khyros
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
I figured I'd post this up here since I haven't actually seen anyone do this yet. Inspired by the SEMA rendering, I decided I wanted to put LEDs in the small slits in the bumper. I'm still not 100% sure why those are there anyways, my guess would be for some air flow during snow ingestion. In any case, I was prepared to give up that air flow to fill the space, but as it turns out, I still have plenty of air flow remaining.
I started this journey hoping I could slide something in from the front and have it be an easy-peasy add on, so I got the smallest LED bar I could find, measuring in at 1'' tall and 7'' long. Well, it turns out that the clearance is only 7/8'', so I had to go in from the back, and the hole through the insert is about 3/4''... So I had to tear out the insert. That was far from easy, though I don't think I did it the most straight forward way possible. There are 2 bolts and a locking tab that hold it in place. Removing the lower part of the bumper (4 10mm bolts, 5 push pins, and 8 hard-to-disengage clips) easily reveals the locking tab, and provides "access" to the inboard bolt. On my FX4, I had to remove the skid plate (4 15mm bolts) to gain access to the outboard bolt. Take the outboard bolt (10mm) out first. I HIGHLY recommend using an open box wrench for the inboard bolt. For some reason, my 10mm wrenches all seemed to wander off, so I was left using some flat reversible ratcheting gear wrench, you know the kind that if you put it on one way it ratchets tight, and the other way, it ratchets loose... And I managed to get my wrench stuck on the bolt - there's not quite enough clearance between the bumper and the bolt to get the bolt completely off, thus the recommendation for the open wrench (at least then you can maximize the space for the bolt). I spent over an hour messing with the J clip and prying the bolt before I finally got it off. The other side only took like 5 minutes to pry it and get it angled correctly since it didn't have a wrench in the way.
Once the insert was out, there's a ton more space in the cut out. Which is good because I was not satisfied with the performance the 7'' LED provided. It just didn't seem like it provided a ton of additional lighting, and while it looked cool on the truck, I actually wanted a functional light - I do quite a bit of late night driving in sparsely populated areas (unless we're counting wild life), and want to make use of better lighting.
7'' LED placed in the bumper.
Trial of 7'' LED with the headlights on.
Trial with 7'' LED (just the left one). Just the LED on.
But with the knowledge that I had more space to work with, I turned my attention back to amazon and ended up picking up a pair of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FXCHDFG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They are 10'', which is a bit longer than the opening (which is around 9''), and are 1.2'' tall, but that means that the light portion is about 1''. Overall, it is just about perfect for a recessed mounting.
With the skid plate off still, and the inserts removed, I couldn't find anything to use to attach the LED brackets to, so I decided to just try out JB Weld. So after test fitting it, I found the best orientation was to remove the bolt and JB weld the bracket directly to the backside of the bumper. I swapped the orientation of the outboard bracket, such that it was longer but didn't protrude forward as much, sanded the surfaces to rough up for a better JB bond, and then gently placed them and held the first one in place for about twenty minutes of so... before my hand started to numb and there was no indication of the JB hardening. Soo... I scrounged around my garage for something to hold the lights in place, and came across the flexible reusable twist tie type things my mother in law bought me for Christmas a couple years ago (which work great on electrical cords btw). I managed to wrap two around either edge, behind the light and then out through the slit in the bumper to hold the light in position with pressure. Turns out these were the perfect tool for the job, as it also allowed me to adjust both lights and stand back and make sure they're symmetrical. And it held them in place not only while it dried, but overnight while it hardened.
The result:
Finished product with 10'' LED bar - the camera struggles with the light, it's not actually that bright/tall looking IRL.
Finished product with 10'' LED - daytime picture, which is much more representative of how it looks at night too, the camera can just handle the light a bit better during the day.
Finished product with 10'' LED turned off. Well, mostly finished, the twist ties are still holding it in place.
Finished product with 10'' LED - Just the LED turned on.
I started this journey hoping I could slide something in from the front and have it be an easy-peasy add on, so I got the smallest LED bar I could find, measuring in at 1'' tall and 7'' long. Well, it turns out that the clearance is only 7/8'', so I had to go in from the back, and the hole through the insert is about 3/4''... So I had to tear out the insert. That was far from easy, though I don't think I did it the most straight forward way possible. There are 2 bolts and a locking tab that hold it in place. Removing the lower part of the bumper (4 10mm bolts, 5 push pins, and 8 hard-to-disengage clips) easily reveals the locking tab, and provides "access" to the inboard bolt. On my FX4, I had to remove the skid plate (4 15mm bolts) to gain access to the outboard bolt. Take the outboard bolt (10mm) out first. I HIGHLY recommend using an open box wrench for the inboard bolt. For some reason, my 10mm wrenches all seemed to wander off, so I was left using some flat reversible ratcheting gear wrench, you know the kind that if you put it on one way it ratchets tight, and the other way, it ratchets loose... And I managed to get my wrench stuck on the bolt - there's not quite enough clearance between the bumper and the bolt to get the bolt completely off, thus the recommendation for the open wrench (at least then you can maximize the space for the bolt). I spent over an hour messing with the J clip and prying the bolt before I finally got it off. The other side only took like 5 minutes to pry it and get it angled correctly since it didn't have a wrench in the way.
Once the insert was out, there's a ton more space in the cut out. Which is good because I was not satisfied with the performance the 7'' LED provided. It just didn't seem like it provided a ton of additional lighting, and while it looked cool on the truck, I actually wanted a functional light - I do quite a bit of late night driving in sparsely populated areas (unless we're counting wild life), and want to make use of better lighting.
7'' LED placed in the bumper.
Trial of 7'' LED with the headlights on.
Trial with 7'' LED (just the left one). Just the LED on.
But with the knowledge that I had more space to work with, I turned my attention back to amazon and ended up picking up a pair of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FXCHDFG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They are 10'', which is a bit longer than the opening (which is around 9''), and are 1.2'' tall, but that means that the light portion is about 1''. Overall, it is just about perfect for a recessed mounting.
With the skid plate off still, and the inserts removed, I couldn't find anything to use to attach the LED brackets to, so I decided to just try out JB Weld. So after test fitting it, I found the best orientation was to remove the bolt and JB weld the bracket directly to the backside of the bumper. I swapped the orientation of the outboard bracket, such that it was longer but didn't protrude forward as much, sanded the surfaces to rough up for a better JB bond, and then gently placed them and held the first one in place for about twenty minutes of so... before my hand started to numb and there was no indication of the JB hardening. Soo... I scrounged around my garage for something to hold the lights in place, and came across the flexible reusable twist tie type things my mother in law bought me for Christmas a couple years ago (which work great on electrical cords btw). I managed to wrap two around either edge, behind the light and then out through the slit in the bumper to hold the light in position with pressure. Turns out these were the perfect tool for the job, as it also allowed me to adjust both lights and stand back and make sure they're symmetrical. And it held them in place not only while it dried, but overnight while it hardened.
The result:
Finished product with 10'' LED bar - the camera struggles with the light, it's not actually that bright/tall looking IRL.
Finished product with 10'' LED - daytime picture, which is much more representative of how it looks at night too, the camera can just handle the light a bit better during the day.
Finished product with 10'' LED turned off. Well, mostly finished, the twist ties are still holding it in place.
Finished product with 10'' LED - Just the LED turned on.
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