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Write up/ Review BAMF Light Bar 2012 version.

Discussion in 'Bay Area Metal Fabrication' started by mclovin, Jul 19, 2012.

  1. Jul 19, 2012 at 8:16 PM
    #1
    mclovin

    mclovin [OP] chicka chicka, yeah!

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    Ok bear with me this is going to be a little long just because of the issues that occurred with the install.

    First off I had originally ordered a powder coated light bar from Bay Area Metal Fab and was blown away with the quality of everything, just like my sliders (different topic). I had a Grillcraft insert for my truck on order but as soon as the light bar hit my front door it was on and I was wiring up the lights. First issue was the location of the transmission cooler. I had to move that, no big deal. Next was after the lights were on the bar, they sat way too low for the opening of the grill. I have 7 inch lights and about 2ish inches of them was below the highest part of the grill opening. No bueno. I decided to wait for the GC grill to show up and see how it ended up. Still a no go for my preference and for premium light output.


    IMAG0263_ce6814de27e57cf313d71b25d8090c656d1ad91a.jpg



    IMAG0262_5ed466557a6da7bb4b988578a97ac53da22a1a2b.jpg



    At this point I was thinking about chopping up the light bar that I had and welding the outer mounting tabs to the bottom. I ended up talking to Jerry and after some convincing he built me a bar that would lift the lights higher in the grill opening.

    CameraEffects-94_e279841bc01bdb7218cefed71c993792a46a95db.jpg

    I got it in today finally and he treated me to this new powder coat blend that he’s been bragging about… and yes it is AWESOME! After ripping the box open I started the install. I found that the hood release latch needed to be cut down, and the cover for the latch assembly also needed to be removed.


    IMAG0279_4719171a9a8f485c3412abf274bfc4a0f4df6c34.jpg



    IMAG0280_148578570ce98bda404f98efeccfa48a8dcbd259.jpg

    After doing this I ran into some issues with the bottom tabs of the latch assembly that need to be cut a little bit…



    IMAG0281_3f825239c5c6dde9bf969d2aa03e2ecd4c12f388.jpg


    IMAG0282_ba65e35a1d64158d56920458764481df3d7a2cf0.jpg



    Once this was done I found that the bar was not going to fit flush unless one of two things happened. Either it was getting cut or I was going to space it away from the radiator mounts with washers. I went with the washers.


    IMAG0284_b98bd744d37c8fa129e95fbedc9ed5b898f7735d.jpg



    With the bar now mounted I got the lights on and started to test fit the grill. It was not going to fit at all without modification either. This was for two reasons. The light bar itself was preventing it from sitting even remotely close and that where I mounted my lights were right under the two middle supports. I channeled out the supports and cut down the mounting bolts from the lights.


    IMAG0291_8710b97735720b7dea8cd18a6ca40b1625178b0b.jpg


    IMAG0293_494c9d266e713560a1369a9299740920ee31b80c.jpg

    IMAG0296_064b80e1908884c9144612070c26328878385190.jpg


    Now once this is done it’s a little tricky to get the grill over the light mounting bolts while getting the bottom tabs in to the bottom bumper but with a little finesse success will be achieved!


    IMAG0298_95a57a7e5bec2d70d518269a41795c31e8d8359b.jpg



    [FONT=&quot]IMAG0299_87e99058fdbcf8a62d8833ba46c6abf73ade008d.jpg

    Now I can’t say for not if Jerry is going to offer this light bar setup, but for those who don’t mind carving out your grill… I would most definitely recommend this if you plan on running anything bigger then 4 inch lights behind your grill.
    [/FONT]
     
    phenix likes this.
  2. Jul 19, 2012 at 8:43 PM
    #2
    JLee

    JLee The Man! Vendor

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    Nice write up I'm glad it worked out for you.
     
  3. Aug 11, 2012 at 1:27 PM
    #3
    knine00

    knine00 Well-Known Member

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    No modification required to install the regular BAmf light bar on a 2012!
     
  4. Aug 11, 2012 at 9:01 PM
    #4
    mclovin

    mclovin [OP] chicka chicka, yeah!

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    if i hadn't wanted to stuff these 7'in red rings in there the first one would have been boss.:rolleyes:
     
  5. Aug 12, 2012 at 5:20 AM
    #5
    knine00

    knine00 Well-Known Member

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    Looks good though!
     
  6. Dec 4, 2012 at 1:30 PM
    #6
    StuckinOhio

    StuckinOhio Well-Known Member

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    Thank you for posting this!. It saved me so much time on prep and installation. Thanks for sharing.
     
  7. Apr 17, 2013 at 1:06 PM
    #7
    Rhinog

    Rhinog New Member

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    Which lights did you use behind the grill?
     
  8. Apr 17, 2013 at 1:44 PM
    #8
    mclovin

    mclovin [OP] chicka chicka, yeah!

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    they were some generic red ring 35w HID lights that i got off a group buy last summer.
     
  9. Apr 17, 2013 at 5:30 PM
    #9
    Rhinog

    Rhinog New Member

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    Cool thanks!
     
  10. Aug 8, 2013 at 11:02 AM
    #10
    Tactical Tacoma

    Tactical Tacoma Well-Known Member

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    Damn I want to buy the same lights and put them behind my new MX Grillcraft. But after reading this, it seems like I will run into a lot of problems :(
     
  11. Aug 8, 2013 at 11:28 AM
    #11
    JLee

    JLee The Man! Vendor

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    Just go with a LED light and you will be fine fitting those big lights tough.
     
  12. Aug 14, 2013 at 3:06 PM
    #12
    mclovin

    mclovin [OP] chicka chicka, yeah!

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    it really wasnt that bad, it was kind of a nice project to work on. to be honest, im thinking about getting an led bar instead so this set up might be available at some point soon
     
  13. Aug 14, 2013 at 11:39 PM
    #13
    Tactical Tacoma

    Tactical Tacoma Well-Known Member

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    I bought an LED light bar on Amazon. Gonna install it next weekend.
     
  14. Aug 17, 2013 at 4:30 PM
    #14
    RacecarGuy

    RacecarGuy Well-Known Member

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    Was there any modifications to the light bar other than flipping the mounting tabs over? I got some 7" lights I'm looking at using with my bamf lightbar, so if its just relocating the tabs, ill probably just cut and reweld them.
     
  15. Aug 17, 2013 at 5:25 PM
    #15
    mclovin

    mclovin [OP] chicka chicka, yeah!

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    yeah, the tabs just went from the top to the bottom.
     
  16. Dec 2, 2014 at 11:06 AM
    #16
    Unchained 5150

    Unchained 5150 Rick

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    So if I was to buy a new one for my 15 there is no mods needed correct? What lights are designed to go on this light bar anyway? Hella's KC Daylighters???? Is this the bar where you have to move the horns?
     
  17. Dec 6, 2014 at 10:03 AM
    #17
    Rhinog

    Rhinog New Member

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    I had to move my horn on my 2010. I used rugged ridge slim lights on my mainly just for look to go with the grill I used.

    image.jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2014
  18. Nov 26, 2015 at 2:17 PM
    #18
    TSmalls89

    TSmalls89 Technologically Advanced Redneck

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    OK, where does everyone move the horns to??? I cannot figure this out at all
     

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