Curved 50" LED Light Bar Mounts/Brackets?
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Life got in the way and what I thought would have taken me only a few days to do, actually took me a few weeks. All in all, i'm pretty happy with the way things turned out. I will say that had i had access to a plasma cutter or water jet, i think i could make things a bit nicer. I made two different mounts. The first one i was really not happy with my welds, even when trying to clean them up with my grinder. So... i made a second mount. This time around, cutting the metal, and welding and grinding took only about 2 hrs max.
While I don't have a curved light bar, and I am not using my stock roof rack, the application should be the same with those who have a curved bar and a stock rack. I'm using the front roof rack mounts (which i believe every 100 has no?). With a stock rack, one needs to get a piece of metal under the front foot to create the base and then build from there. For those worried about the rack feet being uneven in height, put the same thickness of metal underneath the rest of the feet to keep things level and even. Now... for those of you who don't think you can do this? About the only "special" tool that i had was a welder. I used a drill, an angle grinder, my welder, and 1 rattle can of black rustoleum ultracover that seems to closely match the powdercoat on my rack. That's it. oh... and stainless steel hardware which included two M8 button head hex bolts (i think they were m8 and i don't remember the length), two complementing flat and star lock washers. And obviously, don't forget the metal. I used 2" x 3/8" flat bar ( i forget how long) As far as the metal you use, the dimensions are according to your needs.
My led lightbar is one that i got off amazon. here's the link.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F4MQJ5O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
At the time, i paid $111.96 shipped. It's a bit more now. I purchased it because hey... how bad can a $100 light bar be? I will say... It's ok. that's it. It's only ok. I'm sure a Rigid would most certainly be better, but honestly, an E1 @ $1600, an E2 @ $1800, and an amber/white @ $1650... I'm not sponsored, i'm not an offroad racer, and I don't spend even a day out in an area where it would really make a difference. This light is supposedly a combo pattern, but i believe there should be more spot instead of flood as i would like to see more distance. This light has a good amount of distance, but I'd like to see more. Glare off my hood does not bounce into my eyes. In fact, I get a little bounce back from the glare off my snorkel head. Also, I do not notice any appreciable difference as far as wind noise is concerned. I was driving yesterday on the highway up to about 80 and there was no whistling or anything. I was very concerned about the potential for noise when i was fabbing the mounts.
One more thing to note... As far as the curved vs flat bar. I do not believe that the mounting surfaces (even if they were the same dimension from end to end) are parallel. My friend just purchased a 40" curved bar for her FJC. She came over and I looked at it. The mounting surfaces are similar, but the angle is certainly different. Imagine taking the straight bar and bending it. That's how the screwed in mounting surface of the curved light bar on hers seemed to be. I don't know if they are all like that. It would have seemed smarter to me if the screw hole surface on the bar was made to be angled properly to be at exact 90 degrees from the mounting surface of whatever the feet were to be placed at. The angle of her light bar isn't terribly dramatic, but i know when I make the mount for her truck, i'll keep that in mind when choosing where to mount it.
I hope this helps someone here. Merry Christmas.
While I don't have a curved light bar, and I am not using my stock roof rack, the application should be the same with those who have a curved bar and a stock rack. I'm using the front roof rack mounts (which i believe every 100 has no?). With a stock rack, one needs to get a piece of metal under the front foot to create the base and then build from there. For those worried about the rack feet being uneven in height, put the same thickness of metal underneath the rest of the feet to keep things level and even. Now... for those of you who don't think you can do this? About the only "special" tool that i had was a welder. I used a drill, an angle grinder, my welder, and 1 rattle can of black rustoleum ultracover that seems to closely match the powdercoat on my rack. That's it. oh... and stainless steel hardware which included two M8 button head hex bolts (i think they were m8 and i don't remember the length), two complementing flat and star lock washers. And obviously, don't forget the metal. I used 2" x 3/8" flat bar ( i forget how long) As far as the metal you use, the dimensions are according to your needs.
My led lightbar is one that i got off amazon. here's the link.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F4MQJ5O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
At the time, i paid $111.96 shipped. It's a bit more now. I purchased it because hey... how bad can a $100 light bar be? I will say... It's ok. that's it. It's only ok. I'm sure a Rigid would most certainly be better, but honestly, an E1 @ $1600, an E2 @ $1800, and an amber/white @ $1650... I'm not sponsored, i'm not an offroad racer, and I don't spend even a day out in an area where it would really make a difference. This light is supposedly a combo pattern, but i believe there should be more spot instead of flood as i would like to see more distance. This light has a good amount of distance, but I'd like to see more. Glare off my hood does not bounce into my eyes. In fact, I get a little bounce back from the glare off my snorkel head. Also, I do not notice any appreciable difference as far as wind noise is concerned. I was driving yesterday on the highway up to about 80 and there was no whistling or anything. I was very concerned about the potential for noise when i was fabbing the mounts.
