One of the neat things about getting a new-to-you Jeep, especially a year or model you've not had before, is that you learn all kinds of new things the factory cheaped out on to save a few tenths of a cent, often resulting in stuff not working by the time it gets to you.
Our '98 Cherokee has been a learning experience, but none of its "quirks" got to us quite as much as the rear dome light not working. We load and unload the Jeep at all hours of the night, and while the Cherokee has a good-sized cargo hold, the lack of a functioning light, or any interior lights coming on when you open the liftgate, just plain sucks.
So, we got into the stock light and found a melted switch. The switch was supposed to control whether or not the opening of the liftgate would turn on the interior lights and the cargo area lights. We found that fixing that switch required replacing the entire dome light assembly, available only from your friendly neighborhood Jeep dealership to the tune of $90. Well, as much as we wanted light, we were unwilling to pay that much for it.
We were in our second month of using a flashlight tucked under the arm when we stumbled across the Double Ceiling Light-Optic Lens from Camping World (PN 34475). Not only did it throw a lot more light than the stock unit, it only cost $11.10. So, we picked one up, and after some messingN around, figured out how to wire it up so we had light for all situations.
We wanted to imitate the stock functionality, with the ability to leave the liftgate open for extended periods of time without draining the battery, have the light work with the liftgate, and have it work with the other interior lights. While we were at it, we needed to figure out how or when to get both of the unit's lights to come on.
We modified the wiring of the three-position switch so that the "off" position is off, the "one" position turns on one bulb when any door or the liftgate is open, and the "two" position turns on one light with the liftgate closed (useful if sleeping in the Jeep) and turns on two lights with the 'gate open. Not only did we save almost $80, we ended up with easily four times the light we had when we rigged up the stock light for the lead photo.
 If you want the light to function...  If you want the light to function like ours, you will need to cut all the wires off the switch when you get it from Camping World and rewire it. This is a pin out of the back of the switch, which is included with the light. L1 is one light in the new assembly, while L2 is the other light. Note that two poles of the switch aren't used; that is the off position. You will find three wires from the Jeep to your OE light, a positive wire (which you wire directly to L1 and L2), a switched ground wire (switched with the tailgate), and a wire from the Jeep which is also a switched ground (switched with the doors or interior light switch). |  In the first photo, we used...  In the first photo, we used a big glob of solder to short the terminals to which the stock switch connected. The problem was it got really hot, really fast. But you can see the difference in light output between this light and the OE one. We painted the housing with selfetchinggrey primer to match our interior, and after wiring it up, used the included screwsto mount it to the ceiling. | |