Rigid light build

I posted a couple pictures of the Rigid lights that I have on my truck and a lot of you wanted to see how I did it, so here it is...

I purchased a 40" Rigid E-series light bar to mount on top of my truck. The 40" is almost a perfect fit between the factory roof rack rails and I wanted it to sit down almost on the roof.

So I cut out some brackets




All I had was some scrap 4" wide steel and I did not feel like buying a new sheet so that is why the brackets don't perfectly follow the profile of the factory roof rack rails. I then used a hole saw to cut out the hole for the tubing that would actually hold the light bar




Next was to cut out the end caps for the tubing. I changed out the drill bit in the hole saw to match the diameter of the Rigid stud so that way the stud would slid through the pilot hole and I could stick a socket down the tubing to tighten the nut on the Rigid light stud



Ready to weld the cap on the tubing



Cap welded on the tubing





Caps welded on the tubing on both sides and test fit to make sure the bracket holes would line up. That is why I welded the caps on both sides of a piece of tubing even thought the actual piece of tubing would be much smaller.




Now it was time to fasten the main bracket to the factory roof rack rails. I removed the rails and put them on my work bench and determined where the holes needed to be on the bracket. Marked and drilled them out. Then I transferred the pattern to the rails.





I did not fasten the bracket with rivets!!! I used the rivets as holders so I could get the measurements to make the (2) backing plates for each side. The reason for (2) backing plates is that there is a plastic rib inside the rail that I did not want to remove as I can only assume this helps the rails retain their rigidity.



Backing plates all cut out



I used stainless steel allen button head bolts painted black to sandwich the factory rails with the brackets and the backing plates. If you have or have seen the factory roof rails you will understand that prior to doing this I had to make some complex bends in the brackets so that they conformed to the rails perfectly. Otherwise if I did not do this, when I tightened the bolts down I am pretty sure I would have cracked the factory rails.








Now it is time to get the light bar up on the roof and tack the tubing in the brackets. After sliding the tubing into the holes I cut out of the brackets I obviously measured side to side to make sure the light was centered.



Next was the wiring. Unfortunately I do not have a lot of pictures of this part. I cut a small slot at the base of the factory rails so I could slide the rigid harness up to a bigger hole I drilled on the side of the rail. The harness was held tightly in place with a grommet then everything was RTV'd. As for running the harness inside I drilled a hole in the roof and used a compression grommet along with RTVing it too. As of now 4 months later and through some massive rains in Florida I have no leaks at all.



The I ran the wire down the pillar separating the front and back seat, along the floor and out through the firewall of the truck to my distribution panel.



Here is a couple pictures of my distribution panel called The Source and is made by SPod. This system is awesome!!!!

Location of where The Source is going to be installed



The mounting bracket installed



The Source fastened to the mounting bracket.
--The wires at the bottom of the pic are the wires from the switches
--Next up are the fuses for each circuit
--Then you have the relays for each circuit
--Then you have the output terminals (+ & -) for each circuit.
The Source comes with a push button reset circuit breaker




And The Source even comes with a nice lid to keep crap from getting to all the electrical components.



A later picture of the finished 40" light bar project




Unfortunately I seem to have lost the pictures of how I built the brackets for the 30" light bar in the bumper, but here is a picture that Tim from BDF posted about how he was planning on mounting a light in the bumper. I took his idea and modified it a little bit. This will at least give you an idea anyhow

 

Uhhhhhh. Pics of that all lit up?

 

Good point. Pictures added.

 

wow! awesome. that looks like day time

 

Thanks for showing us how you got it done!!

+1!

 

Definitely cool. Hahahaha not a cheap project to be sure, but install looks clean. Hope nobody jacks those.

 

Awesome, thanks for the write up. I was wondering how you wired all that stuff.

 

do you have anymore close up pics of the final product?

 

Did you use the included switches? How did you set up that many?

 

I love it!!!

 

Great write up on your install..That is a clean install- I think it looks great.

Would you happen to have any close up photos or details of your hood-scoop setup? Did you have to fabricate something for the scoop light, or did you use a Rigid cradle, or what for mounting it? Thanks.

 

fuuuuuuuuck

 

do a build thread of that, i'd like to see another angle of how its done.

OP, thanks for posting, this is exactly what i've been waiting for since you first posted pictures of your truck

 

So nice....

 

hood scoop & grill are overkill....but nonetheless nice. roof & bumper installs are clean as hell.

 

Subd

 

Subd

 

What size tires are you running? Looks super good man you have the cleanest set up on here.

 

Wholly hell that's a lot of (expensive) lighting

 

Thanks. I am currently running 285/70R17 BFG AT/KO