Light Bar for Hella 500's *New pics

jeepernj · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:16 am

I thought some of you may be interested...
I have been tossing around different ideas for mounting auxiliary driving lights on the front bumper or roof rack for a while now. I finally decided to try to make my own low budget light bar rather than spend a few hundred dollars or more on a bull bar or something similar. I do not have any experience with any type of fabrication nor do I have professional tools. However, here is what I came up with...looks simple and doesn't stand out much. I used 1" conduit that I bought at Lowe's for about $3 and painted it with a flat black rattle can. I bent the pipe with a vice and some muscle.
This is the first mock-up before paint and some minor changes...

After paint

Keep in mind this is my amateur attempt at a light bar "fabrication" and it is primarily meant for functionality. The lights should be coming tomorrow morning, so I will post some more pictures with the lights mounted...it should look much better then. I will also post pictures of how it is mounted, not very pretty...but it is solid. I used stainless steel u-bolts to mount it to the frame (where the tow hooks mount). I drilled a hole through the flat "washer" on the u-bolt and attached it to the steel. It is surprisingly very strong and won't move when weight is put on it.
I got a great deal on the Hella 500 kit on Amazon...only $39 plus shipping.

nightdrv · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:23 am

Well, it's a start! The first thing I would wonder about though.... is other cars. Say your car is parked in the parking lot. Driver A backs out of his space too far, and the corner of his bumper (that is just perfectly level with your new lights) goes through your new Hella's.

Other than that, a great way to start modding your KK. I just wouldn't have put them right at "standard car bumper level".

jeepernj · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:48 am

I considered that...However, I mounted it there because of convenience. As you said it is a start, and my first project. Luckily, I rarely park anywhere near other cars. I realize that the location is not ideal...but for now, I want to avoid drilling any holes in the jeep.

nightdrv · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:51 am

Eh, no worries! I mounted my lights and NV cameras to the roof rack using some Home Depot ingenuity.

Works good enough for the moment, but going to change to something entirely different this summer.

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:58 am

oh come on, you know you wanna drill holes in your KK :twisted:

Mine went under surgery less then 24 hours after I took delivery

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:18 am

that looks pretty spiffy

with some elbow and hacksaw and drill work you could probably fab up a bolt together that mounts to the same place and came up the front of your bumper and then over ontop of it like a C with of course the mount side being longer than the other and have a place to mount your helis ontop of your bumper without drilling holes and a less chance of someone backing into them

ill be honest with you though, that looks stronger than it probably is, and therefore.. looks pretty dang good!

by the way i adore the KK headlights

what sort of space behind the grill is there for mounting lights?

jeepernj · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:11 am

Diggerfreek wrote:

oh come on, you know you wanna drill holes in your KK :twisted:

Mine went under surgery less then 24 hours after I took delivery

I know, I know..."It's not yours until you drill a hole in it"....I'm just trying to avoid drilling in the front bumper for now haha

JeepinJarhead,
Thank you for the feedback. I have thought about doing something similar to what you have said....maybe that will be version 2. As far as strength goes, I think it is certainly strong enough to support a couple lights and to withstand some offroading (already tested).
I love the headlights too, seems like alot of people may not share that opinion though. There is enough room behind the grille to mount some lights, I would be interested to see someone do that. I know I have seen someone on here do that in a KJ...
Any feedback, criticism, or suggestions are appreciated!

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:19 pm

maybe when you get a lil more comfortable taking your jeep apart a little, you can get some of that aluminum screening, screen behind your grill and mount some lights behind it all in one swoop :wink:

zoso7374 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:19 pm

What kind of lights would one put behind the grille? I am not afraid to drill 'er up . . .

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:42 pm

Aircraft Landing Lights

Fogs, Hella's, 30 maglites spelling out LOST

I'm thinkin about putting 2 somethings on each side over and under

some people do it to "hide them" from either damage, or from the whole "you can only have X number of lights below X level of inches below your roofline

hrogi · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:54 pm

the only issue i see if you you hit something head on.
That bar will go through your radiator and other cooling parts up front..

