Rickwhoo
TJ Enthusiast
I want to add a high beam switch on the floor in my TJ. Anyone do this yet? I miss this.
Also going to add a foot rest. Anyone do that?
Also going to add a foot rest. Anyone do that?
Has Anyone Installed a High Beam Foot Switch?
- Thread starter Rickwhoo
- Start date
I'm sure someone has but other than a sense of nostalgia, the floorboard in a TJ is already a bit cluttered and crammed for my liking...
Rickwhoo
TJ Enthusiast
I find lots of room in mine.
Why? Do your fingers get tired using the one you have?
Rickwhoo
TJ Enthusiast
No, I just like it. I had it in my old cars when I was young and want it back.Why? Do your fingers get tired using the one you have?
The headlight power is just a simple battery circuit that goes to the headlight function in the multifunction switch. The part that is trouble is that the multifunction switch determines whether it's sending that power out the low beam circuit or the high beam circuit.
In an older vehicle, maybe even 97-02 TJs that has the old headlight switch on the dash, the headlight power is just a simple power wire to the headlight switch, then the headlight switch sends that to a dimmer switch (operated by a turn signal stalk usually, or in the case of what you want, the switch on the floor).
Since on your 2005 this is all accomplished by the single multifunction switch, I don't see how you can accomplish what you are wanting unless you rewire to your own added headlight switch and then wire the floor switch to the output of your own headlight switch. right now the current multifunction switch is already sending the power straight to either filament (high or low) so you need to remove that from the equation.
Maybe you can crack open the multifunction switch and figure out how to get a simple "headlight on" power wire coming out of it down to the floor switch and bypass the multifunction switch portion, but I'm with the others, that's a lot of work for a something like this. Wouldn't be worth it to me personally.
In an older vehicle, maybe even 97-02 TJs that has the old headlight switch on the dash, the headlight power is just a simple power wire to the headlight switch, then the headlight switch sends that to a dimmer switch (operated by a turn signal stalk usually, or in the case of what you want, the switch on the floor).
Since on your 2005 this is all accomplished by the single multifunction switch, I don't see how you can accomplish what you are wanting unless you rewire to your own added headlight switch and then wire the floor switch to the output of your own headlight switch. right now the current multifunction switch is already sending the power straight to either filament (high or low) so you need to remove that from the equation.
Maybe you can crack open the multifunction switch and figure out how to get a simple "headlight on" power wire coming out of it down to the floor switch and bypass the multifunction switch portion, but I'm with the others, that's a lot of work for a something like this. Wouldn't be worth it to me personally.
The multi-function circuit is what led me to this site back in the day - lotta stuff going on in there, not just a cut-a-wire type situation. Mine had a aftermarket alarm wired in (very well done) that wasn't very noticeable. Me being a novice didn't help any 
A dead pedal is something I've been meaning to do. Had one before, really liked it.
A dead pedal is something I've been meaning to do. Had one before, really liked it.
Oh man, you must be old lol. I do remember playing with the brights switch on the floor as a kid. Though don't know why it wouldn't be easier to just use the one on the steering column on most cars now.
My LJ used to be stick shift and the previous owner installed a dead pedal on the far left. That's probably what you're looking for. I do rest my foot on it even though it's an auto trans now.
My LJ used to be stick shift and the previous owner installed a dead pedal on the far left. That's probably what you're looking for. I do rest my foot on it even though it's an auto trans now.
Rickwhoo
TJ Enthusiast
It can be done. I did it on an old 89 chevy pick up years ago.
C.J. Roberts
TJ Addict
If you really wanted to do this, I don't see why you couldn't. It would require getting into the wiring harness, finding the appropriate wires, cutting them, splicing them, and extending them to the foot switch.
you missed what I said. An 89 Chevy doesn’t have anywhere close to the same circuitry as a TJ with a multifunction switch. The Chevy has the same old school separate headlight and dimmer switch I am talking about, which would be easy because you just run the wiring to the original dimmer switch over to the floor switch instead. In one of those the dimmer switch is just mounted to the steering column and operated by the high beam stalk with a rod. In that truck you would just need to extend the wires at that switch down to the floor switch instead.
The TJ is not wired like this at all and it’s going to be a very custom job. You are going to have to remove the multifunction set I from the equation or at the very least find a way to pull headlight-on output from it and run it to the floor, and then the output wiring that normally feeds the lights power from the multifunction switch will need to be cut from the multifunction switch and rerouted down to the floor switch.
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Head Lice
TJ Addict
Why not put in a foot actuated starter switch too? Really old trucks had those. Put it right beside the foot actuated dimmer. Hit them both at the same time. Vacuum wipers are great . . . . going to do this mod right after the power steering is removed.
Rickwhoo
TJ Enthusiast
Now you're talking up stupid...
This is how I drove my last two years of high school, and when I was home my first 3 years during college. Only the starter was on the right (next to the round foot rest) and the dimmer was on the left, outboard the clutch.
Loved every minute of it.
TheGanzman
TJ Enthusiast
I've always thought that moving the high/low beam switch from the floorboard(s) to a column stalk was a grievous error; to wit: Your hand(s) are not always in the ideal place on the steering wheel (do ANY of you drive with your hands at 9 & 3 o'clock I wanna know?) to switch DOWN from high to low beams, but with few exceptions, your left foot is ALWAYS right there on the floor. Now that I'm living in the country again with mostly two lane roads (and LOTS of deer, squirrels, racoons, cats, and dogs "sharing the roads"), I find myself using the high beams all the time. It's a real PITA having to move my left (or right, depending on which vehicle in the current fleet I'm driving) into place ~152 times per drive to drop down and back up from high to low. I'd like to have a chat with the rocket scientist (or corporate bean counter, more likely) that "sold" the idea of a stalk mounted high/low headlight switch being a "better idea" - it categorically is NOT, unless you no longer have a left foot/leg...
At the end of the day, I guess this falls into that huge category entitled "First World Problems", LOL...
At the end of the day, I guess this falls into that huge category entitled "First World Problems", LOL...
Under-dash hand break would do the trick without taking up footwell space.
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