Front License Relocation For Light Bar?

In WA it's required to have a front plate, but the plate is covering the best spot on the bumper spot to slip a light bar in.

Anyone moved their front license plate somewhere not hideous? I can't think of anywhere but inside the windshield..

Open for any light advice,

Thanks

 

You can buy one of these front license plate brackets, there big brackets but work well.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/1st-gen-offroad-bumper-options-gallery-w-pics.292292/

 

With a stock bumper your kinda limited

You could try some heavy duty Velcro and play around with a few locations

 

Might sound like a dumb question, but what's your light bar for?

I assume offroading...

If that's the case, low on the bumper really isn't the best place to mount the light anyway. Ideally, it should be as high as possible. I know roof mount light bars are trendy and kinda give that "bro, look at me" vibe, but that really is the "best" spot to mount them if you want to see well at night. Mounting them low creates a lot of long shadows making it hard to see farther, or over relatively low objects.

But, if you really want in in the bumper, I'd set the light back just enough so you can mount the license plate in front of it, perhaps with some sort of quick release so you can take it off at night when you need it. Or, just drill a couple holes on the side of the bumper and mount the plate to the side, in between the side marker lights and the light bar.

 

I go out camping with the truck all the time (leaving tomorrow morning actually) and every time I wish I had some extra lights.

Originally I planned on mounting a big curved bar above the windshield but my truck is white and ceramic coated making it really glossy and reflective. I'm convinced it'd be blinding unless its way back or I have those air dams under it.

I do have cross bars on top of my canopy now and could mount one on there, the closest bar does sit right up to the cab so it might not be too far back?

Also most the time I'm not doing hardcore wheeling mostly just driving through trails and exploring so maybe a bumper bar would do the trick.

 

I think most light bars have pretty good directional beams, so reflecting off the hood probably isn't much of a problem, but I think it depends on your hood, where you mount the light, etc.... Some people have to put a plate under the bar to block the light from hitting the hood.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/roof-mounted-led-light-bar-glare-solved.377416/

If your canopy is over the bed, I think that'd be too far back to mount the light.

If you had a roof rack on top of your cab, that'd be an ideal place to mount them, but most guys use brackets that bolt to the upper A-pillars inside the doors. You could fabricate your own, or buy some pretty trick looking ones (like form Relentless Fabrication).

Lots of people don't like the roof mounts because they can be noisy at highway speeds, and reduce gas mileage.

 

Yeah that's another thing, I do a lot of highway driving so the drag from it is a big factor. I think I'll do ditch lights at the base of the windshielld and a bumper bar above my plate.

 

I bet you could rig up some quick-releases for ditch lights, so you can leave them off while on the highway, then plug them in when off road...

I keep trying to convince myself to get a lightbar, but honestly, I don't really do much (if any) night wheelin, so it's be just for the "bro look" for me, lol.

 

I went ditch lights, work great.i have a 20" light bar I was thinking of put in the lower valance, but I'd have to move my plate and that's a fix it ticket

 

What mounts you use and how much?

 

Is everyone just using oem halogen headlights??

 

Member on TW makes these. Great product without the need to drill holes. So happy I found it before I brought out the drill. @ACEkraut


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...rill-license-plate-bracket-35-shipped.429680/

 

Rago fab. No cutting uses the hood bolts.10 min. Install.and cheapie lights off Amazon.like 60 bucks for the brackets.

 

Well, not everyone. There are plenty of people posting about how they just bought these sweet super bright LED lights for their stock housings and post pictures of how bright they are. Usually, though, you can see that they had to aim the lights way down to stop getting flashed by other drivers, and are still lighting up the tops of 30 foot tall trees.

Read through this thread, and you can see some pretty good pictures of good light setups, and bad ones.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/these-lights.470811/

For the halogen upgrade, it's mainly the stock wiring harness that is the weak point. The upgraded one has much thicker wire to handle the added load of the brighter halogen bulbs, and is wired directly from the battery so you actually get more available wattage, even with regular bulbs. The 80w OSRAM bulbs are super bright, but because they are still halogens, they throw exactly the same light pattern as stock, only brighter.

When my Taco was a daily driver, I opted to do just the wire harness upgrade, and am using some Sylvania bulbs rather than the 80w OSRAM bulbs. The brighter bulbs just don't last as long, which was a concern as a daily driver.

 

Cool, but probably won't really work on a 1st gen...

 

@yota_aidan

Probably not. Each bumper is slightly different in terms of profile and mounting locations. But, I am willing to share how I made the brackets if you want to have a go at making one to fit your truck. Without a 1st gen in front of me it would prove to be difficult to build a prototype that would work but I am willing to bet that I could come close to talking you through the process if you were reasonably handy and willing to try.

 

Thanks for the mention!

 

Thanks, I really appreciate it, but I decided I don't really like the way the plate looks anywhere else so I'll just stick the light bar on top of the bumper at grill level.

 

As long as it works for you that is what is most important!