MackayMark

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum. I purchased a 2016 Ford F150 (4X4 of course) to use to drive back and forth from a main house in Sun Valley Idaho to a fly-fishing ranch in Mackay ID. The access is over a large mountain range through dirt forest service roads.




At night it gets pitch black and there are lots of curves and blind turns with unprotected drop offs (out in the middle of no where).

Here's some of the terrain and obstacles I deal with, not only brutal weather, but all kinds of wildlife (and cattle on the open range stretches).










I'm constantly wishing I had more light. My old rig was a 2000 Ford Excursion with a bull bar with a pair of Piaa amber fogs on the lower portion and a pair of KC daylighters on the upper portion. Not enough light.




The Ford dealer is coordinating the front lighting upgrade and has recommended the following:

Big Country 3” black powder coated bull bar
Big Country mounting bracket kit
Fabricated lamp mounting bar
Rigid Industries D2 driving lights (pair)
Rigid Industries Dually spot lights (pair)
RaceSport illuminated driving & spot switches (chrome w/blue light accents)
Wiring harness
Labor and fabrication

Any off-roaders out there that would be so kind to review this proposal and bless it, or suggest an alternative?

Thank you all for your time.

Mark Holmes
Trout Haven
Mackay, Idaho

fseries54303

If you want some major distance (up to 2500 ft), check these out!

And you can get covers to change the beam from spot to flood.

https://www.f150forum.com/f37/vision...ts-com-249862/

ak_cowboy

I wouldn't waste time with the D2 or Duallys. You need something with more coverage like a 20" Bar or larger. I have a pair of 2" square lights on my ATV and they work well in that application, but the 20" bar I just installed in the bumper is 100x more effective and road speeds.

A perfect setup would be a 30" LED bar in Flood and two 6" HID spot lights. That would cover everything up close, in the ditches, and 1/2 mile down the road.

Brokemillwright

I have the 4.5" vision x light cannons and now that I have some time with them I'm not overly impressed. I've used the driving light covers and they basically turned them into headlights, no more distance, in spot form in my opnion with two, it's to narrow, 3 would be better. They are mounted low and I'm sure that doesn't help.

I've been thinking hard about a 20" rigid e2 with combo (specter optics) beam and have found a good deal ($580) for it and would blow my light cannons away in distance and usable coverage, but the more I think about it I believe I would be better off getting rid of my halogens and doing a retorfit first since I can't use the auxilary lighting all the time, then after the retro fits look for a lightbar. I'm a believer in rigid, they are spendy but that have taken the time to tune their product so you don't get a bunch of wasted light oposed to the cheaper knockoff brands, plus being made I USA is a big plus for me. I believe that 20" e2 combo beam has over 1 lux at a mile or just shy, the center is a spot beam and the side are flood/driving. I'll see if I can find the link, they also make a 30" but it wouldnt fit where I wanted

I also have the rigid dually dot/sae fogs and I almost don't need low beams with them on.

I hunted out by clayton,id this year and spent a little time out by that moon rock park and drove kinda by where you live, gorgeous country out there




Here is a little comparison of e series and e2
https://youtu.be/4SsQpyDY9Is

MackayMark

Cowboy, Can you be more detailed. I'm curious what your ideal set up would be for a 2016 F-150 (I'm not trying to save money here, since I have had a couple of close calls, so 2 to 3 grand is nothing).

So mount the light bar on the bull bar and where would I put the 6" HID spots? I've seen guys on this forum put spots in the fog light area (taking the stock foglights out), do you recommend that?

I must say one of the reasons I got on this forum was because I didn't think the four separates were the best option.

Also, should I be intregrating the "high lights" into the high beam switching, so I can activate and de-activate the aftermarket lighting without taking my hands off the wheel?

Thank you so much for your time.

Mark

MackayMark

Hi Broke,

My Ford dealer here is a Rigid rep and they are going to do all the work. I thought about taking my truck to a OffRoad shop, but want to give these guys a shot first.

I'm an older guy, 55, so all I know is separates like KC Daylighters Growing up, a lifted jeep with KCs was the ****. Anyway, I'm warming up to the lighting bars, just don't know anything about them.

Thanks for your input.

Mark

Brokemillwright

I've never liked the light bars just because everyone and their brother has one, and I tend to go away from the grain. But after watching alot of videos and comparisons from good light bars vs cheap I'm becoming a believer. One appeling fact is the low amp draw. Hopefully you find a good setup, do your already have projectors or halogen? I had a 2015 rental and those halogens were a good step up from my 14's.

I don't have any pics of the light cannons + fogs, and the light cannon pics were just with my phone so the output is better than what it shows, just not what I want after spending time in idaho and montana where there are no trees to catch the light.

I don't know If it was you or the other guy, but I agree with tapping into the high beam wire for dimming both. I need to find a good 3 position switch for off/on/on only with highbeams





Headlights





Headlights and light cannons (mounted where the license plate was) I've narrowed and lowered the beam position since





Headlights/new piaa bulbs





Rigid dually dot/sae in oem fog location





Heads/fogs. Ive since aimed them up a tad higher for a little more distance without blinding oncoming traffic. Not the beast for highway speed, but i had to put the amber covers on in thick fog and they helped alot. Backcountry roads without dare devil speeds they give me peace of mind

MackayMark

I'm not following you 100% Broke, but it's probably because I really don't know anything about this stuff, so I'll ask really dumbed down questions, ok?

So you have new bulbs in your headlights, Rigid Duallys in your fog light locations (meaning your took out the factory fog lights and replaced them with Rigid Duallys?) Does Rigid make a replacement that just mounts in, or was it done by a custom shop?

Then you also have "cannons"? I assume a pair of light? What are those? mounted down by your front license plate?

Do you have a bull bar?

Do you have a picture of the front of your truck, what year is it?

Sorry for all the questions........

Brokemillwright

No biggie I'm not good at explaing things.

I have a 2014, so so my headlights are different than yours. The 2015+ is a step up from mine.

Yes, I have piaa bulbs in my headlights. That was my first step for more light.


The "light cannons" I have are made by vison x. They were linked by the first replier in this thread I believe. And no bull bar.

To mount them I removed the oem lights, drilled 2 holes and cut/bent some flat bar. I found a writeup on this forum but I can't seem to find it now. I don't think you can mount these in your oem location tho, if I remember right you have rectangle lights thst are smaller than the dually series. I could be wrong tho.

There are lots of helpful threads here, you can mount lights behind your grill for a little security and no need for a bull bar unless you want one, but being in the boondocks of idaho I doubt you have much of a thievery problem.

Edit: I took a closeup pic of how I mounted them but the stupid site is saying wrong file or format from my cell phone

MackayMark

Ah, yes, we have two different lighting set ups.

I'm getting the bull bar because I really need hit a cow coming around a corner on night a couple of years ago, she just popped out of know where. I had a bull bar on my excrusion and literally zero damage. I was able to hit the brakes and slow considerably, but I think the bar helped.

Anyway, based upon what you and Cowboy are saying, I might go with a bull bar, a Riged light bar (maybe a 30"), and maybe some upgrade to my fogs. I'll have it wired (if it's possible) to the high beam, so that I can revert back to the standard light if I meet a truck coming the other direction, which does happen usually once or twice on the hour drive back and forth across the mountains. My old set up on my Excursion was toggle switches and I would have to remove one hand and fumble for the switch each time (pain in the butt).

Thanks Broke!