roof mounted light location

[fifty]

I am contemplating lighting positions on my truck once again, now that Rigid has come out with their flush series. I am now probably not going to do an aftermarket front bumper, maybe...and just mount a set of their D2 fogs in the bumper if I can get them positioned correctly (seems the metal angles up)...No one makes a shim for the lights and I have emailed rigid about selling me an extra set of flush plates that I could shave down.

So if I stick with the stock front bumper I need to find a home for either a 20 inch or 30 inch E series spot bar. I can mount it on the outside of the top of the bumper, or mount it on the roof. I am not thrilled about the idea of drilling holes in my roof, but wouldnt mind drilling holes in my ARE shell. Problem is, the truck is a crew cab.

So would mounting the light that far back throw a really horrible shadow over the part of the road closest to the truck basically negating the benefits of being able to see good really far, if I cant see really good up front (or will the D2 fogs take care of that problem)

Or should I just mount everything on the bumper?

Oh and the truckis a F350 that has a 6 ish inch lift on 37's, so its not exactly low...And I dont want to put a rack up there, as its too high to be usefull to me (vertically challenged)

 

[stevo]

Roof mounted lights?

First off let me say this, I do not claim to be an expert at anything although I have been off-roading since I bought first baja bug in 1972. I have had 4x4 mini trucks, full size trucks, s.u.v.s, suzi sammies, quads, most everything. I have had long-range, fog, and flood lamps mounted on camper shells, roll bars, roofs (all positions and locations), gutter mount light bars, and even roof racks. I will be the first to admit that roof mounted lamps look cool! But my experiences have led me to believe that, generally speaking, lights mounted below one's line of sight are more useful and less hassle than most other locations. Currently I'm running one Cibie 185 fog next to a 185 driving driving lamp about grill high on the front bumper in conjunction with replacement head lights. I am also running two corner roof mounted 6" flood (work) lights facing out at 60 degree angles and pointing down about 120 degrees for close night driving. (I'm driving a Pinzgauer and do not have hood glare problems.) In the past, while running roof mounted lamps, I utilized aftermarket "anti-glare shields" isolated mounting systems-to combat vibration, I've even painted my hood , flat black (glare). For my money, practicality overrides cool looks any day.
Cheers Stevo

 

[tacr2man]

The only reason I have any lights up high is for lowish speeds off road , as they will fill in the shadow of a track hole( see the depth) caused by lower mounted lights . They do need mounting far enough back to put the hood in the shade , as the glare tends to shut down your eyes , which is not what you are looking for during night driving . Thats why road trains will quite often run red lenses on their bull lights , so that when you go onto dip beam ( all other lights have to go out) you dont get the night vision black hole effect . Going from 430watts to 110 !!! JMHO

 

[t4rman]

I ran driving lights on my roof for a year or so and noticed that in hazardous weather the roof lights would just make things worse.

The rigid bar will throw a lot of light. The safe bet would be to mount it on the bumper.

My next setup will be spot/driving on the bumper with some small floods (Visionx solstice style) on the roof.

 

[bigwapitijohnny]

Great question...

This is the same issue that I am wrestling with as well. I have Tundra Crewmax with a camper shell. I have a custom BajaRack and I am going to mount my 40" E series where the fairing is. Following my discussion with Rigid industries, I have decided to go with 40" in a spot configuration instead of the combo spot / flood above. I am curious to see how much of a shadow I will get from cab in front of me. My question is going to be whether or not the two Fyrlyts and the Dually D2s will overcome the shadow cast by the cab. I doubt that hood glare is going to be a problem. I figure the glare will be behind me...I'll post up some pics and video as soon as I get a chance to figure this out.

Good luck!

Regards,

BWJ