Off Road light placement

[dgray69]

trying to figure out where to mount my off road light, kinda up in the air so ill make a poll out of it,
1) on the front bumper
2) on the windsheild visor
3) on the roof rack cross member
4) in the grill, not sure how it will look but its an option

 

[Expedition]

it depends on how you mount them to said areas, but i think it would look clean behind the grille

 

[tonydiv]

It kind of depends on what you want to accomplish.
A long distance, pencil beam light will work if mounted behind the grill, but it's going to be very directional.

If you want to light up the trail and create a large, wide area of light, you can't beat a roof mount setup that has a couple of pencil beams in the center and a couple of floods on either side. Trophy trucks use a similar setup.

The bumper mount works almost as well, but you are usually limited to a couple of lights due to the room available.


In the spring I'll be adding a Surco basket to the top of the truck with 5 forward facing off road lights. A pencil beam in the center with a spot on either side of it and finally on the outside a couple of floods I'm also going to put on a single rear facing flood.

 

[tonydiv]

If you want rugged, then look here.

http://www.jddistributing.com/site/1320111/page/728862

Kill 3 birds with one stone.

Bumper
winch
off road lights

 

[walnuts4x4]

Offroad wharehouse pre-runner bar.... custom made to order and weren't that bad priced Just look for F150 bar since they don't list expys

 

[mikegigabyte]

I always wondered if they go on the roof how do you usually run the wires, down the door jam or actually drill a hole

 

[walnuts4x4]

way back in the day my first truck a 90 ranger I had 4 KC lights on a light bar and we ran the wires down the front windshield using a black tape (cant remember the name) along the front window the edge so it wasn't seen. Others I've seen drill a hole in the roof and silicone the hole after wire was ran through.... kinda like cab clearance lights

 

[mikegigabyte]

thats a good idea, ive run my gps thingy down my front window gasket too, but the wire is very small

 

[mikegigabyte]

oh forgot to answer the original question, I believe someone on here used a toyota baja type tube light bar bumper thing on the front, I think they just bolt to the metal front bumper. Could be a nice way to mount some lights, also there are I believe whats called bull bumpers that are just big enough for 2 lights.

 

[mikegigabyte]

Found the pic above my earlier post

 

[dgray69]

gee you going to sell me your pre runner bar mr show truck, lol, only down fall is if i run a pre runner, i will be discuraged from building my new bumpers come summer, i spent a little bit today looking at the lights and where to put them, leaning for cross bar for now, couse after i get going on it and get tube bumpers started, and every thing else, im ditching the cross bars, i dont care for them, i can run wires right inside cross bar, and down door seal, truck will be high enough nobody will see the exposed 3 inches of wire

 

[chrmar]

I've always wanted to mount a set of police searchlights. You know, the kind that mount low on the A-pillar and have a handle on the inside.

 

[walnuts4x4]

damn that truck is sexy that big red beast..... love it.... but that bar is made for 99-03 F150s but obviously fits 99 expys just nice..... its made by offroadwharehouse.com..... they have 2 different kinds mine more baja so its wider for almost entire bumper or a shorter one thats just not as wide.... and it hide wires you could always drill right next to the cross bars and run wire then silicon the hole... kinda like the way clearence lights are mounted.

 

[dgray69]

they are going on the bumper, look at pre runner thread for pics and info, not that the pre runner is bad, but it wont eat a chevy up

 

[gjhanson2]

I have a set of cheap lights behind the grill on my '99 and I'd say don't do it. I put mine on because I was bored and I ran into a few problems:
-Not enough room to fit normal-sized round lights (had to install rectangles)
-Only place to mount them is on the fiberglass pieces behind grill which isn't strong enough
-I can see the lights shaking when I go over bumps

There are kits you can buy to mount lights behind the grill with out the above mentioned problems, but I wasn't going to drop the money on them. I'm just waiting for my new push bar and I'll mount a few PIAA's on it once it's installed.

 

[dgray69]

the two 6 inch lights that are on bumper are floods, so i am thinking my two rectangular light will either go under top bar, or go on the back of the truck, not sure yet, work in progress

 

[Bart Man]

Cool Light Placement!

http://www.f150online.com/forums/1997-2003-f-150/393225-installed-lights-behind-grill.html
I saw this today and thought it was pretty cool!

 

[Bart Man]

Here's a picture

 

[dgray69]

that is cool but it wont work for me as my bumper bull bar will cover them

 

[Blackwater]

This will have to wait till after lift and tires go on the expedition but this is the plan for adding lights. This was my 99 Cherokee until some kid pulled out in front of me in a lowered VW golf. Lets just say he didn't finish to well, ripped windshield roof column off and went over his hood landing back on all fours and over a 6-8 foot high snow pile. And I was only doing 30mph 5 bellow the limit.

The Expedition will end up looking like this but just on a larger scale!





Then again on my 94 Grand Cherokee



Then another mood I like to do is add fog lights to the inside of the lift gate so when its open you can kick them on to light up a area. This is already done to the Expedition and will get a photo soon.