I finally got around to installing the LED lightbar in the lower grill of my 2013 FX4. i went with this bar ( http://shop.tough-light.com/20-PRO-SERIES-PS20.htm) from Tough-Light.com which puts out about 9600 Lumens. i chose it mainly for the lifetime warranty, the price (on sale $189) and also because they're pretty sturdy bars that use CREE Leds and not that Epistar crap that's not as bright. the mount up was pretty easy snd straight forward and the fit is perfect. the one issue i ran into was removing the plastic "bumperetts" which i was able to take the left side off pretty easy but the right side i broke 2 clips. thats not much to worry about though since im using some 3m body molding tape to hold it in place.

First thing i had to do was find the exact spot i want to mount it and since im pretty OCD about how i do things it had to be dead center in the gap and i did that by placing masking tape around the edges, measuring the halfway point and marking it. i also measured and marked the lightbar to match up the marks, but i want able to get that pic.. :/



once everything was marked up and centered perfectly i held it in place while my dad marked the center of the mounting bracket holes which was where i was going to drill to make the holes in the bumper bracket. once they were marked i used a 1/4" drill bit and made the holes.







to make my life a ton easier when mounting the brackets i used a bolt that was the exact size as the hole on the bracket and tapped it so that the bolt fit snug and i wouldnt have to hold it on the front side. once they were all tapped i bolted them onto the frame using self locking nuts.













the allen head screws that are supplied for mounting the bar to the brackets weren't going to be reachable because of the tight area so i replaced them with a hex head screw that i luckily had lying around. like i said it was a pretty easy install that took me about 1.5hrs and the the that took the longest was the centering of the bar. its pretty dang sturdy too. i grabbed it and pulled up and down and the whole truck was ricking around and it didnt budge whatsoever. all i gotta do now is permanently wire it up, mount the switches and enjoy. if you have any suggestions as to where to mount the switches and what kind of switches i am all ears. i will update this post once i get all that done. thanks for reading.

 

looks great. You going to put the side caps back in I suppose?

I did something similar w/ two flush mount square LED's. Used the tag holder, and beefed it up with steel plate, which is what the lights are actually mounted in. I wanted to do a bar like you did but, I got a pretty good deal on the 2 flush mounts.

 

Thanks! and yeah i was running out of daylight and i didn't feel comfortable chopping them up at night which is also why i didnt wire it up either. no one wants to be drilling holes in the firewall and cutting holes in the dash in the dark... lol. also that's actually a good idea to mount the flush mounts in the tag holder. i personally like the look of the bar in there since it fills the gap pretty nicely.

 

I agree.

You did a great job. And you are right, the switch and wiring are the worst parts. Good luck... lol

 

wow never thought about mounting mine that way? I was so perplexed on how to do mine, I mounted mine to the bumper. witch was a pain in the @$$ to drill! so I got to buy a new tool just for that (air driven right angle drill) but it came out ok.
yours looks good nice wright up

 

Thanks! and if the way you did it works and you're happy with the way it looks then the pain in the @$$ was totaly worth it! plus you got a reason to buy a new tool. haha.

 

looks good man! mine has slide mounts along the bottom and I drilled holes in the bottom steel to mount it. They're great to have.