homeskizzle

I installed a 52" 700 Watt 5D Osram LED bar tonight. Unlike standard LED bars which use a 30 degree spot and 60 flood, this bar uses a 5 degree spot and 30 degree flood. Focus on distance. Note - I already have a standard 24" bar behind the grill that lights up the nearfield well. I used the same popular rivet mounted brackets as others here have.

Couple of notes that could help others who pick the roof mount.
- The brackets I got were for a 54" bar and the install says 4.5" from the top of the windshield. I went 2.5" from the top and my windshield wipers clear the bar. The reason being since the bar was shorter, I needed to make up the difference.
- Currently, the bar produces wind noise. I know there are remedies out there so I'll work on that to help lessen the wind noise. I knew this going in. Not a surprise. I have a 4" Hearthrob exhaust, so my truck isn't exactly quiet anyways.
- I get a little glare off the hood, but that's cause my hood was full of pollen. Here in South Carolina, we get a lot of that crap that coats the vehicles.
- The screws that hold the bar to the bracket were inadequate and the bar wanted to droop. I picked up same sized screws at Home Depot and used some lock washers and nuts to hold the bar securely. I'll post a picture of that soon.

All that said, this thing puts out a heck of a lot of light. I love it and plan on having a roof mount on every truck I have in the future. I'll be selling the Smittybuilt light mounting bar and the two spot lights. They're not needed anymore.

230748

Looks good, too bad you didn't order it from me, but I won't beat you up on that or hold it against you, as I said... i'm here to help (PM me with the price you paid as I'm curious).

yeah my bar droops as well come to think of it, that might be because I need to bend it a bit to make it sit flush where the bolts go in. I hit 100MPH today and the entire bar rotated and MAN DID SHE WHISTLE!

I'll try getting different screws like you. Did you get shorter ones I imagine? Lock washers are a must, I'm using those as well.

BTW, Don't sell your smitty mount, get yourself an LED bar and install it on that. Just make sure you get an LED bar that has the mounts that you can move side to side (meaning not the ones on the very ends like your roof one). I have a similar mount on my front 23" bar, works great.

homeskizzle

This is the setup I am using so far to keep the bar level. That's a lock washer in between the bar and the bracket.

230748

Similar to what I did. Only I put a lock washer on the OUTSIDE part. Do you know what thread bolt and length you picked up at the hardware store? I need to bend my bracket a bit to make it level like yours is, and I want to get slightly shorter bolts. I used 2 washers + 1 lock washer.

homeskizzle

I used M8-1.25x25mm bolts. They didn't have anything shorter than 25mm, hence why I use the nuts as spacers. Also, these bolts were definitely bigger in diameter than the bolts used for my 24" bar.

230748

Thanks, I'll see if I can find anything at Ace, they have a great selection

homeskizzle

I got this idea off of Wranglerforum. To lessen the whistle, I went to Home Depot and got some basic door/window insulation ($6 for 17') and put it on some of the fins across the entire bar. The shorter looking strips are pieces of soaker hose I had already.

The idea is to break up the air flow across the fins which cause the whistle (think whistling across a glass Coke bottle).

I still have wind noise (and it increases as speed increases), but it's a much lower tone and so far isn't much of a problem for me personally.

pitbulldawgz

i have an 06 F150 im about to install a 52" light bar on. my question is how did you run the wires? the door jam is pretty tight, but I was thinking of notching out a section under the weather stripping. just curious how you did yours before I get out the old dremil tool.

230748

I didn't want to drill a hole for the wire since it'd be a big hole. So I just have it running along the side of the window. I plan to add a few dabs of silicon to keep it from moving around and staying in the channel

pitbulldawgz

well the 06 is a little different.....there is a trim piece on the side of the windshield. I took it off, but there are brackets in the way. ill have to find another option! thanks for the reply and pictures though!