One more thing to note... As far as the curved vs flat bar. I do not believe that the mounting surfaces (even if they were the same dimension from end to end) are parallel. My friend just purchased a 40" curved bar for her FJC. She came over and I looked at it. The mounting surfaces are similar, but the angle is certainly different. Imagine taking the straight bar and bending it. That's how the screwed in mounting surface of the curved light bar on hers seemed to be. I don't know if they are all like that. It would have seemed smarter to me if the screw hole surface on the bar was made to be angled properly to be at exact 90 degrees from the mounting surface of whatever the feet were to be placed at. The angle of her light bar isn't terribly dramatic, but i know when I make the mount for her truck, i'll keep that in mind when choosing where to mount it.
I hope this helps someone here. Merry Christmas.
so... how do I go about getting a pair of these mounts? (I bought the same light bar as you)
Do you have any DXF files? i can get them water jetted.Life got in the way and what I thought would have taken me only a few days to do, actually took me a few weeks. All in all, i'm pretty happy with the way things turned out. I will say that had i had access to a plasma cutter or water jet, i think i could make things a bit nicer. I made two different mounts. The first one i was really not happy with my welds, even when trying to clean them up with my grinder. So... i made a second mount. This time around, cutting the metal, and welding and grinding took only about 2 hrs max.
While I don't have a curved light bar, and I am not using my stock roof rack, the application should be the same with those who have a curved bar and a stock rack. I'm using the front roof rack mounts (which i believe every 100 has no?). With a stock rack, one needs to get a piece of metal under the front foot to create the base and then build from there. For those worried about the rack feet being uneven in height, put the same thickness of metal underneath the rest of the feet to keep things level and even. Now... for those of you who don't think you can do this? About the only "special" tool that i had was a welder. I used a drill, an angle grinder, my welder, and 1 rattle can of black rustoleum ultracover that seems to closely match the powdercoat on my rack. That's it. oh... and stainless steel hardware which included two M8 button head hex bolts (i think they were m8 and i don't remember the length), two complementing flat and star lock washers. And obviously, don't forget the metal. I used 2" x 3/8" flat bar ( i forget how long) As far as the metal you use, the dimensions are according to your needs.
My led lightbar is one that i got off amazon. here's the link.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F4MQJ5O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
At the time, i paid $111.96 shipped. It's a bit more now. I purchased it because hey... how bad can a $100 light bar be? I will say... It's ok. that's it. It's only ok. I'm sure a Rigid would most certainly be better, but honestly, an E1 @ $1600, an E2 @ $1800, and an amber/white @ $1650... I'm not sponsored, i'm not an offroad racer, and I don't spend even a day out in an area where it would really make a difference. This light is supposedly a combo pattern, but i believe there should be more spot instead of flood as i would like to see more distance. This light has a good amount of distance, but I'd like to see more. Glare off my hood does not bounce into my eyes. In fact, I get a little bounce back from the glare off my snorkel head. Also, I do not notice any appreciable difference as far as wind noise is concerned. I was driving yesterday on the highway up to about 80 and there was no whistling or anything. I was very concerned about the potential for noise when i was fabbing the mounts.
One more thing to note... As far as the curved vs flat bar. I do not believe that the mounting surfaces (even if they were the same dimension from end to end) are parallel. My friend just purchased a 40" curved bar for her FJC. She came over and I looked at it. The mounting surfaces are similar, but the angle is certainly different. Imagine taking the straight bar and bending it. That's how the screwed in mounting surface of the curved light bar on hers seemed to be. I don't know if they are all like that. It would have seemed smarter to me if the screw hole surface on the bar was made to be angled properly to be at exact 90 degrees from the mounting surface of whatever the feet were to be placed at. The angle of her light bar isn't terribly dramatic, but i know when I make the mount for her truck, i'll keep that in mind when choosing where to mount it.
I hope this helps someone here. Merry Christmas.
I don't even know what a dxf file is. This was done via the cut, make mistake, redo, measure more, cut and weld method. hahaha. Sorry can't be more help.
Haha sorry, a dxf file is usually made from a drawing/solidworks/solid-modeling program to give to the water-jet or laser-cut guys to cut a piece of flat metal, then after its cut, you can bend the various angles using some brake presses.
Can anyone make similar mounts like these for an 80? And if anyone would recommend a good size light bar for mine assuming that I would use those brackets/mounts Thatd be great!
