1st gen led light bar ideas

I do Make mounts for first gens! Cheap and strong. Check them out! https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/50-inch-led-bar-brackets.407136/#post-11778442

 

What front bumper are you running? Is that a 4runner bumper?

 

Added a 42, def some wind noise. Anyone know a fix?

 

Is it a whistle? Door trim works for that. Or foam pieces tucked between the fins. There's a thread on that here somewheres. Search for "light bar whistle".

 

Aww yeah. Just ordered this stuff up. Hopefully one of the sets of jeep hood mounts will work for the 12". Return the others.. Gonna have to figure out the spacing to account for the support beams under hood. Then drill. Would've attempted to make my own mounts, but don't have access to tools anymore But these are cheap.. Gonna look SICK

And ordered up the 20" to replace my current one in the valence. Need some more distance. And hoping this upgraded version of the evo prime, with 4d lenses AND 15 watt cree leds, will do the trick, heh. 180 watts on that little beast and 17k lumens!

Will also be removing my vision x cannon clones. Too bulky looking to me. Plus they don't really add any light. Then, I might get some dual a pillar mounts. Not sure what kinda lights to put on those yet. Will be mostly for aesthetics as those little lights probly won't add much light either...

Then try to get my 8" bars back in my turn signal spots eventually, but they're such a pita.

 

It's just the stock 2wd bumper.

 

Cool thread! Thought I'd see more light bars mounted on camper shells. That's my idea when I get to it.

 

Can anyone show me how they mounted a light bar behind the valance? And what size light bar did you use?

 

Mines a 20". Just welded a piece of angle inside the frame rails and bolted the bar to it.

 

Working on my hood mounted 12" vision x xpr clone.
Posted new thread here with more pics with different mount ideas.Trying to figure the best position for it before I go drilling.

 

Looks like your installation completely blocks air flow through the radiator.

 

Doesn't look too bad to me. 2nd gens guys have done satoshi grilles with very small perforations, blocking more airflow than any light bar would plus the grille mod, and didn't seem to notice a difference.

Not to start a big debate on that here but, was just saying

 

Got the 4d bar installed. But the end cap mounting holes were in a different position. Had to modify the mounts I made and now the bar sits back inside the valence a little more. But no way around it. It ended up being wobbly/shaky so I made a support bracket out of a random piece of metal I had laying around. Lined up perfectly after bending it a bit. Mounted to the mounts on the underside of bar that it came with it, up to the support beam for the radiator support. No more shaky shaky! Wish I could figure out a better way to mount the bar completely and have it more flush mounted. If I drilled holes in those plastic tabs on the valence, itd line up perfectly. But I already drilled smaller holes to attach the other bracket I made from last bar so I didn't want it to lose strength or risk buggering up the holes and have it angled improperly if I drilled the holes wrong.

This is the 20" replacement btw. 15 watt leds. 4d. 17k lumens. Crazy intense spot beam. Loving it. Just the extra down range throw I was looking for.

 

What brand bar is that? I love the ones that have the ability to either mount on the ends or have the sliding mounts across the bottom. I wish more had the sliding bottom mount feature...

 

Vision X Evo Prime. A clone that is. As are all of mine. This 4d is an upgraded modified version.
3d vs 4d:


The new xpr clones have both side and bottom mount options. But even more so the side mounts can be mounted in multiple positions.the one pictured below is not the xpr, but shows how the mounts can be used.

 

Thanks!

Guess i should have just scrolled up a few posts and read your post that said what it was, lol

 

Yeah. It doesn't really have a brand name. Just an overseas clone. Idk who makes them. There's so many damned resellers and the same bars are sold by a number of sellers on eBay. With the exception of that 4d version. One and only bar I've seen like that with 15watt leds. That one, the xpr, and a few of the evo prime bars have the dual mount options. Some of the older designs of the evo prime Have slight differences in the end caps. My older evo primes don't have the nutserts on the end caps. You had to purchase separate special bolt adapters to insert into the end caps. Which made it a bitch without them. It was basically a hole. There was a rod on the inside of the bar that was used for the bottom mounts. I had to disassemble the bar part way to get it out so I could use regular Allen bolts, I inserted bolts from the inside, and used nylocks on the outside. My 42" has one single rod, and didn't feel like disassembling that. So I used a loooooooong ass 1/4" threaded rod all the way through. With nylocks on the outside. As there's a 1/4" hole through the length of that rod. And hacked off the remaining threads. Ha. But these newer versions are a bit different. They basically took the adjustment rod out, cut a slot in the adjustment tabs underneath, and used tiny cutouts of the rod to insert in that cutout slot, then you could slide in/out. Much simpler design. If you understood any of that. Lol.

Just wanted to throw that out there if anyone's thinking of purchasing one be it old / new design. To keep in mind there's some catches depending on what version you get.

 

So aside from spending hours, on say Amazon sorting through hundreds of listings, how does one narrow a search when trying to find a clone of a specific design/brand? Or is it hours of searching? The name.brand lights are really nice but jesus they are beyond ridiculous with the pricing! 2,3 and 4 grand for a fucking light!? A light!? No way!

Edit**ha, you posted your last message just about the exact time i posted mine. So you sorta answered my question.

 

Someone actually asked me this recently too.. It can be a little tricky. And yes, lots of browsing. Its most helpful to familirarize yourself with the top name brand bars, what they look like, and the specs.

what I do, is I look up the specs of the bar on the vision x site (or whatever bar you want), then input that in eBay and browse the entire list.

Like for example, the evo prime 20" would be searched like so:
"20inch cree led light bar 120w"
or just
"120w cree led light bar"
or
"120watt cree led light bar"
Just gotta mix it up. Comes up with a ton of results, but I just scroll through them all and look for the clones. Putting in the length and wattage and "cree" usually brings up the fewest results. Putting in only the wattage and "cree" increases the results a ton as theirs a LOT of bars that fit into that category. But still better than putting in "cree led light bar".

Wattage helps the most. Sometimes, the length of the bar will affect your results too as the listings differ a little from the name brand specs. For example, my 4.5" vision x led cannons are usually listed on eBay as being 4.7", and putting in 4.5" Will not pop up with a anything. Also putting in flood/spot/combo will help filter some things depending on what you're looking for. Like the cannons, I have to put in '4.7inch round led spot light' to find it. Or something to that effect. Change it up a few times, if still nothing, limit your search title more and browse browse browse. Lol. Should work for any bar really. IF there's clones available. I've seen a few Baja designs clones too. Not sure about rigid or anyone else.

 

Oh and once I find a clone, I browse that sellers store for all their other stuff. Because usually they sell a good amount of the same types of bars in different designs/lengths/beam patterns.

The one I follow most is 'Sunyee Intl' . also known as 'v-liteway'. He's got a good mix of bars. Including some clones. As well as other cool snaz too. And seems to come out with the newest stuff first. He had a lot of clones available but not so much lately.

Edit: I'm unsure if this method works on Amazon. I imagine it does. I don't really watch Amazon for led bars.. I should though, as they have a ton more in there than they used to. And a lot of overseas sellers are listing their items in there now too I think, versus solely on eBay. That or they are just different companies buying those overseas bars and are now selling on Amazon. It's ridiculous to try and comprehend what goes on with these businesses now. The lighting industry has grown like 700 some percent in the last three years. Or something like that I read anyways iirc.

Edit 2, lol: And it's all overseas stuff too. The biggest problem is finding out which ones are worth it. And I figure clones are The way to go. Same design and housings and optics used. Just different internals with different leds, and maybe a slightly lower quality paint finish on the outside.