"SWAMP COW AVOIDANCE LIGHTING"

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That is MOOSE to those that don't know.
Just saw two the other night and man oh man are these dumb animals hard to see as they stroll across a dark country road... . Hitting one of those gives new meaning to the term BOMB...

ok,
I want to retain the stock lighting setup but add the ability to illuminate all the forward facing bulbs on command.

So that is
high's, low's and the postdelivery OEM foglights.

This is a good thread on the topic of running Highs and Lows at the same time: https://www.turbodieselregister.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000147.html

For a 99, will the wiring jumper work or will the fog lights continue to toggle off when the highs go on?

I like the toggle normally, but not for my new "MOOSE AVOIDANCE MODE"
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By the way, the deer don't like the noisy Cummins but the Moose simply does not care about anything at all (until his thousand pound body goes through the windshield and ruins your entire life... )

The only advantage you have with our big pickups is that he is not likely to live to get another driver. Not so with many little cars that get totalled only to have the beast get up and walk off (muttering "just a flesh wound")

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Green Monster's cyber garage (and TDR multimedia sandbox)

eventual replacement site

 

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I feel your pain.

 

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Hey, David, have you ever actually seen a car that has been stopped by a moose? I never had ANY idea how much damage they can do, until I saw a toyota rice burner with the grill in the backseat from a swamp cow collision.

Anyhow, did you see my latest post on the thread that you referred to? This way is so easy it makes me sad for those that spent $100 on a brite box. I could do it my way faster than it would take to get the battery out to put in the brite box. If you can hold on a couple weeks, I'll do it for you when you come down. I have a bunch of the connector needed to do this. To run the fog lights AND the hi/lo's, you will need to take out the fog lamp relay in the PDC and jump the spade lugs on two of the terminals, I forget which ones. Look in your bible, uh, I mean service manual, and it will tell which terminals are which.

 

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Here comes $. 02 worth from and ex-desert racer now in moose country. When traveling at speed in danger country, you have to focus your attention, and be able to recognize potential road kill at least 300 ft out. Anything closer is already history.
Unless you have a snow background, the only thing you have a chance of seeing in time to do react are the eyes. The most effective thing is a long range spot or pencil beam such as a Pia or Ceibe. Flooding the short range with light tends to draw your attention in too close. On the other hand, it does give you a good look at what you are going to hit.
FWIW.

 

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Never herd (pardon the pun) them referred to as "Swamp Cows" before. We always call them Swamp Donkeys!
Drive REAL careful!

 

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Being in a state that was once known for having more cows than people, I guess Vermont just modified the nickname.

I think it's appropriate, as donkeys are far smarter than cows... ... #ad


Thanks for the input about the pencil beams, had not considered it.

The two that I just saw gave me a good scare and you are correct, your eyes just see the legs which simply does not reach your nervous system as the thousand pound threat that it is... .

[This message has been edited by David_VT (edited 04-05-2000). ]

 

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I know you said you didn't want to add lights but with a set of KC's hooked up to your high beam switch would let you see everything. I run my KC's on back roads all the time and you can aim in on a future road kill a long ways away.

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99,4x4,slt,3500,5spd,3. 54 gears,black,hoswel bale bed,blue box,Pac-
Brake,sraightpipe,
K&N,silencer ring removed,5 star aluminum wheels,brushguard,
blackouts,eclipse stereo,sound stream 10,
matrix blue headlight bulbs,blazer blue neon fog lights,KC Daylighters,29ltd Cobra CB,Dodge splash guards,Lund Cold Fronts

-- email address removed --

 

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David,

Really funny post, dude.

I grew up in the northeast and spent summers in your neck of the woods. I regularly travel across Route 2 and have to dodge four legged critters of various descriptions. After hitting a couple of deer, I decided to make a change.

First things first: no amount of lighting will save your skinny butt from the sort of retarded herbivore who decides to jump you as you drive by (most deer strikes happen this way). Both of my deer used this technique to hitchhike, one before, and one after I installed a very heavy duty Warn Brushguard.

