Rooftop Lights Mid-Roof (Behind Sunroof)

Hi All,

I'm interested in the LFD roof rack bars that mount to the factory roof rack, while providing holes/openings to mount things (i.e. lights, Rotopax, jack etc).

For lights, I am a fan of 6 or so individual lights vs. an LED light bar. Irregardless, would lighting that is mounted further back on the roof have a material disadvantage (as far forward as it could go on the OEM roof rack, which would be a decent bit behind where the sunroof is)? In other words, I know the lighting would still shine forward, but would it's reflection off the roof, or having a couple/few feet of roof in front of it significantly reduce it's effectiveness? I'd imagine not, given I have headlights and foglights, and my purpose of roof top lights is to see beyond those.

Don't really need a full blown roof rack, so thinking these LFD bars are a good option. Appreciate any feedback.

Happy Holidays everyone

 

Ive heard that if rooftop lights are mounted too far forward, you get glare off the hood. Too far back and I suppose you’ll lose any spillover light in the near distance. But like you said, if the lights are for distance, any light loss up close wont matter. But mounting them high enough for the beam to clear the front roofline and allow for some down adjustment might be important. Because if the beam can only light parallel to the roof, the beam may not land where you need it too land.

Then the last thing to consider is how they look that far back on the roof.

 

Thanks for the input, and a very valid point on the look of them being that far back. Difficult to find pictures, it would definitely be a different look, possibly wonky. Would be similar to this:

 

Eh, it’s not too wonky looking in my eyes. Its got a bit of old-school charm. Those also seem to be high enough as well.

 

If me, I would construct a way to rotate/pivot the lights down behind fairing when not in use. Otherwise I think that this setup, for people with sunroofs, works quite well.
I will probably end up doing similar after bumper install.

 

Not to jack your thread OP, but can rear facing rooftop lights be mounted to the Pro rack?

 

From personal experience with my roofline mounted lights, glare off the hood is a huge annoyance. I'm currently looking into other options as far as lights with far less spill to mitigate the hood glare.

I think that lights mounted further back would might look a little different, but be more effective at not causing hood glare.

Do it, be the guinea pig and let us know!

 

LFD crossbars are good to go.

I like my Caliraised behind the grill light bar and mounts. Puts the light where you want it - on the road instead of on the hood or roof.

 

I was looking at this exact same setup, maybe just add some ditch lights, maybe.

 

I think I might, doing a little more research. The benefit of the LFD roof rack bars is they obviously don't require drilling, you can even do rear facing chase lights (which I've wished I had on a few off roading trips), and anything else. Plus, they keep the OEM side rails so it looks pretty factory. Lastly, a heck of a lot cheaper than a full blown roof rack with a much easier install.

 

Nice truck! I like that set up too, unfortunately I have the ridiculous radar cruise camera/sensor so I don't believe the behind the grill light bar is an option.

 

Not sure, the picture I posted was just off the internet, not my truck. That said, I'm sure someone out there makes mounts. If not, a welder could easily tack tabs to the rear of the rack with holes in them for a few lights (ie chase lights).

 

This is a Tacoma with TSS and Caliraised Light Bar:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGU223md5Rw
You don't loose that much.

 

I ran 4 Hella 4000 lights on a safety devices roof rack mounted on a Discovery 1. The position of these lights on the rack was the most advantageous in my opinion, high and as far forward as possible.....I still received glare off the hood. I would not mount anything on the roof anymore.

 

If you put it underneath the actual sensor, where there is just a black piece of plastic, you can probably cut/dremel out some of that plastic piece (keeping the design of the current grill) and get more light through…

 

@S8ULATR - you can run the lightbars on some of the mounts, but you do end up with that annoying blank spot in the middle. I'm considering using one of the other mounts to do pods on either side of the TSS area behind the grille. I've seen some good setups with dual 6" pods or even four 4" pods - with pods on either side of the TSS sensor. Kinda like this guy did:

https://www.instagram.com/daily.4r/