Victus57

So, I seem to be having a lot of trouble finding a good solution to light mounting. My truck is a low mileage example and I don't want to put a whole bunch of holes in the body just to mount lights. I'd rather mount a bull bar, brush guard, or any other type of bar that can be bolted on and removed when needed to prevent drilling holes into my bumper or any other part of my truck. Also, as another piece to the puzzle, I want to be able to keep my factory tow hooks in place, which means almost all the available bull bars for my truck are out of the question.

NFab also doesn't have any products for a 1998, but has several for 1999 and on, and they aren't willing to do custom work for me to get one of their bars. CarID however has an NFab bar that says it'll fit, even though NFab doesn't have it on their website.

https://www.carid.com/1998-ford-f-150-off-road-lights/n-fab-off-road-light-mounts-10029095.html

It shows in the first image that it mounts through the center of the bumper (what I call the "smiley face" of the bumper) but it appears to possibly cover up part of the factory fog lights.

Is there anyone who knows where I can find a bolt-on solution that won't require too much drilling (no drilling is preferred) will let me keep the factory tow hooks, AND not block the factory fog lights? Also I would prefer a cheaper option if at all possible, less than the NFab example I linked above is preferred. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Steve83

Exactly where & what type of off-roading do you do? What do you need to see that the stock lights don't illuminate? Have you considered better headlights? Modern projectors can be had DOT-legal on eBay for reasonable prices, and they don't fog over after a few years like the original plastic lenses.

I usually wheel in trees & hills at very low speeds, so I needed more light to the sides, that I could aim from inside the truck. And I didn't want something that would get smashed when I knock a tree down (which happens a lot) or pushed dirt or rocks (which happens occasionally) or drove under low-hanging branches (which happens just in my front yard). So I put some slim LED floods under my mirrors. They're not nearly as noticeable IRL (when you're not specifically looking for them) as they appear in these pics:


(phone app link)


(phone app link)

But they work so well that I can drive with them at highway speeds even if the headlights go out (which happened once).

Victus57

@Steve83
Well, I could do that with the pods I have on the way, but the issue comes out to where I will put the light bar. I don't want to drill into the bumper, and I would rather mount them on something I can remove easily if I needed to, such as a bull bar or pre-runner bar (like the one I have linked). I've looked all over and I cannot seem to find anyone who makes a bar that doesn't remove the tow hooks, or works in conjunction with the tow hooks. Thank you for the idea though, I will keep that in mind for if I get some thin lights later on!

To answer your other question, it would be very light off-roading since I'm very new to wheeling, and I selected the pods for more straight-line and distance for when driving in rural areas or back home at night (which is the time period of which I am driving the most). The truck is also a single cab with an 8 foot bed, so breakover angle isn't exactly something I'd like to have when doing anything heavy in articulation. I'm trying to also keep the truck in the most original shape possible considering it's only got 16,XXX miles on it at this time, and it being so original helped me to get 1st place in my class at a car show last year. So definitely won't be heavy offroading, just light stuff and backroads driving.

Steve83

That was one of my considerations when I put these lights on my dually:


(phone app link)

But as the next few pics in that album show, I found a way to drill the bumper so it didn't show. There are also clamps available for mounting lights to a bumper without drilling.
Then I suggest you wait until you find something the truck won't do before you start modifying it. You could spend thousands on lights, bumpers, and other accessories that you might NEVER use or need. The old saying is "Chrome don't get ya home" and neither do lights. So you don't have to worry about being stuck because you didn't have 2 extra lights. If you need them, that's when you'll know where & how to mount them.

The 2 Army manuals linked in this caption are good reading for someone who wants to start driving off-road:


(phone app link)That's what headlights are for. Auxiliary lights can't compete with stock or projector headlights in that situation, so upgrade them first.That's not something I'd consider when trying to make my truck more-useful to me. Having a car show trophy won't get you home, either.