30" lightbar, new fogs & more

[96grimreaper]

Our '19 Expedition has gone through some suspension, wheel & tire changes. Now with the really poor factory lighting it was time for some major upgrades. We make a 7hr one way trip to the wife's family about every other month and most of it is 2 lane highway, plus I prefer to drive at night. Anyway.....

Diode Dynamics 30" combo bar
Diode Dynamics SS3 sae fog sports
Diode Dynamics SL1 low beams

I tinted the factory fogs and re wired to act as running lights. SS3's are now using the factory fog switch. Light bar is on an independent switch.

Waiting until night time to get them aimed but so far I'm happy with how it turned out and the wife is thrilled....since it's hers.

 

[GixxerJasen]

Interested to see how the output is with it being set back inside the grill like that.

 

[bigwilly]

Those look awesome! I love the clean mounting, factory look, well done! Might have to do something similar to my '23 SPP when it comes in. Thanks for sharing

 

[96grimreaper]

The width on the fogs suffer a bit from being set back so far. I've considered cutting the slats to open it up more.

As for the light bar, doesn't seem to effect it at all.

 

[ColoradoJason]

I’m looking at the same light bar, and love the clean install. I’d love to see some nighttime shots and impressions sometime if you have time.

 

[96grimreaper]

I’m looking at the same light bar, and love the clean install. I’d love to see some nighttime shots and impressions sometime if you have time.

I'll try to get some as soon as I can. I work evenings so I'm out the door before it's dark. I have the 30" on my truck that's all driving lenses and it's amazing. This pic is slightly misleading because it shows my lows, fogs and ditch lights but you can see the distance from the light bar. 2nd pic for reference is lows, fogs and ditch lights.

 

[doubleeagle45]

so far I'm happy with how it turned out and the wife is thrilled....since it's hers.

"Happy wife, Happy life!" my friend....
I'm still waiting on our Expedition so I don't have one to examine. Quick question- that horizontal 'plate' that you mounted the new lights onto, is it a standard/stock piece there? Or is it something you fabricated for this project? Really love the look of this clean, stealthy installation. Merry Christmas and safe travels!

 

[GixxerJasen]

I was wondering the same thing about that plate. I haven't pulled off the body panels on mine to look.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

Interested to see how the output is with it being set back inside the grill like that.

I've got my light bar mounted behind the grill also and it works well. I mounted mine on threaded rod so I could fine tune the position once it was in.

 

[96grimreaper]

"Happy wife, Happy life!" my friend....
I'm still waiting on our Expedition so I don't have one to examine. Quick question- that horizontal 'plate' that you mounted the new lights onto, is it a standard/stock piece there? Or is it something you fabricated for this project? Really love the look of this clean, stealthy installation. Merry Christmas and safe travels!

Both lights were mounted to the factory plastic piece that's behind the bumper.

Only change I may make is to use the same mounting point for the fogs but using a longer bolt and a spacer to drop them down about 1/2 an inch.

 

[Rick0959]

Our '19 Expedition has gone through some suspension, wheel & tire changes. Now with the really poor factory lighting it was time for some major upgrades. We make a 7hr one way trip to the wife's family about every other month and most of it is 2 lane highway, plus I prefer to drive at night. Anyway.....

Diode Dynamics 30" combo bar
Diode Dynamics SS3 sae fog sports
Diode Dynamics SL1 low beams

I tinted the factory fogs and re wired to act as running lights. SS3's are now using the factory fog switch. Light bar is on an independent switch.

Waiting until night time to get them aimed but so far I'm happy with how it turned out and the wife is thrilled....since it's hers.

Looks good. How are you activating the lights? I recently installed some A-pillar pods and can't get a high beam trigger working. Thinking of just going with a stand alone controller.

 

[mdecillis]

Looks awesome!

 

[Deadman]

The lighting will be great.

Why didn't you go with a black series light bar? The black series 30" light bar I have mounted in mine hides completely because its not chrome looking.

 

[MassGuy]

I just got a 30" RC black series. Can the 30' light bar be installed into the slot in the pics above without removing the plastic bumper cover? Can you screw into anything solid through the plastic cover? I really don't want to get into removing the bumper cover.... The slot seems to be above the intercooler so I don't think cooling will be affected. Making that statement based on the pics above.

 

[Deadman]

I just got a 30" RC black series. Can the 30' light bar be installed into the slot in the pics above without removing the plastic bumper cover? Can you screw into anything solid through the plastic cover? I really don't want to get into removing the bumper cover.... The slot seems to be above the intercooler so I don't think cooling will be affected. Making that statement based on the pics above.

no

 

[m3olsen]

Those look awesome! I love the clean mounting, factory look, well done! Might have to do something similar to my '23 SPP when it comes in. Thanks for sharing

Looks awesome!

I'm not familiar with each year's changes on the Gen 4, but I went out and looked at the bumper skin of my 2022 and don't have that slot that OP has where the light bar is mounted - I have solid bumper skin from the base of the radiator grill down to the top of the intercooler grill. I think we may be out of luck on this upgrade - at least on that perfect location.

 

[5280tunage]

Was just going to show you guys these. I've been battling a rattling front bumper/grill for 2+ years now, and I wanted to make sure it wasn't because of the lightbar I put in very early on in my ownership of this '19 expy. So yesterday, I took the bumper cover off again, and decided to remount my lightbar. I will say, the original mounting brackets were partially preventing the upper/outer plastic pop rivets/anchors from seating completely so this was good to do regardless. But sadly, it didn't really help the rattling at all. I can't stand this two-piece grill, it rattles a lot, just walking around and banging on the bumper cover or even hood, the two layers of plastic on the grill rattle.

But regardless, I bought something like 5 different LED brackets, everything from ATV to UTV to trucks, etc. Just to have some on hand that might help when I did this. One set, which is ironically for a hidden LED bar on F150's worked great. Here are some quick picks. and mind you, I have the shorter lightbar, these may still work for the longer bars but you would have to rotate the brackets 180 degress so the long arm is point inward. Pretty sturdy now, I used stainless and black anodized HW to try and resist rust. I also noticed a tone of rust on my front low speed impact bar, I cleaned it up and spray painted it while I was in there. For those of you that may want some of these, they are Amazon ASIN B075T3SV27.

 

[bigd9247]

I know this is an old thread but thanks for posting. I think I'm going to add the same SS3 fogs on my wife's 2019 Expedition. What are you using for your low beams? Based on your pictures they seem to be pretty bright and have a sharp cutoff.