How do you like the front runner so far? I'm thinking about picking one up.
It takes a little to dial in but you know it is worth the effort because its a quality piece. I've had it apart 5 or 6 times trying to fab a vibration-free light bar mounting bracket. Wind noise can also be an issue. I always think of the noise implications with every tweak I make on it.
Nice rack... And I don't just go around saying that to guys I don't know. :sombrero:
A 50" LED light that still leaves the rack as the highest point?.. I believe Rigid Industries SR Series (single row of LEDs) are 1-5/8" overall height, 3" overall depth, and they have a 50" model -
http://www.rigidindustries.com/product-p/srseries50.htm
Maybe you have enough clearance to fit one
under the leading edge of the rack?.. The included brackets look like they're made to mount the light above or below the mounting surface. If not then it shouldn't be too hard to find some deeper brackets to bolt it to the facing end of your rack (the literature says the light weighs 8.3lbs), but I'm not sure how secure a mounting configuration that would be or how much 'bounce' you might see in the beam at night offroad.
8.3 lbs? For the single or dual row 50? Mine weighs 25 lbs easily. I think I figured out how to get a vibration-free bracket put together without having to buy a plasma cutter and/or a welder! Also, I mocked up some brackets in cardboard that should drop the whole bar about 1.5" and bring it forward 1/4-1/2". We'll see...
I'm sure you'll enjoy this roof rack. I've owned one for one year now and it's moved from the 80 to the 100. Looks good.
No show-stoppers so far!
I finally found the time to hook up my Lightforce Blitz 240s and fab V3.0 of the 50' LED light bar bracket. Not sure if I mentioned it earlier but I found an Australian thread a while back where this guy was converting 240s to HID. I really liked the idea as the LF lens and reflector are a perfect match for HID. What I did not like was the prices companies were charging for HID technology. I think the LF's in 35W HID were around $1000.00 at one point. I have a good connection in China for sourcing just about anything. We communicate very well and he knows what I expect when it comes to quality. I asked him to look around for the highest rated HID ballasts he could find. A week later, I open a package an lo and behold, there are two 100W HID ballasts staring at me! I gutted the LF 240s, retrofitted them with 6000K big bulge 100W bulbs (thinking now I should have gone with 5000K), ran the harness, bolted the ballasts to the brackets that secure the radiator and I was ready for some testing. 100W HID full setups like this aren't even on the market! New products are coming out at a rapid pace but I have yet to see a pair of spots that will give the franken-LFs a run for their money. I have a thread on the LFs is case anyone is interested:
http://forum.ih8mud.com/electronic-toys/517152-lightforce-blitz-240-100w-hid-conversion.html
So my plan is to use the LED light bar for tighter trails where I need a good field of view with a great deal of saturation. I replaced the combo lenses on the LF 240 100W HIDs with spot filters and will use those for when the trail opens up and I need the ability to see far ahead while at speed. I tested both setups at a place called River Rock in Milledgeville GA. The LED light bar was phenomenal. I was on a group ride with a group of rock crawlers and the route they chose was full of elevation changes, switch backs, washes, ditches, boulders and foliage. The LED light bar did a great job presenting the upcoming terrain/obstacles in a wide, clearly lit view. Quite a few people on the run had never seen a larger LED light bar and the feedback was very positive.
I didn't get any action shots from the weekend as it was dark and I was trying my best not to soil my drawers...
This was a seasoned hard-core group of rock crawlers riding around on a privately-owned rock crawler playground. The gentleman who built the area, incorporated by-passes around all of the hairy bits (read, 85% of every square inch of the property), but what he defined as a by-pass was near the limits of what a build 100 is capable of. I had a great time not blinking and clenching my butt cheeks for 6 hours!
Glad I had sliders!
And finally, here are the lights...
