Show me your light bars

[Lippyp]

I know we have some very talented fabricators and also a lot of 4x4 owners/wheelers on here so I thought I'd ask the question. I want to make a roof light bar for my '01 S10 Blazer to hang four Hella FF75 driving lights from. I want it to be a fairly low profile item so I can still put a load on the factory roof bars if I need to hence the small lights, they'll also match the pair of massive Hella Jumbo 220's going on the bumper.

These are the lights

I don't want to drill the roof so I'm thinking about either coming off the factory roof rail in a similar way to how the factory roof rails fix in or fixing it down using the stock roof rail mounting bolts on to of the existing rails.



This is the sort of thing I'm thinking about (has the same lights on) on this X-Terra, will probably also add a mount of a CB antenna in the middle.

This is my blazer

My biggest problem is I don't have any way of bending tube, welding, cutting, drilling yes bending, no.

Lets see what you guys have on your trucks and what you've made tourselfs for some inspiration.

Thanks
Phil

 

[Boost Creep]

 

[mebuildit]

I can get some LED lights very cheap if you are interested in LED lights. I can send you some picture if you are interested.

 

[Lippyp]

I think the shipping from Arizona to the UK might be a deal killer!

 

[ilovevocs]

The cools kids are fabricating sub frames for the lights that mount to the main rack using bushings, then they use a linear actuator mounted from the frame to the sub frame to tram the lights up and down. Its a trick setup. My sand car is in my trailer or i would snap some pics, unforntunalty im not that cool because i dont have the actuator. It became popular after my car was built. Not a neccesity, but if i were to build one again I would consider it, the actuators arent super spendy the last time i checked.

 

[ert01]

I'm interested in some LED's... Do you sell bars or individual lights? I want to add some small lights onto my motorcycle... And maybe a bar onto my jeep if the price is right.

 

[KMinAF]

Here is the one I made for my Montero

[/IMG]

 

[Lippyp]

Fronties are welcome too! I should probably make one of those as well although again I have the problem of not having a tube bender. I might have to see if theres anyone local that can bend the bits for me.

 

[ert01]

For something non structural like a light bar, you can easily get away with using pipe rather than tube. Pipe benders are easier to find/borrow and the pipe is dirt cheap.

 

[Rockuf8]

One-off front lightbar 3 different sizes of DOM. I've been thinking about replacing the Hella Black Magics on mine with LED. I can pull on this lightbar and move the whole truck and the lightbar has zero flex in it. It's soild.

 

[Gary Anderson]

My son's Dodge truck, front and rear light bars.
He fabricated EVERYTHING!

Your Pal, Gary

 

[crewchief888]

front bar on my s-10 blazer

all black pipe bent with a HF pipe bender

 

[Lippyp]

Well work has started on the roof bar, its going to bolt up between the factory roof rails using some home made captive nuts that will slide in. The rest is just two lengths of 20mm angle with some 20mm box section between them. Just got to cut out a tab for a CB antenna and then weld it all together.

Now all ready to weld up. It's nothing complicated tbh. I'd love to have made it more elegant but tbh theres not much I could do with such a simple structure.

 

[mebuildit]

I am a seller of LED light bars and individual LED lights. Here are some pictures of what I sell in any of you are interested. There are so many to show, if you are interested in anything let me know.
-Greg

 

[zjrog]

Phil, I like where your project is headed. I'm giving thought to a similar setup to mount bicycle fork clamps and an antenna or two on my Jeep.

 

[Lippyp]

I am a seller of LED light bars and individual LED lights. Here are some pictures of what I sell in any of you are interested. There are so many to show, if you are interested in anything let me know.
-Greg

So go on, what sort of price plus shipping to the UK!

 

[bullnerd]

The ones you posted the pic of look a little close to the windshield to me? Probably going to cause a glare.

Also, for those small lights, you can bend tube with a conduit bender.

 

[spoonsports86]

I am a seller of LED light bars and individual LED lights. Here are some pictures of what I sell in any of you are interested. There are so many to show, if you are interested in anything let me know.
-Greg

well now that we know you sell them can you give us some prices ?

can we get some specs on them

i would be interested in a few

 

[-Brent-]

The tabs are evenly spread and square to the tube. Leaning the bumper against the wall created an optical illusion. The light is a 10"er, nothing fancy.

