Building a light bar :)

yeah, they did a good job of hiding it. there should be two holes under each piece, all of which are threaded, i just don't know what size, thread, thread pitch, etc they are.

scan is uploading right now.....

 

had some free time at work today, but that meant i didn't have any straight edges or other drafting tools, so it's a little messy.

let me know if you need me to explain anything. the drawing to the right is of the c-channel you can use. length "x" will probably have to be around 4 inches if i had to gues. it will depend on how far appart the holes are. also, after looking at the drawing again, i realized that if you take the route without the wether stripping, you cannot use 2x2 inch c-channel, as it will not fit in the rain gutter. 2x2 could be cut down on the bottom, or you could just get a different size. say 1 inch top and bottom, and 2 inches tall.


edit: for the top two drawings where the c-channel is pictured being bolted to the roof, that view is meant to be looking along the roof ling from front to back, or vise-versa

 

Dude thank you so much..that really cleared things up..you have been a huge help..now I just need to build it all!...are your lights hella 500? And would it be possible to mount a hilift onthe part coming down from the light hoop to the base?

 

i'm actually using just the generic $40 lights from the autoparts store....but put a set of 5000k 55w hids in there and those puppies really light up. the four ballasts to the hids are hidden behind the fairing to the thule rack. hi-lifts are pretty heavy, so i don't know if i'd mount it on that speciffic part. you may want to take some larger diameter tubing (1 inch perhaps) and make crossbars that ling the mounts from one side to the other. this would also give the overall rack/mount system a much stronger structure.
i secured mine to the thule crossbars, but you could essentially jsut make your own. theorey being, if you have it bilted to the diagonal bar, only one piece is supporting it, and it endures a lot of bending forces. turning, stoping/acceleratin, and boucing wll want to bend it since it's the bar itsself is not along any of those planes. if you were to mount it to cross bars, you have two bars supporting any load, and there will be much less torque placed on other pieces do to it's position. sorry, that was kinda confusing.
her's a picture of how my hi-lift's mounded. essentialy, replace my thule bars with 1 inch tubing.

 

Ohh ok I'm not sure if I would even need a hil lift I'm just a 2x4 haha and don't have sliders yet

 

you could use one to lift from the trailer hitch, or they make this thing called the "wheel mate" that lifts from the wheel. works very well. a guy with a land rover that i wheel with has it and it's worked great. they're also helpful becasue they can be used as a winch. slow, but effective

 

my buddy and I are both new taco owners and I came across this and love it and I am totally going to attempt to make one this weekend. I will post pics ASAP
Just one question though, the bottom part of the frame, how did you connect it to be a continuous loop?

 

well, being as it's made of conduit...i had every possible connector at my fingertips
i opted for these...once the whole rack was painted, youdon't even notice they're there http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/522575/3335371/1/1173533628/EMT_Conduit_Fittings.jpg

 

Looks good man! I went with conduit as well for basket. Light and strong, not to mention as cheap as you can get for metal tube!

 

hell yeah man, mine took a beating wheeling in ocala and all it neads is a little touch up paint. and @ $3 for 10 feet, it's a great deal.

 

oh wow, I did not even notice, I was thinking like JB Weld or something, but that makes a lot more sense. Thanks!

 

i doubt jb weld would hold very well for something like this. however, if you have access to a welder, that is a more permanent, very strong route to take.

 

Just be careful welding EMT. It's galvanized steel so when the arc hits the zinc plating, it vaporizes the zinc forming noxious zinc oxide fumes. I can tell you from experience, these fumes can give you massive headaches and after long exposure can even make you have flu-like symptoms. In the future, I won't be welding on EMT, but if you do it, make sure you are in a very well ventilated area and you don't expose yourself to the fumes too much. Here's my thread on a welded EMT basket: roof basket build

 

x2

those fumes are terrible for you and can even have long term affects.

 

awesome job, need to put a pic with all your toys mounted on it as well

 

ah, good call, i didn't think to take a picture of everything up there when i was making sure it all fit. i took off one of the bike mounts when i was buildign it so i could get better measurements, so when i get that back on, i'll have to load it up and snap i picture

 

were did you buy the hella look a like lights? i need some cheap ones

 

these are the exact lights i have http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Cyber-White-Series-Pilot_6250111-P_N3151A_A%7CGRP2044____#

obviously you throw out the shitty chrome covers as soon as you open the box, but other then that, they work great. pretty bright out of the box, but toss a 55w 5000k hid set in there and dayum! so in the end you're only paying $80 for a set of hid off road lights, with a lifetime warranty on the bulbs and ballasts....not to mention they're bright as hell.

 

dug up a photo from a few years ago, the ones on the bull bar are the ones in the link i posted above. at this point they still had the stock 55w halogen bumbs in them. the ones on the roof in the picture are what are now the rear lights on my light rack

 

Thanks dude I can get 4 of these for 1 price of 2 hellas!! ..I think I'm going to just buil a straight bar across the rood and mount 4 of those on top! Idk if that'll look good tho..