CrazyDrei
Space Monkey
It's light bar time!
The first modification I made to the Suburban a few weeks after I purchased it was a 36" light bar in the grill. It has served me extremely well, however when I went to the Avalanche front end, the new grill was way too pretty to get chopped up and keep the 36" light bar. So it came out.
When I installed the Raptor bumper, it came with a 24" light bar, I kept it in the bumper for looks even though it was never hooked up, since my 36" was plenty bright for all my needs. For the last year I have been driving around New England without a light bar back up and it's time for that to change.
Two 12" light bars on top and 24" light bar on the bottom. These were all laying around in my garage and cost me nothing to acquire them in the first place.
Rough mock up. 24" bar will go in the original location in the Raptor bumper that it was in to begin with. There is nothing behind it so it will not decrease air flow to radiator, condenser or tranny cooler. Two 12" light sill be on the sides of the truck to provide more of side illumination that headlights or center light bar does not reach. In a way they will be used as off-road specific lights. Should also sufficiently blind any wildlife that wants to jump in front of me. Yes I know the side lights are upside down, they will go in right side up.
24" light mounted up perfectly the the pre-existing holes. Next step will be to hook up the wiring and aim the light so it's functional.
When I swapped out the Avi front end, these ugly plastic tabs were the attachment points for cladded bumper. I am using the Raptor bumper which is 4" shorter than the Avi bumper. I will not be using the Avi bumper so it is time to clean up these tabs.
All cleaned up, at least much better looking than before. I think I want a cleaner look but will give this a few months to see how much it bothers me, or until I pull the bumper off.
Drivers side light needed some plastic and sheet metal cleaning up to fit in. I am not too happy with the angle of the light, wanted it to be aimed more forward than to the side. Unfortunately the curvature of the bumper itself will dictate the direction the 12" light will point for now.
Another view of the 12" light. Due to the bumper configuration I have to keep both mounting points on one side.
It was 19 degrees outside and I wimped out and called it a day. I use this bumper to regularly bump into trees and push vehicles around the yard. At one point I bent the passenger side of the bumper and semi corrected it. There is not enough clearance on passenger side for 12" light. I will have to pull the bumper off and gently massage the passenger side of the bumper back into correct shape. To get an extra 1/2" to clear the light.
Once all the lights are bolted up, I will run wires and figure out where to put the switches and what kind of switches to get. I want a clean and simple look in an easy to reach place.
Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
The first modification I made to the Suburban a few weeks after I purchased it was a 36" light bar in the grill. It has served me extremely well, however when I went to the Avalanche front end, the new grill was way too pretty to get chopped up and keep the 36" light bar. So it came out.
When I installed the Raptor bumper, it came with a 24" light bar, I kept it in the bumper for looks even though it was never hooked up, since my 36" was plenty bright for all my needs. For the last year I have been driving around New England without a light bar back up and it's time for that to change.
Two 12" light bars on top and 24" light bar on the bottom. These were all laying around in my garage and cost me nothing to acquire them in the first place.
Rough mock up. 24" bar will go in the original location in the Raptor bumper that it was in to begin with. There is nothing behind it so it will not decrease air flow to radiator, condenser or tranny cooler. Two 12" light sill be on the sides of the truck to provide more of side illumination that headlights or center light bar does not reach. In a way they will be used as off-road specific lights. Should also sufficiently blind any wildlife that wants to jump in front of me. Yes I know the side lights are upside down, they will go in right side up.
24" light mounted up perfectly the the pre-existing holes. Next step will be to hook up the wiring and aim the light so it's functional.
When I swapped out the Avi front end, these ugly plastic tabs were the attachment points for cladded bumper. I am using the Raptor bumper which is 4" shorter than the Avi bumper. I will not be using the Avi bumper so it is time to clean up these tabs.
All cleaned up, at least much better looking than before. I think I want a cleaner look but will give this a few months to see how much it bothers me, or until I pull the bumper off.
Drivers side light needed some plastic and sheet metal cleaning up to fit in. I am not too happy with the angle of the light, wanted it to be aimed more forward than to the side. Unfortunately the curvature of the bumper itself will dictate the direction the 12" light will point for now.
Another view of the 12" light. Due to the bumper configuration I have to keep both mounting points on one side.
It was 19 degrees outside and I wimped out and called it a day. I use this bumper to regularly bump into trees and push vehicles around the yard. At one point I bent the passenger side of the bumper and semi corrected it. There is not enough clearance on passenger side for 12" light. I will have to pull the bumper off and gently massage the passenger side of the bumper back into correct shape. To get an extra 1/2" to clear the light.
Once all the lights are bolted up, I will run wires and figure out where to put the switches and what kind of switches to get. I want a clean and simple look in an easy to reach place.
Stay tuned for more shenanigans!