The "before" deer did $4500 worth of damage to the front end of a Phord Ph-150. I know what it feels like to experience the deployment of an airbag, now.

The second deer hit the brushguard/winch and the damage was limited to one headlight, parking light lens and several hours with a garden hose and scrub brush. I used the winch, a tree and a couple of snatch blocks to straighten out the Warn "CowCatcher" and, with the aid of can of black "Rustoleum" my rig was good as new.

I would really recommend that you consider the installation of some Warn goodies -- if not now, then maybe at a later date. The brushguard and winch put about 500 pounds of "mean" Pittsburgh steel between you and the warm-blooded, four-legged world. Plus, you get to snap your suspenders and play "Good Samaritan" a lot -- I've pulled friend's trucks, boats, Harleys, etc. , out of ditches and done a few "stupid Ram trick" truck recoveries on myself, too. Believe me, you'll never make a better investment. I kept my truck busy for six days straight during our January ice storm, helping to clear driveways and roads of fallen trees... The winch has paid for itself many times over.

The brush guard also makes a great platform for mounting Warn's outstanding split-beam driving lamps (#SDB-210-HB). They are absolutely awesome. These lights are beautiful to behold and have a three way illuminated toggle switch which enables the driver (that'd be you) to select "normal driving," "moose prevention" or "off".

The "normal driving" mode (lamps contain some exotic gas -- not halogen) lights up the road with a warm white light that is approximately twice as penetrating as your normal "high beams. " When angled properly, these lights don't affect oncoming drives or cause "retaliatory" high-beam flashes (well, not usually)...

I run the lamps all the time in the driving mode, in addition to my normal headlights. They are adequate to illuminate anything you are likely to hit down the road. In "moose prevention" mode you can bore blue-white holes through brick walls. Contemporary lamp manufacturers use a different descriptive now (no longer "millions of candlepower"); lamp strength is expressed in terms of "lumens," which means nothing to me (not that candlepower did) but the real world test is incredible.

You can see between towns with the switch in the up ("moose") position. I can't even begin to describe the sensation of turning these things on. You can feel the heat of the beams standing 10 feet away. I used to run (as a stupid kid) a Jeep with DC-10 landing lights on a roll bar. These Warns are AT LEAST that bright. They are (duh!) not legal for use on the road, but I use them all the time when barreling along at 90 MPH in the stix. You pick up eye reflections of black angus cows, deer, moose or, whatever, before they even THINK about hitching a ride.

This is not an inexpensive solution, but if you decide to install something similar, you won't regret it.

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97 2500 4x4, club cab, auto, 3. 54 limited slip, JRE 4" exhaust, Dr. Performance Fuel system (370 HP), turbo, Geno's guages -- Boost, EGT, transmission & Rear -- MAG Hytec covers, SunCoast Converter/Transgo shift kit, Brite Box, tons o'chrome under hood, Prime Loc, EZ Drain, Seat covers, wood dash, Rancho Suspension, Warn M12000 Winch on Warn Brush Guard, Warn driving and fog lights, Hella twin back up lights, 285/75/R16 B. F. G. ATs on Mickey Thompson rims; Linex bed liner, BD exhaust brake.

[This message has been edited by Sasquatch (edited 04-05-2000). ]

[This message has been edited by Sasquatch (edited 04-05-2000). ]

[This message has been edited by Sasquatch (edited 04-05-2000). ]

 

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Bet you're wondering if the above was "edited by Sasquatch".

(Sheeze!) <g>

 

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Sasquatch- about how much are those lights?

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Bill Lins Wharton, TX 98 2500 QC SLT,12 valve,NV4500,3. 54 LSD,Manik grille guard,K&N filter,Amsoil everywhere, Reading aluminum utility body and bumper,Optima yellow tops- silencer ring, cat,& muffler all stolen,
waiting for PsyScotty air

 

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Sas,
Good message. You clearly know the area!!

I'm near rt2 & rt15. Summer'd here all my life and started full time cottage commuting one year ago.

My first attempt at a cow catcher was a big thumbs down. Steel horse brush guard is just a flimsy urban dressup device. It was on the truck on day and now rests on the lawn until I get up the motivation to ship it to someone who told me they wanted it.

