It's been a while since this thread had something new and I'm way overdue for this project so why not get it done on a nice fall friday morning. Some time ago I posted my new
Strands Siberia Qube Pod Light installation with the promise that more was to come.
I had initially ordered a curved Diode Dynamics 30" Light bar but wasn't really pleased with the fitment as the curvature of the bar was more aggressive than that of the bumper. It also meant that the bar would stick out in front of the bumper a good 2-3 inches, which I also wasn't very keen on. That fitment was a function of both the curvature and depth of the bar itself as well as the available mounting brackets. So I set my sights on finding the best combination of mounting solutions as well as lighting options that provided really good forward lighting while also being as flush as possible to the front of the bumper. What I came up with was a combination of
brackets from 4x4TruckLEDs along with the
Strands Siberia Single Row 32" Light Bar. I really like the amber light bar function from both the Pods and the Lightbar itself. Since the amber headlamp feature flickers when taking the photos you don't see in these pictures how well they work together but it creates a really good appearance. I looked at other options that provide a similar backlit 'bar' look but I wanted better overall driving light performance and not a fan of the "dotted-line" look that you see with a competitive product.
I'll need to get more pictures after dark to get a better idea of their performance but for now I'm quite pleased with them. Here's a general overview of the install as it's pretty straightforward, going to focus more on the specific bracket/light setup rather than the install itself. The reality is that getting the brackets as I wanted them was the most difficult part of the process, followed by fishing the cable extension through the engine bay.
Brackets:
As mentioned I really wanted something to sit as flush as possible to the front of the bumper. Almost every mounting solution I found has the lights sitting well in front of the bumper, which makes sense as most lights are too deep to sit flush (including traditional round lights). I ended up purchasing the
KR Offroad Brackets from 4x4TruckLEDs and cutting off a section then sanding and adding a few coats of matte black Rustoleum paint. I also added some 2-sided gorilla tape on the inside section to prevent scratches.
Brackets as-ordered:
Modified Brackets:
DT4 Extension:
As the wire harness from the light is only about 20in long and has a DT4 connector, I ordered the
DT4 Extension Wire from DD in 3M to give me all of the length needed to run to the Upfitter wiring under the hood. It was a pretty straightforward run from the front bumper through the wheel well and up in front of the battery. From there I zip-tied along the fender edge with some other accessory wiring and cut to length, etc. The only trick for me was accessing the underside of the engine bay to run the harness up. I simply turned the wheels facing hard left/driver, undid a single clip to pull the fender liner back and got to work.
Light Installation:
From there is was pretty straightforward to install the mounts and get the light in place. The trick is that this light is ~32" wide and the brackets give at best 31" to work with. So when I had modified the brackets before I had to bend them every so slightly to make enough room for them to fit. For the light installation in put the brackets in place on the bumper first to ~80% tightness, then put the lightbar in place with each end bolt inserted ~50% just to get everything in place and lined up. From there I tightened each end of the bar gradually to maintain balance on both sides and finally tightened the Bumper Bolts as much as I could. I'll be going back and checking them periodically and might consider some blue locktite in the future.
Here you can see how flush it sits to the bumper and seems to be a pretty clean install. Additionally no blockage of the front camera and I didn't have to shove the wire harness behind the grille surround as the setup gave just enough room between the light and the surround to sit down snug.
