My first mod attempt

After getting my tires, I got a 5th for a spare so I'd have all the same size if I needed to run the spare for any reason. When I put the spare on the stock bracket on my YJ, it pushes up against the center brake light pretty tight. I'm looking at my first home-made mod job now. I'll be using a piece of walnut (pretty much impervious to rot and bugs) to make a shim under the tail light bracket. I'd rather use aluminum, but just don't have access to the tools or material to do so.

Basically, what I'll do is remove the bracket and use it as a pattern for the wood block. It'll be between 3/4" and 1" thick, which should give enough clearance above the spare for the light. I haven't looked too closely at it, but I think there is enough slack in the wiring to lift it a little higher.

Pics will follow.

Anybody else run into that problem, if so, how did you work around it?
 
True that. Dad was a woodworker, so I learned everything from him. Times like this make me wish he was a machinist instead! Actually, he spent 20 years as a heavy mechanic working on farm equipment, and often had to fab his own parts to make a fix. Just that I don't have the equipment to do that.

I'll shoot the wood with a few really thick coats of sealant for moisture protection. If it rots out eventually, I can always make another. I've got 80 acres of prime timber at my disposal, so material supply is pretty good!
 
I haven't looked closely at the brackets, but I would think you could make a bolt together extension with a piece of plate and 4 holes drilled in it.
If you want to get into metal working, then you may need to look up Harbor Freight and see if there is one in your area. You can get grinders, cut off tools and other misc. junk pretty cheap.
I personally would just take the thing off.
 

redrooster said:
I haven't looked closely at the brackets, but I would think you could make a bolt together extension with a piece of plate and 4 holes drilled in it.
If you want to get into metal working, then you may need to look up Harbor Freight and see if there is one in your area. You can get grinders, cut off tools and other misc. junk pretty cheap.
I personally would just take the thing off.

Yeah, we got a Harbor Freight near here. I just don't have any funds (or space) for more tools. Half my garage and my dad's workshop are full of woodworking tools. I inherited all of my dad's tools and his shop when he passed away last year.

I can't take the cyclops light off, state law requires it.
 
Anybody else run into that problem, if so, how did you work around it?

Yeah, I got the Mrs. some 31's for her '94. Wound up just shimming the cyclops with a few washers - nothing real fancy, but it's behind the tire so who cares? Also had to trim down the little rubber bumbers on the tailgate to get enough stud to bolt it on. Don't know if you came across that or not, might want to check.

BTW, the 31's bolt right up to my TJ - no mods necessary!! :P
 

M/T baja claw radial tires.. 31x10.50x15

Sparky,
How is the 3rd brake light required? What if you don't have a 3rd brake light? My 89 YJ doesn't have a 3rd light. Would I be illegal in your state? I would re-check you state laws.

suspicious,
Corey
 
hi_c said:
Sparky,
How is the 3rd brake light required? What if you don't have a 3rd brake light? My 89 YJ doesn't have a 3rd light. Would I be illegal in your state? I would re-check you state laws.

suspicious,
Corey

It's pretty much the same as seatbelt laws. It's required for all vehicles that were made after a certain date that had the 3rd light as standard equipment. To my knowledge, there's still a loophole in the seatbelt laws here that allows people to run pre-seatbelted cars and trucks without modifying them or getting a ticket in them.

I don't recall what year DOT started requiring the manufacturers to add the 3rd light, but that is the year the law started. Back in the late '80's, it became popular for people to put cut-out stencils inside the cylcops light, some of them said "WHOA" or "STOP", some were designs. The legislators put a quick end to that, stating it was obscuring the light too much, thereby violating the law.

Besides, I'm a firm believer in the safety factor of 3rd light brake systems, and don't want to do anything that is going to put my YJ (or me) at risk.
 
ah you wont be at risk, you're more at risk w. people goggle-eyeing your jeep and accidentally rear ending you or something
 

Uh oh, I've seen this happen before. It's gonna snowball man. Before long you'll have some fancy stained and polyurethaned 2x6 bumpers and a plywood tonneau cover. hahaha.

Do what works for you. If there was only one way to build and modify a Jeep, we wouldn't need to come here. We could just go down to Barnes&Noble and buy a copy of "Jeep building for dummies" and be done with it. It's your Jeep, make it out of styrofoam if you want to.
 
Junkpile said:
Uh oh, I've seen this happen before. It's gonna snowball man. Before long you'll have some fancy stained and polyurethaned 2x6 bumpers and a plywood tonneau cover. hahaha.

Do what works for you. If there was only one way to build and modify a Jeep, we wouldn't need to come here. We could just go down to Barnes&Noble and buy a copy of "Jeep building for dummies" and be done with it. It's your Jeep, make it out of styrofoam if you want to.

Hmmm....styrofoam floats, doesn't it? heheheheheheh!

Honestly, I've been thinking about making another hood ornament for my Jeep out of walnut. I made one for my dad's old pickup years ago. It was quite a conversation piece!
 
I found a brakelight relocation kit on-line that looked like it was fairly simple. It used 4 individual spacers made from nylon sleeves. I think you could use 3/8" or 1/2" PVC to make the spacers at any lenth you need, then go to the local hardware store for longer bolts.
check out the webpage...it says it all:

http://www.4x4xplor.com/3rdbrakelightextension.html

PS. this is a fairly informative sight......
 

Well lucky for you, wood working tools work great on Aluminum :)
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as for where to get it, Its all around you. Street signs, guardrails, almost anything with a DOT sticker on it :)
 
Sparky, you're funny dude. Get pics up soon. And while you're at the wood ornament.... make it JEEPZ.com related.
 
1986 is when the manufactures were required to add the third light. I think that law applies only to the manufacturers and I don't know of any laws that say you have to keep it on your vehicle.
 

Maybe I'm wrong. I did alittle research and found this:
Stoplamps................. 2 red............... SAE J586, February 1984 .High-mounted stoplamp......... 1 red............... J186a, September 1977

That's from TITLE 49--TRANSPORTATION
CHAPTER V--NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC
SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT
OF TRANSPORTATION
PART 571--FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS
Page 307

So, who knows. I've never known anyone to get a ticket for taking it off.
 
My mom got pulled over in Wichita when my dad was at the hospice last year because her 3rd brakelight wasn't working. She got a warning (I'm sure because of the situation she was in). It was just a wire that came loose, and I fixed it right there in the parking lot.
 
south442 said:
1986 is when the manufactures were required to add the third light. I think that law applies only to the manufacturers and I don't know of any laws that say you have to keep it on your vehicle.

'86? Why doesn't my 91 have a 3rd BL then? Perhaps you meant '96... 97 wrangler was the first one to have it right?
 

Joopin said:
'86? Why doesn't my 91 have a 3rd BL then? Perhaps you meant '96... 97 wrangler was the first one to have it right?

Nope, I meant 86 for cars and 94 for others.

Center High-Mounted Stop Lamps (CHMSL) have been standard equipment on all new passenger cars sold in the U.S. since September 1985 and all new light trucks, sport utility vehicles (SUV's) and vans sold since the 1994 model year. Positioned above the stop lamps, the CHMSL functions as a brake light, more readily visible than the brake lights mounted lower. When braking, the CHMSL illuminates, notifying drivers that the vehicle is braking and caution should be exercised by decreasing speed. This light is designed to help safeguard the vehicle from being struck from behind
 
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