I was looking at the warn stuff today while buying some slightly illegal replacement bulbs for the headlights (100/80).

Your description of the Warn 'modes' is interesting. Do they use the two bulbs or are they changing the wiring from series to parallel for the brightness shift?

 

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http://www.warn.com/Home/Products/Lights/sdb210.htm

 

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Bill:

The set of Warn driving lights (W36 37609) retail (means diddly) for $624. 98. My 4-wheel parts center sold 'em to me for $398. 95. That included the wiring harness, switch, etc. The pair of fog lights (W36 37604) listed for $394. 00 and were discounted to $259. 00. I guess I had about a grand in the job, with everything installed. They did an awesome job, though, taking out my (teat-on-a-boar-hog) OEM cup splasher and fabricating a custom switch panel that looks like a factory installation (same mat-black plastic, perfectly fitted).

The fog lights are mounted to the cow catcher (brush guard), too, and they are the ONLY fogs I've ever used that actually enhance visibility in foggy conditions.

Warn products are the absolute "Mercedes" of off road equipment. You pay a little more but the gauge of the metal is more substantial, the chroming is heavier, the paint is all baked-on, powder-coat, the attention to detail is impressive (waterproofing, etc) and their warranties are the best in the business.

 

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David,

I'm pretty sure they are using two bulbs but, I'm embarrassed to admit that that's an assumption -- I wouldn't swear to it.

<img src=http://www.warn.com/Home/Products/Lights/Images/sdb210.jpg>

 

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All Warn info can be found here. They offer a catalogue as well...
http://www.warn.com/Home/

 

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Sas- Thanks (I think) for the pricing info. #ad
It'll be a loooooong while before that one's in the budget!

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Bill Lins Wharton, TX 98 2500 QC SLT,12 valve,NV4500,3. 54 LSD,Manik grille guard,K&N filter,Amsoil everywhere, Reading aluminum utility body and bumper,Optima yellow tops- silencer ring, cat,& muffler all stolen,
waiting for PsyScotty air

 

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Went with 80/100 bulbs. Already saved my butt with a big buck deer eating salt in the center of the road.

 

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I have lived in the land of the swamp cow my entire life and have seen the damage they do when you hit them with a truck (even an 18 wheeler gets hammered). My suggestion is to do both of things mentioned above. Get a big, bad brush guard (with winch if you want) and get some lights. I rigged up my 150 watt el-cheapo driving lights through a floor operated switch so I could use my foot to turn them on and off. I also point the lights to the sides of the road so they light up the brush (where the moose jumps out of). I don't know how much $ you want to spend but the link bellow has some great looking bumpers, they even talk about hitting moose.
http://www.dodgeram.com/Ram/bumper/frontbumper.htm

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Y2k+1 2500 SLT+ QC LWB 4x4 Auto, Forrest Green Sport with all options avail
Planned mods: DC Nerf Bars, DC Grill Gard, Line-X bed liner and Lund 160XL Topper
2000 Skidoo Summit 700

 

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Yeah,
I goofed on the first brush guard. I doubt it would have kept a beagle from damaging the front end. El Piece of Crapo

So, my second attempt will be after a considerable amount of time spent researching.

I want

• a rock solid brush guard that shows zero vibration of it's own. (hood shakes to the left, brush guard better do the same thing)
• no blockage my OEM foglights.
• winch capable.
• mounts for 'offroad' #ad
  lighting.
• black color that will not fall off in my high salt and dirt road environment
• all from a company that will warranty and stand behind their product

 

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Did you guys who installed the 80/100 watt headlight bulbs change the wiring in any way? Have you had any problems with anything overheating? Was it merely a noticeable difference, or a dramatic difference in lighting?

The bulb switch sure seems like the cheap and easy improvement, as long as it works well without overloading the headlight switch or some other component.

Comments on the above are welcome.

Loren

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2000 Quad Cab, 4x4, short bed, six-speed.
1995 Standard Cab, 4x4, long bed, automatic. (soon to be sold)