Light bar install in Lower Grill Opening

I ordered a light thru the okledlightbars.com GB. I went with a 20" because at the time I was planning on running a light bar. After some thinking I decided I would rather save the light bar money and mount it in the grill some how. I have no desire to change my actual grill so the next best spot is the lower Grill.

So last night I pulled the grill and took a few measurements. And test fitted the light to see where i could mount it. I was hoping I could just mount it to the aluminum crash beam but the feet for the light would have made that too tall.

The light:



I noticed that the crash cans sit slightly below the crash beam. Unfortunately since I had a 20" light the feet would not span the 35" inches between the two. I decided to get a piece of angle iron and span the gap and then just mount the light to that.

The angle iron would need to be 35" or more. I found a piece of 36" long 2"X1" L bracket.





It would just need to be notched so the bracket would fit between the crash cans....

Removing the bumper cover to get access to everything...


Testing fitting the L bracket after cutting.





Perfect....

Now to see if the light will fit ok...




And now to test fit the bumper to make sure my measurements where correct...



Light fits correctly and is pretty much centered in the lower grill....

Now I can not really access the locations where I want to bolt the L bracket to the crash beam. So Off it comes....



Crash beam...


Black painted Bracket...



So the beam is pretty much a long piece of extrusion. So its hard to get bolts in and then get nuts on to those bolts. So I went with a few self tapping fasteners.

I over did it. 4 on each side of the crash can and about 8 holding the loer part of the L to the crash beam.

Center punches




Bolted down and back on the truck.









And bumper back on....



With the bumper on I will need to remove the grill to gain access to the light but still I can re-aim if required.







And all wired up.....




All and all a successful install. The light bar is solid the mount is solid. Tonight I hope to meet us with another Tacoma who bought a 21S blitz pro light and mounted his in the same location with a different method and see how they compare.

Night pics tomorrow.

 

Looks good. Can't wait to see night pics!

 

very nice! how much?

 

Very cool. Want to come and do mine in CT ?

 

Awesome! Im' interested in the night pics and the light out put.

 

Man I like that truck too!

 

Nice work, unfortunately I have the pesky front license plate (damn you CT). Maybe I'll take it off until I move back home from wherever the army puts me. I would rather do it your way than a bolt on light bar. And I already have a 20" led sitting around.

 

Looks good. I was kicking around a 40" bar in the lower grill but not sure if it would affect the cooling.

 

this is what i wanna do!! also a good way to avoid theft of the light by a little bit anyways

 

Plans are to get night pics tonight along with some pics of a Blitz Pro Bar mounted in the same location.

 

Is there any shake in the Light at night?

 

Subd

 

Clean install. Any trouble aiming it while it's back there?

 

Nice writeup. Looks like a fine placement for a bar containing only spot/driving lights. I'd be worried that any "flood" bulbs would be impinged by the grill and have part of the "wide throw" light you look for with a flood cut off by the lower bumper.

 

I took the truck down a pretty rutted dirt road and the shake is no worse then the stock lights. Maybe tonight I will strap the GoPro and and take some video.

 

Night time Light Pics

All pics taken with a D7000. Settings where manual and all pics taken with same settings. No photoshop except to resize.

LED Bar Only


Low Beams


High Beams


Highs and LED Bar

 

Makes me want to buy one now........

 

x2
Super clean and sturdy mounting points.

 

quick Video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRkGjdcSRhY&feature=youtu.be