But if you have a way to fix that or deflect that cool deal...

I like light count sunk right into the bummpers.
but that will affect other things.. and will require housing and things.
A good amount of work.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:00 pm

i dunno that radiator penetration on a front impact with our vehicles is really changed by what he installed

i mean, there isn't much between the plastic and the radiator

ya hit somethin and ya probably lookin at a radiator anyway , but yea if it angled up and sheered it might skewer the radiator

it's fairly low in relation to the bottom of the radiator though, two brackets made of some decent heavy steel in the shape of an L mounted between the chassis and the bar should prevent it from deflecting up and force it to crumple or deflect down instead

plus the metals soft enough it might just crush with the bumper and not sheer at all except maybe where the bends are

I wouldn't be too paranoid with it like it is

hrogi · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:13 pm

I was just sayen... i might be over thinking it...
never might me...

i like it...

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:15 pm

i overthink everything too, no worries, overthinking things is how i ended up ordering 30lbs of steel just to put in front recovery points :lol:

jeepernj · **Posted:** Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:09 am

I appreciate the feedback...I do not think the radiator will be at any more risk than it would be without the light bar as JeepinJarhead03 said but I have taken it into consideration. Anyway, here is the finished product with the lights mounted...Im happy with the way it turned out. I think it looks good, plus it cost less than $50 for everything...can't beat that.

Not wired yet in this picture...

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:19 am

50 bucks , you can't beat that at all my friend

Positive side, you'll have wiring, and a switch? and maybe extra fusebox or however you decide to do it? already in place for if you decide to add SEVEN MORE hehehe

i saw the pic, and my brain was trying so hard to register 5 more on the roof and 2 behind the grill

Oooo and one of those really sweet ones that cops have...

but um.. . yeah those kind, takes a really big drill .. like scarey big drill.. for the control rod that goes through the pillar into the vehicle..

i would imagine you could control it with a small hydrollic or mechanical servo though

Hmm

Anyway haha

I like it, it looks like it's supposed to be there, and from the front, unless you're actually looking for it.. you don't really notice the bar it blends with the front of your Jeep very well

zoso7374 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:34 am

jeepernj wrote:

I appreciate the feedback...I do not think the radiator will be at any more risk than it would be without the light bar as JeepinJarhead03 said but I have taken it into consideration. Anyway, here is the finished product with the lights mounted...Im happy with the way it turned out. I think it looks good, plus it cost less than $50 for everything...can't beat that.

Are those HID headlights jeepernj?

SilverKK09 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:35 am

jeepernj wrote:

I appreciate the feedback...I do not think the radiator will be at any more risk than it would be without the light bar as JeepinJarhead03 said but I have taken it into consideration. Anyway, here is the finished product with the lights mounted...Im happy with the way it turned out. I think it looks good, plus it cost less than $50 for everything...can't beat that.

Not wired yet in this picture...

Super duper nice install
are those hids you have?

jeepernj · **Posted:** Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:13 am

I'm not sure that I am ready for 7 lights yet haha But there may be some more in the future...and like you said it would be easier to wire the second time. A "really big drill" is far down the road for my jeep at this point....but a spotlight would be convenient...or just fun.

zoso7374 wrote:

Are those HID headlights jeepernj?

SilverKK09 wrote:

Super duper nice install
are those hids you have?

Thank you....Those are actually the stock bulbs, sorry to trick you guys. I think the flash made them appear to be...they do look sweet tho. Maybe I will have to tackle the HID project that you guys did next...

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:03 am

I understand the big drill aprehension :wink:

They make hand-held couple million candlewatt spotters that plug in the lighter anyway , I've got a 20 yr old 'Nite-Lite' from my racoon hunting days for such use, it's got a plug for such a spot lite too but I have not the foggiest where that accessory has vanished

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Light Bar for Hella 500's *New pics

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