Aftermarket Lightbar idea

pixeldzn · **Posted:** Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:01 pm

Here is my vision for an aftermarket lightbar. This is designed for an '05/'06 Renegade with the 2" tubular roof rails. It could easily be adapted for other years though.

The plus side of this design is it mounts further back than a renny style mopar lightbar and thus eliminates the hood glare some complain of.

It mounts to the roof rails and dips down to hug the lights closer to the roof. It mounts with a clamping system that is welded to the bar on top and has a bottom support piece that screws in. I would leave room in the fabrication to pad the inside of the tube clamps with some sort of foam to improve clamping and prevent any marring of the rails.

Here is an up close view of the mounting system:

If I continue with this idea, is there anyone who is interested? Is there anyone who has the tools to help me fabricate such a thing? I'd like it to be fairly professional looking in the end and be able to powder coat it and hide any welds.

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:21 pm

How likely is it that it will be cheaper than the factory lightbar? ($359 lowest price, currently).

My personal motivations/requirements for roof lightbar (when I finally decide to take the plunge and get one) are:
- clean look
- low clearance (I still want to be able to go into garages)
- no interference with other roof-mountables (basket, skis, bikes, etc)
- and of course price.

pixeldzn · **Posted:** Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:50 pm

Se7enLC wrote:

How likely is it that it will be cheaper than the factory lightbar? ($359 lowest price, currently).

My personal motivations/requirements for roof lightbar (when I finally decide to take the plunge and get one) are:
- clean look
- low clearance (I still want to be able to go into garages)
- no interference with other roof-mountables (basket, skis, bikes, etc)
- and of course price.

It's not very likely that it will end up cheaper at all, however:

1. Greater choice in lighting (hellas, piaa, warn, etc.)
2. Will still be low clearance, light mounting part will dip down to .5" to 1" over roofline
3. Will sit at very front of bars, so shouldn't interfere with roof racks
4. Will sit farther back than mopar to eliminate glare problems.

As for price, 4 Hella 500s would run about $125, and the aluminum/steel would run about $25, powder coating maybe $100, so I'm looking at $250 give or take. So retail they would probably be more. Custom fab is fun though!

benmar2000 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:50 pm

If you can get it to me in a ACAD or Inventor file.. I could take it to work and see what it would take to make it.. I work at an engineering firm... I could even find out the structual integrity of the parts.. LOL..

Ben

pixeldzn · **Posted:** Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:52 pm

benmar2000 wrote:

If you can get it to me in a ACAD or Inventor file.. I could take it to work and see what it would take to make it.. I work at an engineering firm... I could even find out the structual integrity of the parts.. LOL..

Ben

I built in in illustrator, but can export to some cad formats. will dwg or dxf autocad formats work?

bennybmn · **Posted:** Wed Nov 30, 2005 7:19 pm

Looks like a good idea! You could even sort of reverse the mounting set-up so that the cross-bar sort of comes in under the side rails, , eliminating a need for bending the tubing, know what I mean? The weak point will definitely be those clamps, so make sure you find some nice wide ones, to prevent the bar from twisting.

benmar2000 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:14 pm

dwg will work.. That is ACAD format...

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:00 am

Here's an idea that could make it a lot easier:

One of these to go around the bar, with the bolts pointing down (they make some that extend longer than that, I believe):

Some rubber tubing over the u-bolt to protect the bars / cut down on rattling:

A single straight bar that goes under the factory bars, straight across. Do you think one will fit? It may need to be a little thinner than the 3/4 inch you picked before, but it can be either purchased at the right length or made with a single cut, no bending. Maybe even a completely flat piece would be strong enough, might cut down on wind resistance, too.

Drill 2 holes on each end to thread the U-Bolt through, secure with some nuts + lock washers, or perhaps some nylon lock-nuts. Voila!

EDIT: Rather than make a new post in this thread, I'll just add it here. I was looking for the wattage for the factory lightbar to compare it to the hella 500s, and I found this lightbar:
http://www.atnafx.com/products/productDetails.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=3260255&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=3757489&affID=31023&bmUID=1133447108843
I've seen it before somewhere, and it lists at $159. They also have a front-bumper mount for $126:
http://www.atnafx.com/products/productDetails.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=3260253&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=3757489&affID=31023&bmUID=1133446150046
Apologies if everyone already knew about these, but they seem a whole lot cheaper than I remember...

bennybmn · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:03 am

You could even take one of those U bolts with some rectangular tubing (hide the wiring) and bolt it right up, like you said, simple, no welding! But whatever you come up with, it would be interesting to see all the different variations, etc.

