TruckHacks - Hella 500 Off-Road Lighting Behind the Grill
Installing Hella 500s Behind the Grill
The Dodge Ram 5.7L HEMI© has a good amount of room between the radiators and the grill. It also has two very conveniently located cross members which make a great mounting point for behind the grill off-road lighting. This is a pretty easy mod, and the Hella 500 lighting kit I received has very nicely done installation instructions. I ended up wiring mine a bit different though because I wanted it to be a completely independent setup. The downside to having it completely independent is that I could forget to turn them off and kill the battery overnight.
One thing you have to remember about doing behind the grill lighting is that the grill design (especially the 2005 PW honeycomb design) isn't conducive to flood or fog lighting because it doesn't allow much lateral light escape. This means the lights you choose need to be driving lights / pencil or spot beams.
I didn't have a big enough deepwell socket to get the lights torqued down properly so the alignment is off. Once I get the right socket, I will not have both lights converging exactly on the same spot, but maybe a couple to four feet apart. The lights were also pointed down a little, so I need to raise them a bit.
For two 55w lights, they do pretty good. Getting on a back road with no traffic it really lights the distance up quite a bit.
Click on a picture for a larger, higher resolution view.
 Same, but no flash |  Got the ground (blue) and relay power |
 Nice long wires for easy routing and install |  Wiring done, they're on |
 Low-beams and Hellas on single point |  Lights off with hood closed |
 With the hood opened |  Low-beams, fogs, Hellas on (with flash) |
 High-beams and Hellas on single point |  Drilled two holes 12" from centerline |
 Another angle |  Probably the only time these lights will have covers |
 Head on (some alignment) no fogs |  Using the hood latch to center from |
 A little black Rustoleum paint |  Here's the grill before |
 Low-beams |  Head on no fogs |
 Temporarily wired switch |  LED lights up when on |
 Here's what's in the kit |  Another angle with them on |
 Quick check to make sure they're even |  No LED light when off |
 Head on | |
Got comments or suggestions?
There are 6 comments so far.
September 24, 2008, 10:15 am (MST) - Kaleb said:
Where can I buy this exact kit you have?
March 24, 2009, 5:24 pm (MST) - adam said:
where did you tie in all the wires at? i got all the wires except the green wire with the fuse on it. they say to hook it up to the headlights but i wanted mine to work without the headlights. any help would be great.
October 13, 2009, 4:31 am (MST) - kish said:
Great mod. Do the lights let off enuff heat to damage the grille?? Thanks, Kish
December 6, 2010, 9:59 am (MST) - Jena said:
Hi, I am wanting to get my husband the same kit for his 2004 Dodge Ram. Do you know if the Hella 500 would work for his truck? Also, have you been happy with the Hella 500s or should I look at another brand? Any other information I should know about fog lights behind the grille?
Thanks!
July 24, 2011, 2:27 pm (MST) - Brandon said:
I followed your same directions and added two lights behind the grill on my dodge ram just like you did. But the lights I bought didn't come with any wiring or anything. I want to wire the lights with a switch. Now I know absolutely nothing about wiring yet because im still young. Could you help me figure out how to wire my lights to a switch please??
September 10, 2012, 10:15 pm (MST) - Anonymous said:
Your answer shows real intelliegnce.
News:
Offroad lighting behind the grill
The holy grail of Power Wagon Mods!
Pics and Video of Power Wagons Wheeling
VHT Nite Shades Cab Light Blackout Mod.
Added new gallery "Power Wagon Flexin' 3".
Added new gallery "Power Wagon Flexin' 1".
Added new gallery "Monster Truckin' 2".
Added new project "Ghetto Contractor Rack".
Added new project "Installing Cab Lighting".
Read about the attempted theft of my buddy's truck and how it was thwarted by a Ravelco security system.
Offsite Resources: