Damage free light bar mounting?

So I'm looking into getting a roof mounted light bar, and I'm hoping to find a damage free, and relatively low profile way of mounting one. I see that they make brackets that bolt around, and clamp to, the existing roof rails but I'm curious if anyone has used these?

Would you recommend them? Is there another alternative?

 

Understand you're looking for NO damage. Though this style requires 4 holes be drilled - if done right, and if you placed a rubber gasket between the mount and the door frame(car inner tube or similar) the holes would be all that's left if you removed them, and the holes could then be easily plugged with rubber buttons. Just thinking out loud.

https://caliraisedled.com/products/2002-2021-toyota-4runner-curved-led-bar-brackets-combo

 

IMO if you try to mount to the factory roof rails it will look really bad based on how far back the light bar will be. It will work sure, but will sit over the passenger doors.

The solution Jer referenced will be one of the cheaper options but you would need to drill into the body to mount. If you want damage free an upgraded roof rack like an SSO would need to be considered.

 

I've been real happy with my Caliraised behind the grill light bar.
I got the combo with the Osram 32inch light bar (Spot):

https://caliraisedled.com/collectio...r-32-led-light-bar-hidden-grille-brackets-kit

I use it every night on my mile long private road. Plus on gravel county roads.



Install video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEXtpijwEvI

 

I guess your talking about mounting the light, but I used KC highlites wire hider to run the wires up the side of the windshield. You can’t see it unless you look and I have had it on for almost a year and no issues. https://www.kchilites.com/universal-wire-hider-kc-6300.html
I do agree with the other post though that if your just looking for some extra lighting, mounting to the stock roof rack isn’t the way to go, it would sit to far back on the rig. Go with a hidden grill mount, it will look cleaner and give you better lighting.

 

I've thought about trying this at some point. Only for people with the heritage grill. The big Toyota emblem would cover a lot, and if you have a 2020 up with the extra chrome strips it would be covered completely.

https://sdhqoffroad.com/collections...nt-4runner-20-behind-the-grille-top-mount-kit

 

FYI on the 2020+ 4Runner. You can still install the behind the grill light bar. It will just have a small section blocked by the TSS.
Here's a Caliraised on a Taco w/ TSS for reference:

 

I have yet seen a light bar mounted on the roof that illuminates in front of you instead of the sky 3 miles away and doesn’t bleed any excess light onto the windshield.

You don’t have headlights on the roof of your car, and the highest mounted ditch lights I’ve seen are at the bottom corners of the windshield.

I think you should probably mount it on the front bumper or behind the grille.

 

I guess one question would be, do you for sure want/need it on the roof? I do quite a bit of night wheeling, and between ditch lights (wide cornering) and a 20" spot in my bumper, I have more than enough light. My bumper position would be similar to a behind the grill mounted bar.

Aside from your install concerns, it can also sometimes be a pain to position a roof mounted bar so that you don't get excessive wind noise/whistling.

 

I like the behind the grill option, would this be a problem w/ the TSS?

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

lol I got too excited, havent seen this setup before, and I like the idea of keeping the truck exterior as stock as possible.

 

Eh, that's kind of a lot of blockage for my tastes. At least with the one I linked to, it's above the "TOYOTA" of the heritage grill and doesn't require you to muck with the lower part of the grill. I dread the day I decide to put a bumper or a hidden winch mount or something down there. With my luck, I'd have to get the TSS recalibrated.

 

we need pics from the driver seat on the road with all of them (add pics one by one as you turn them on)

 

Here's an example from my setup -

Perhaps not the best demo because this was on a tight trail; but first is just headlights (H9 bulbs); second is ditch lights on; third is ditch and bumper lightbar on.

 

thats awesome

 

what brackets are those?

 

If asking about the ditch light brackets, they're Rago; if the lightbar, I have the Victory 4x4 Blitz bumper

 

Is there a behind the grill lightbar out there that lights the periphery akin to ditch lights?

 

Unfortunately the bumper itself will get in the way…

However, when I installed the Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro fogs in the stock location, I got A LOT of light out to the sides of the road!

 

It won't be a problem if you skip the light bar and go with something higher performance such as Diode Dynamics SS5 LED's like I did.



I mounted these on a Rago Fabrications bracket set and then adjusted / shimmed to get the best fit.



Light output? Awesome!

 

I only “liked” your posting because there is now “LOVE” button!! Lol

that looks awesome!!

 

Thanks. The backlight feature is pretty neat too.

 

I agree with that. The DD SS3 fogs add a ton of light and I was pretty surprised at how much they illuminate the side of the roads. That was a huge plus for me because all of my lighting upgrades were put in place for country roads at 4am heading to my fishing spots. Don't want to waste fishing time peeling a deer off of my grill.

 

Which type of lens is this? Spot, driving, combo or flood?
Thanks

 

I started out with selective yellow driving lenses, but converted to clear driving lenses to get a nice 4000K color. I liked the pattern, but wanted something even tighter and longer range, so I now have clear spot lenses in them. The output picture was with the clear driving lenses. I haven't had time to get a good pic of the spot lenses yet. They're awesome though!

 

This is what I will do next. Thanks for the idea.

 

Thanks

 

Years ago I had a Scirocco with two huge Marchal lights mounted on the front bumper - one was a fog and the other a driving lens- worked great.
In the pic above with the two ss5s I guess it would be possible to aim the lights a couple degrees to the left/right (cross the beams) to get that extra side light with some reach too.

 

i have a 2012 so a lot of the brackets/mounts available don't work. im looking to put an led bar in the lower grill and it was suggested to drill right into the crash bar. has anyone done this and happen to have photos?