Oooo second thought, get some fairly wide flat stock or rectangular tubing and use TWO of those U bolts on either side, really stabilize it.

pixeldzn · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:07 am

We were discussing that one in another thread here. Could never find a pictureof it and the manufacturer hasn't answered my email. Thats kind of the idea I was going for, but the mounting system is better. The only thing I noticed is that it looks like it is designed for regular side rails rather than the beefier renegade style on the '05/'06. Not sure if it would mount properly on our rails.

corwyyn · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:38 pm

pixeldzn wrote:

The only thing I noticed is that it looks like it is designed for regular side rails rather than the beefier renegade style on the '05/'06. Not sure if it would mount properly on our rails.

He did mention that it is designed for the 2" rails on the '05/06 Renegades, so it should fit just fine. I can already picture what four Hella driving lights mounted that high would do :shock:

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:49 pm

corwyyn wrote:

pixeldzn wrote:

The only thing I noticed is that it looks like it is designed for regular side rails rather than the beefier renegade style on the '05/'06. Not sure if it would mount properly on our rails.

He did mention that it is designed for the 2" rails on the '05/06 Renegades, so it should fit just fine. I can already picture what four Hella driving lights mounted that high would do :shock:

I think he meant about the White Night lightbar not being made for the 05/06 larger factory tubes

2WDRENNE · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:09 pm

Sounds like a good idea. I would like to see finished pics. And I would put a set of fog lights and a set of driving beam lights to really light the way out in the desert.

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2005 4:16 pm

You could always go the ultra-cheap route like I did:

Some aluminum angle from Home Depot cut to length and attached with some U-bolts. 4 Harbor Freight Tools $15 a pair 100w offroad lights.

pixeldzn · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2005 4:25 pm

FreedomKJ wrote:

You could always go the ultra-cheap route like I did:

Some aluminum angle from Home Depot cut to length and attached with some U-bolts. 4 Harbor Freight Tools $15 a pair 100w offroad lights.

Thats what I'm going for, just a bit more polished and definitely painted or powder coated. I may very well start out with the harbor freight lights and upgrade them later too. I do like the idea of the white night bar if it will fit my rails too.

(Here's the pic from Se7enLC's link)

Kjenvy · **Posted:** Mon Dec 12, 2005 5:01 pm

To solve the garge clearance issue... How about making it so it can rotate forward around the mounts so the lights point toward the roof. Done properly it would allow a canoe or something to be placed up there when the lights are not needed.

Any plans to fab something up? If the design incorporates a feature to allow it to rotate forward, I would be interested for use on my '05 Renegade.

ShadE · **Posted:** Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:52 pm

You'd be supprised what can fit into a garage.. I still park mine in the garage. it has one of the tallest baskets (surco) on it. it may even have an extra inch on most kjs (2002, not sure when). It even fits with the toolbox on. (1 cm of clearance)

ManicMechanicJoe · **Posted:** Mon Dec 12, 2005 7:24 pm

I can barely get my stock '02 in my garage, no way it will fit when I get the lift and 31's and the roof basket

pixeldzn · **Posted:** Mon Dec 12, 2005 9:10 pm

Kjenvy wrote:

To solve the garge clearance issue... How about making it so it can rotate forward around the mounts so the lights point toward the roof. Done properly it would allow a canoe or something to be placed up there when the lights are not needed.

Any plans to fab something up? If the design incorporates a feature to allow it to rotate forward, I would be interested for use on my '05 Renegade.

I'm gonna be going down to Iowa in january or february and hashing out some ideas with a jeep fab guy down there, so I will try to get a mockup made then. If it works out, hopefully we can run a batch.

kickit_in4wheel · **Posted:** Sat Dec 31, 2005 9:30 pm

Hey guys,

I work at autozone, and while I was skimming through our mail order performance parts catalog today, I saw the exact same lightbar that is in the above picture on the bright yellow Liberty. I checked the price, and it's like $239.99 , s/h included. apparently it includes all the necessary hardware to mount, but no lights come with it. But it appears to be simple to install and remove (for the low garages and long hiway trips). I'm not trying to plug autozone, but It seemed like you guys didn't know where to find one, and now you do. They also have a smaller one that mounts in front of the grill between the bumper guards on a stock 02-04 bumper for like $160ish. If you need to know more like the part # or who makes it, PM me and I'll go back and check.

Rick

Aftermarket Lightbar idea

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