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Vision X’s Bolt-On 2002-2013 Ram LED Bar And Fog Lights

Vision X’s Bolt-On 2002-2013 Ram LED Bar And Fog Lights

Factory-installed headlights and fog lights are great for city driving with all the street lights, and other drivers illuminating the road ahead, but once we’re out and away from all this, the stock lights barely get the job done. LEDs are the hottest thing in lighting right now and we all know they perform extremely well.

Vision X was one of the first companies to take advantage of this technology in the automotive aftermarket. They’ve been making high-quality LED lights for years and have now found ways to make mounting LEDs on your rig much easier. Most LED bars and smaller LED lamps require aftermarket bumpers, grille gaurds, and/or drilling holes in your bumper to mount them. Vision X’s Vx Spec Upgrade series offers clean and simple ways to bolt up a set of bright LED lights on your factory bumper.

When we learned of this we gave Vision X a call and ordered up a set of replacement fog lights as well as an Xmitter LED bar with bumper bracket for one of our test rigs, a 2013 Ram 2500. Once the lights showed up we headed to Pick-Up Parts in Mission Viejo, California, for the install. DW

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1 Vision X’s Vx Spec Upgrade bumper mount light bar and fog light upgrades come with everything needed to install on a 2002-2013 Ram (also available for other vehicles).
2 We first tackled the fog lights. Removing the factory units took only a few minutes each. They’re held in place with three 10mm bolts. After unplugging the lights and removing the bolts, the lights were removed from the back of the bumper. It was an easy 10-minute job.
3 Vision X’s Optimus Halo LED lights mount up to their custom-made brackets, with one stainless steel bolt and nylon locking nut. We tightened the nut just tight enough that we could aim the light once installed, but not so loose that the light would fall out of alignment at the first pothole.
4 Side by side, the factory lights next to the new, assembled Vision X Vx Spec unit.
5 The lights were then installed in the factory location, using factory holes and hardware. Vision X supplies wire adaptors, which allow the Vision X LED lights to simply plug into the factory harness with zero cutting or splicing of wires. Once installed, the lights will be operated off the same factory switch the stock fogs used.
6 Once installed, the lights were aligned and the Allen screw on either side was tightened down to lock in the up and down adjustment. This kit will also accommodate a second set of Vision X LED lights. The second light would sit side by side with the single seen here.
7 The difference is obvious with only one Vision X LED installed compared to the stocker on the driver’s side.
8 Next up was Vision X’s Vx Spec Bumper Mounted Xmitter LED bar.
9 The supplied mounting bracket is secured to the existing tow hooks but does not hinder use of said hooks. The assembled bracket and light will not fit through the opening of the assembled bumper, so we bolted everything together inside the bumper. Here Pick-Up Parts’ Ted slides the bracket into its new home.
10 Alignment of the bar in relation to the opening in the bumper was fairly simple. We did have to align everything, mark the position, and remove it all to tighten down the bar’s mounting bolts as they were not accessible with the bracket bolted to the vehicle. All and all, a 15-minute process.
11 Once aligned and the bar secured to the bracket, the bracket was then bolted down for good and we moved on to the wiring.
12 Vision X supplied a high-quality wire harness complete with relay, fuse and high-quality switch. After connecting the LED bar to the harness the next step was tapping into a constant 12-volt electrical supply. We grabbed this off the accessory post in the power distribution box.
13 The kit needed three connections: 12-volt constant, chassis ground, and a 12-volt positive key-on signal. We grabbed the ground from an existing ground screw on the driver’s side fender support.
14 Key-on voltage was taken from the brake control plug under the dash and routed to the switch.
15 There are only a few places to cleanly mount a switch on most new vehicles. Luckily for us we found one in a convenient position left of the steering wheel. With a couple drill bits, a small file and a few minutes of work we were ready to mount the switch.
16 Vision X supplies a high-end unlighted toggle switch, but the owner of this Ram wanted a lighted switch so he could know if he had accidentally flipped the lights on during the day. If we had wired the switch power to a headlight 12-volt source, the Vision X LED bar would only be able to be turned on when the headlights were on. But the owner wanted to be able to use the LED bar when the headlights were off, but only when the truck was running. This is why they were wired to 12-volt key-on power.

17 & 18 Stock lights vs. the new Vision X fogs and LED bar—the difference is night and day. Later on we learned the owner actually realigned the fog lamps to point much farther to either side. He said, “I don’t need any more light out front. The LED bar takes care of that. Now I have an extremely wide field of vision at night. Nothing is sneaking up on me!”

Source:
Vision X Lighting
888-489-9820
www.VisionXUSA.com

Pick-Up Parts
of Mission Viejo
www.PickUpPartsMV.com
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