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Note:
Jeep Glow Gauge kits are available through 4x4mods.com
Installation
date: 1/28/02
I hadn't
really planned on doing a write-up on this mod, but due to popular demand,
here it is. I bought the kit off e-bay. You'll notice I'll use the word
"carefully" a lot in this article, and that's for good reason.
Great care must be used when installing this kit to avoid damaging or
breaking the gauges or needles. If you do break one, they're rather
expensive to replace, even from a salvage yard.
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The kit is
actually very high quality, the glow overlays match the OEM
gauges perfectly. You get 6 glow overlays, connecting harness,
control box and switch, and instructions.
The switch
controls the intensity of the gauges as well as allowing you to
switch between blue and green colors. A 6-color touch pad is also
available, but it costs extra.
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The first
step is to completely remove your gauge cluster from your XJ.
This involves removing the dash bezel and then unscrewing and
unplugging the cluster itself.
What you see
is my cluster with my original white face kit. The glow kit
was installed over the existing white face kit, in case you were
wondering.
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Now that you
have the cluster out, you'll need to carefully remove each individual
gauge from the housing. Since the glow overlays have a tab
that the harness connects to, you'll want to cut a slot in
the rim of the metal OEM face so the overlay lays flat. To do
this, carefully hold the corresponding overlay up to the gauge
face and mark where the tab his the gauge rim. I used a set of
wire nippers to snip the edges.
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Next carefully
bend the tab down flat. I found a set of needle-nose pliers worked
very well and allowed me to flatten out the bend as well.
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Remove the
two small phillips-head screws that hold the metal face to the
gauge itself. The metal face will come loose. Carefully
tip the metal face down away from the long end of the needle and
slip the glow overlay onto the gauge and over the needle easier.
The overlays
are designed so that you do not have to remove the needles to
install them, which could damage or break the needle.
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With the overlay
slipped over the needle and in position, replace the small screws
that hold the face to the gauge. Don't over tighten them, it could
damage the glow material.
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As you can
see, the overlays are a perfect fit and match for the OEM gauges.
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Cutting the
slots for the tabs allows the overlays to sit flat on the gauge
face and makes for a more professional looking install in my opinion.
Once all the
overlays have been installed, put the gauges back into the cluster
housing. If you choose to remove the OEM cluster lights from the
back of the housing, you can pass the overlay connectors through
the holes left by the OEM lights, otherwise you'll need to bunch
the wires up and run them out the side as I've done below.
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If you do
remove the OEM lights, you won't be able to see or read your odometer
at night. I chose to leave the OEM lights in so that I could still
see the odometer at night. The glow doesn't look as good at
night as a result, but it was a tradeoff I was willing to make.
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The final
result! This is what the gauges look like in blue, which is the
color I prefer. They can also be switched to green as shown below
if you want. The pics were taken with the gauges set to full intensity,
which looks the best but is also way too bright for driving and
lights up the whole interior. I usually have mine set for about
50% intensity and find that still looks good but doesn't put too
much light.
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You're probably
wondering where I mounted the control box and switch. Well, all
I did was tuck them down behind the dash. I never really found
a good place to mount the control panel that didn't require taking
it apart first (which would mean unsoldering some wire connections),
so I just tuck it up behind the bottom of the dash and only pull
it out to adjust the glow, which isn't very often. At first
I played with the color and intensity a lot, but like my old RS9000's,
I eventually just found a setting I liked and left them there.
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Well, that's about
it. Oh yeah, almost forgot! You'll need to find a 12V power source for
the lights. The instructions warn against using a source that's dimmed
by the OEM dimmer switch (easier said than done), but I accidentally
used one anyway and it hasn't harmed my overlays at all. Granted, I
never use the OEM dimmer to dim the dash lights though. I've been extremely
happy with the kit, it looks great and the white faces really dress
up the gauges during the day.
And for those of
you that think glow gauges are "rice", well, they're starting
to pop up as factory items on many Chrysler vehicles now, including
the new Jeep Grand Cherokee Limiteds. Heh-heh...
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