ED and just waiting for the truck to come back from the shop to get this done, i will be using a 7/8 knock out punch i got from Princess Auto for $13. cant wait.

Koboss

 

Installing anything in the headlights is not recommended because the headlight will wash out the warning light.

Strobes or LED's in the turn signals will satisfy the requirements. We have switched entirely to LED to limit draw and for ease of installation. The trick is to shine red LED through Red turn signal lens, and amber LED through amber turn signal lens. The light is already at the right wavelength so it is brighter than shining clear. The downside of these installations are the headache of running wire/cable to the tail (not all that hard, just dirty) and you must be cautious when drilling/cutting on light housings.

If one buys into the DOT/NFPA notion of warning, they favor combinations of lights and decals mounted on all sides of the vehicle.

 

The Recon write up is exactly what I did to install my roof lights.

I also lowered the left half of the liner so I could cut a hole and install the kid's TV. In either case it was no big deal. I just simply started at one end and started systematically removing interferences; visors, pillar post covers, etc. until the liner dropped enough.

 

hey fords350, i was thinking of tackling this today, im just unsure of the 5.5 measurment is that from the window ruber to the base of the light or the centre of the light, and how did you go about measuring for centre.

thanks
koboss

 

I had to go out and check as my memory is good but very short.

It looks like I measured back from the rear edge of the windshield molding approximately 5.5" then centered my knockout hole at that location. I did this with all of the lights so they followed the curve of the molding.

Just like the Recon sheet showed, I taped off the area of the roof where the lights will go and marked it up. I started off trying to be extremely exact on my measuring only to realize there is anything to use to square it all up.
In the end I ended up getting ball park measurements; focusing on contrasting left/right lights to make sure there locations mirrored each other; and then eye-balled to see if it looked good. My tape looked like a tic-tac-toe battlefield.

Good luck and it gets easier after you make the first hole as the anxiety seems to go away.

 

thanks

that last line is so true, i may need to have a beer before i start just to ease the thought of the first hole.

 

Just remembered this, I used a straight edge placed front-back along the roof ribs to set up my left to right alignment. Hope that makes sense.

 

Brandy Old Fashions helped my nerves.

 

wow its tight between the roof and headliner to get your hans up in there!! got everything drilled last night and painted up te hole with touch up now i will put some silicone around the holes and tighten em down.

that knock out hole punch has got to be the slickest thing ever..

on another note did anyone think te same thing i did when you looked at the pieces of metal from the holes.. wow that is some thin metal!