larry ett

I know there have been numerous threads regarding light bar installation in the lower grille, etc, but it seems as though all of those were not 2015 or this style grille. Anyway, can anyone post some ideas for installing a 20-22 inch rigid lightbar on my 2015 lariat screw w 5.0( no intercooler). Thanks in advance for any tips or ideas. I'm not against trimming, just wanted to see opinions before I begin.
Eta- I live in Louisiana, so no front license plate needed.

larry ett

..

larry ett

...

J15

The gap where your license plate used to mount can only accommodate 17" lights or less without cutting. The problem is that the faux grill comes out too far to get a clean mounting space with the hardware included with most light bars. I'm looking for a solution on this as well.

larry ett

Yeah that seems to be the problem. I'm thinking about trimming it out.

larry ett

Bump

Vette117

You say you are OK with trimming, but depending on how much, you could do something similar to what smcox1 has on his OBS Centurion. The center section of the grille is cut out, leaving only the outer ring where it is mounted. The center section is filled with some sort of steel mesh, and has a cutout for the lightbar.

If you wish to trim as little as possible, I would see about taking just the lower most chrome section out, and mounting the lightbar there. If possible, I would leave the black backing, or only cut out what is necessary for the mount arms.

On another note, if you take the grille out to modify, I think that if the chrome on the grille were to be painted the same white as your truck, it would look really nice!

MHouse

This is my 15 with the SmittyBilt/N-Fab bar...got it off Amazon for $119, they also make a different version that does not have the tabs on it, but has a track to mount any size light you want (I think that one was $160). I have a Rough Country 20" with Rigid 1 1/2" bar mounts to fasten it as the tabs in the center are too close for a 20", there are also 2 2" Rough Country cubes, and I am thinking about adding a second set of the cubes and moving the 20" to below the bar (easy to do with the mounts on it)

gonzoInc

My 2010 had a bull bar and the 20" cree bar was mounted to that. On my new 2015 I didn't want to go the route of the bull bar again but wanted to keep the LED bar low. After removing the lower grill and seeing it was one piece, I decided an Eco-boost lower grill was better as it was already open. Got one on eBay for like $30 and proceeded to measure and hack it up. Mounting the LED bar was interesting as there is nothing behind that lower grill on the 5.0. So I began fashioning a bracket. A single piece of flat steel running from one side of the frame to the other worked perfectly. I drilled out 4 holes in the frame rails and taped them out for SS bolts. Then mounted the LED bar to the plate. Installed it on the frame, marked out the areas on the lower grill than needed to be trimmed and slowly worked the grill till it fit perfectly. This is probably about as stock of a look as you will get.





Adding in switches for the LED's was another tricky task. Ford didn't leave a lot of good restate to mount things. I know with the switches I had that I was going to be cutting into a panel for it so I needed to be sure I made it look as stock as possible, or cut into a panel I can easily replace. I used outfitter switches that I had kept from my 2010. I picked them up from http://www.otrattw.net/. They are great swiches. Decided to mount them on the panel next to the steering wheel.

Jared Hall

Did this on a customers truck who was not opposed to trimming. Granted I did this install in the hardest manner possible and took way longer than needed. the lower section where your license plate should be can be trimmed minimally to fit a curved 20" bar mounted to the bumper-to-frame plate.