Here's the bumper, powder coated:

 

[mjb]

The cools kids are fabricating sub frames for the lights that mount to the main rack using bushings, then they use a linear actuator mounted from the frame to the sub frame to tram the lights up and down. Its a trick setup. My sand car is in my trailer or i would snap some pics, unforntunalty im not that cool because i dont have the actuator. It became popular after my car was built. Not a neccesity, but if i were to build one again I would consider it, the actuators arent super spendy the last time i checked.

Here you go

 

[Moose-LandTran]

Not quite what you meant..

Some other lights that need mounting..

 

[Lippyp]

The ones you posted the pic of look a little close to the windshield to me? Probably going to cause a glare.

Also, for those small lights, you can bend tube with a conduit bender.

Yeah mine will be a lot further back than that one in the picture. No sunroof either.

The one with the actuator on it looks fantastic but way way over the top for anything other than a serious race car.

Are those LED strip lights really that bright and what sort of beam pattern do they put out?

 

[Lippyp]

The bar is all welded up and just needs a wipe down and some paint. The holes in the front will be getting some amber LED's as running/marker lights. The CB antenna is an old one I had knocking around, I have that stainless whip and a five foot stars and stripes firestick but that might be a bit too rigid for the roof so I might just buy a cheapo springer one. Need to get some 8mm bolts and nylocs and order the leds and then sort out the wiring. After that its a matter of knocking up some captive nuts and a dry day to dismantle the roof rails so I can slide them in.

 

[NASTYZEN]

Dammit Phil, I can never concentrate when I look at your posts, your avatar keeps distracting me...

 

[bullnerd]

Dammit Phil, I can never concentrate when I look at your posts, your avatar keeps distracting me...

Ditto!

 

[charged9250]

My 32" LED light bar behind the bumper.

 

[Lippyp]

Test fit time.

 

[toomanytoyzz]

The tabs are evenly spread and square to the tube. Leaning the bumper against the wall created an optical illusion. The light is a 10"er, nothing fancy.

Looks great, but this is where it's not square to me. I'd still mount that puppy on my truck anyday.

 

[MFolks]

I'd think on any light bar installation, you should make removal difficult for thieves, by using Torx, or Allen head bolts that are anti-tamper resistant. Most theft happens when the thug gets his screwdriver & adjustable wrench on your stuff & unbolts it, and cuts the wires. Maybe self locking nuts will resist loosening better than a regular hex nut & lockwasher.

 

[zjrog]

Looks pretty good Phil! I'm curious to see how far those Hellas throw the light...


Just to show my flimsy lightbar, and the 12" LED bar... It was only installed to compare the lights mounted to it. WAYYYY too flimsy to drive with.

And I showed lighting in my other thread...

but this is just the 12" lightbar. A longer, more LED dense bar will punch much farther.


This is the cellphone camera showing where the LED lightbar drops off, is about where the 8" lights take over. Then again, the 8" lights are a pencil beam...

 

[zjrog]

Not quite what you meant..

Some other lights that need mounting..

Holy Moly! Of course those LEDs are all colored, not white? At least here in Utah, unless a law enforcement officer, law enforcement reserve or volunteer, firefighter with authorization for lighting, those are some ticket catchers for certain!!!!

 

[mebuildit]

well now that we know you sell them can you give us some prices ?

can we get some specs on them

i would be interested in a few

I am a distributor for totron.com

If you go on their website you can PM me with part numbers and I can get you anything you like.

I am a lot cheaper than the other popular brands, plus they get them from this same company as well. I just don't have to charge an arm and a leg, lower overhead.

 

[zjrog]

After I get a few other projects cleared from my plate, I will be in touch to see what you can do for me. As much as I like my 6" lights on my Jeep, they are getting a bit tiring to look past all the time, something with a similar output and pattern but smaller to look around, would be great.

And, I unknowingly cheated with the above light comparison. I was told the lights had 55 watt bulbs, but they are in fact, 100 watt...

 

[zjrog]

And completed...

Let the fun begin!

 

[Lippyp]

I am officially a ********! Yesterday I grabbed an hour or so out in the garage and got the led marker lights in and all wired up, soldered together a loom, heat shrink on all the splices etc, all worked great. Went to tidy it up by sliding it into some of that split corrugated plastic tubing and when I tested it afterwards only one LED worked. Seems they had a resistor soldered inline with the + lead under some heatshrink and I'd managed to snap three of them off in getting it into the tubing. DOH. Back to stage one, ordered up three more, cut the old ones off waiting on the new ones so I can solder them back in slightly differently. Also waiting on the cable for the lights and connectors etc which hopefully will be here today so i can wire the spots in over the weekend.

It looked good though with the amber leds on!