Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Hutch on February 11, 2012, 07:58:40 PM
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I want to mount some additional lights on my F250. I have in mind a bar above the cab, basically from gutter to gutter, with ~ 5 lights, trained as follows. 2 outboard lights ~ 30 degrees off axis, l/r inboard pair straight ahead, like super high-beams, and center light dead aft, for backing at night, illuminating the bed, etc. my google-fu only finds front-bumper mounts, some sort of "roll bar"looking rig that would interfere with the tool box, or a flashy-light bar of a sort found on a wrecker or service vehicle. Can anyone tell me: what to look for, and: suggest vendors or improvements on my plan?
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KC is an old standby. Rugged with metal housings. PIAA makes good lights, too.
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Light Force !!
http://www.lightforce.com/us/index (http://www.lightforce.com/us/index)
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Don't have 'em myself, but on pickups so equipped that I've seen, the lights/light covers almost always say KC.
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Ain't the lights that's the puzzle. It's the bar to mount 'em on, and the mounting of that bar on ol' Truggly. The lights themselves are the easy part. Next is switching and power. The hardestest part is that bar and mount. Don't want 'em on the bumper or a faux roll-bar. Any ideas?
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Alternate option, I did HIR headlights in my rig instead of fancy offroad lights. Cheaper, and I've seen light bars with less output than my high beams. They draw enough juice I had to replace the wiring harnesses and run a separate fusible link for them. I also cheated, the bulbs are keyed so you can't put them in a rig that doesn't have the right reflector housing. A little work with some diagonal cutters made them pop right in. The low beams are the correct bulbs for the rig.
http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/122662-john-deere-hir-bulbs.html (http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/122662-john-deere-hir-bulbs.html)
Between those and the LED backup lights I'm not feeling the need for a light bar.
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If you wanted to go really hardcore... http://www.sleeoffroad.com/products/products_lights_led.htm (http://www.sleeoffroad.com/products/products_lights_led.htm)
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Here is a rail kit:
http://www.pickupspecialties.com/Carr/Light_bars/carr_light_bars.htm
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can you mock up temp mounts? try em in the dark? i've suffered from glare issues on some vehicle mounts can be surprising from what.
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Back in my poor days I did something similar on my full size Bronco. I picked up a Yakima canoe rack at a yard sale, dumped the cradle, mounted the lights to the bar and ran the wiring internally. Just have to ground the bar to the truck. Craigslist/garagesale should find you one in the $25 range, or a new one is about $60.
http://www.prolineracks.com/item/Roof-Rack-Rain-Gutter-Mount-179
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I've got something similar for my baja bug: Light bar (http://www.jbugs.com/product/9312.html) and 116mm lights (http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/LED-Work-Lamp#tabs)
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Dingdingdingding! Winnah! Thanks guys. All great follow ups. I will report back when the project is under way.
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Here is a rail kit:
http://www.pickupspecialties.com/Carr/Light_bars/carr_light_bars.htm
You can order right from rigid as well. I have their Dually's on my raptor (two pair amber food "fog", white spot "driving"...going to do the 40" behind the grill for offroading...I can't afford the height increase of a light bar
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Get enough expensive stuff on your off road vehicle and you will never want to take it off road for fear of damaging something :P
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Get enough expensive stuff on your off road vehicle and you will never want to take it off road for fear of damaging something :P
That's why the expensive lights remain behind guards :)
I wish I had the overhead clearance for a lightbar, but the parking garage at work is height compromised, and the raptor only has about 3" the way it stands.
Regarding the OP, I heartily recommend the rigid lights, they were a breeze to install, last forever, and are built (so far) really rugged. Also, they are lower profile than conventional lights, use less power than HID's, and because of the many emitters, can be purchased for the pattern you want--for instance the 40+" bars have spots in the middle, floods on the outer zones--giving you an optimum foot print.
If I had the overall clearance, i would do a 40" front, a 20" rear, and a 10" to each side, plus a pair of white flood dually's for bed illumination. I'd keep my front double-pair of Dually's as I don't get any hassle with those being on, while most LEO's will pull you over if you are using big aux lights, especially if roof mounted. The "fog light" location for my current ones is stock appearing enough to not get noticed (and usually I keep to the VA law of only having 4 total lights on at a time).
Which brings up a good point...check your local laws re: aux lights...some states will cut the wires of unapproved lights! And another point...regarding LEDs, does the number of lights equal the number of emitters? (if so Audi owners are doomed) Or the number of contiguous blocks? (so the 14,000+ lumen bar counts as one, and everyone but me is doomed?) or...is it police discretion like everything else? (and I'm doomed)