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Lights on the roof, no roof rack

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  #11  
Old 01-14-2010, 10:00 AM
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Yeah... I tackled this project a few months ago. I wanted some lights, but wasn't sure I wanted a rack. (I'm still not sure I want a rack! Maybe a half-basket that can go on the back- something relatively easy to put up and take down.)

My truck is an '04, and as such it has the larger roof rails. The way I decided to fabricate the light-bar will only work for an '04 model truck, but you could just get a set of '04 roof rails for your older D2 and then still proceed.

This wasn't easy, and wound up not being all that cheap either. But, I like it, it looks factory, it still fits in my garage, and there's no other truck out there quite like it!

Here's a link to my album on photobucket. The pics are extensive, and should spell it out pretty good. I was going to do a proper write-up with pics, but the week after I finished this project we had a house fire and nothing has settled down since. Hell, I've barely even been on any Land Rover forums the past couple of months and the damn fire caused me to miss the Florida Land Rover Club's Fall Rally!

At any rate, here are the pics:

http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/c...LR%20projects/

I haven't had a good opportunity to get any quality end-result pics, the last few in that album I just took with my iPhone from the parking lot at my office!

Ask questions if you have them and I'll answer.
 
  #12  
Old 01-14-2010, 10:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Disco Mike
A couple problems mounting to the roof, leakage, wiring and mostly having the lights that low to the roof will reflect a good portion of the light to the roof and then up into the air doing you no good.
For what it is worth, you can put a lot more light in front of your truck when using bumper mounted lights.
I ran my wiring through the light-bar, into the factory roof-rail inside tha contact patch, and then through the already-existing hole in the roof. I did have to enlarge the hole in the roof though, which I confess was literally gut-wrenching to do! I also applied black silicone to everything and smoothed it out nicely. The silicone is completely invisible. No leaks whatsoever. I actually mounted the x-eng x-lites a little differently than they were designed to be, in that I ran the wiring through the back and into the bar rather than out the bottom. I just plugged-up the hole in the bottom with the black silicone. I realize that these lights are meant to be mounted to roll-cages, in which case it would not be possible to run wiring as I have, but I have been exceedingly pleased with this setup. I have the hood black-out, but I don't think it's even necessary with these lights. I get almost no light on the hood, it is all projected perfectly. Plus, with these lights I don't have to worry about anything knocking them out of alignment where they wind up pointing at the sky and not the trail! I am running 2 spotlight beams and 2 floodlight beams, floods on the outside and spots on the inside.

I have to give props to Jake at British 4x4 here in Jax, he helped me work out the details and did the welding for me to get the flange and mounting bolts on the inside at each end of my crossbar.
 
  #13  
Old 01-14-2010, 10:24 AM
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Herb - Thanks, I'll keep looking.

Mike - Good point about the low mounting and extra reflection, and I've got enough leaking problems as it is.

Fever - That looks real nice! You do nice work. Maybe if I get the courage (and $$$) I can make something like that. Thanks for your input, sorry about the fire

Thank you all for your input. If I figure out what I'm going to do, I'll post some pictures. Cheers!
 
  #14  
Old 01-14-2010, 01:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Disco Mike
A couple problems mounting to the roof, leakage, wiring and mostly having the lights that low to the roof will reflect a good portion of the light to the roof and then up into the air doing you no good.
For what it is worth, you can put a lot more light in front of your truck when using bumper mounted lights.
BUT bumper lights shine accross potholes etc in terrain and dont provide a shadow, roof lights shine down into the terrain and into potholes etc so you can see them easier, thats the whole point in having them, worth a lot when "offroad" at night.

This is a nice one done by a company over there, was going to ship one till I got my roof rack, cannot seem to find the link now, But its something like Moab or similar......

 

Last edited by Urban Panzer; 01-14-2010 at 01:46 PM.
  #15  
Old 01-14-2010, 03:08 PM
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This may be what we are looking for but its overseas and doesn't have a good pic
http://www.all4wheelsgear.com/page13.html
 
  #16  
Old 01-14-2010, 03:17 PM
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40 pounds can't be good quality...
 
  #17  
Old 01-14-2010, 03:23 PM
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Prob why they don't have a pic! I think UP was referring to the Mofab light bar but I searched for thirty min and only found that site above.
 
  #18  
Old 01-14-2010, 04:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Urban Panzer
BUT bumper lights shine accross potholes etc in terrain and dont provide a shadow, roof lights shine down into the terrain and into potholes etc so you can see them easier, thats the whole point in having them, worth a lot when "offroad" at night.

This is a nice one done by a company over there, was going to ship one till I got my roof rack, cannot seem to find the link now, But its something like Moab or similar......


I like this one, looks factory and sits low enough to the roof line,and is far enough forward that roof reflection wouldn't be a factor. I haven't been able to find anything from searching either...

I'm going to take this pic and try and see if I can get someone to fab one up for a decent price.
 
  #19  
Old 01-14-2010, 05:30 PM
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These are just about as low profile as you can go. You can get em shipped direct from Devon 4x4. Lights can be mounted either above, or below (pictured).

http://www.devon4x4.com/products_a/p...nge-rover.html




Or fabbing up a pair would be pretty easy. The brackets on the sides of the bar are almost exact replicas of those used in retail shelving. You could stop by your local grocer, or retailer, and pick up some for free, as they'll be happy to get rid of the broken ones in back. Weld a round cross-bar between em, & 4 light mount tabs, sand, paint - and voila; poor mans light bar that looks prefabbed.
 

Last edited by Suede; 01-14-2010 at 05:47 PM.
  #20  
Old 01-15-2010, 03:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Disco Mike
For what it is worth, you can put a lot more light in front of your truck when using bumper mounted lights.
I couldn't agree more. Lights up top aren't too terribly useful.

If you're looking for more light when offroad at night, install some "rock lights" or lights mounted underneath the truck or inside the fenders so when you're crawling around, your spotter can see underneath better.

I installed some 100watt lights on my stock front bumper....

 

Last edited by BajaXJ92; 01-15-2010 at 03:49 PM.


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