smurfslayer
Be vewwy, vewwy quiet. We’re hunting sasquatch77
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2016
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A few weeks ago I inquired if anyone had any experience with the n-fab front bumper, no drill light mounts
http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f265/n-fab-radius-o-r-light-bar-users-56383/
apparently nobody did, so I called and asked about them, my main concern being would I lose use of the front camera by installing the bar. At Raptor Assault, their light bar is minimally intrusive. n-fab assured me I would not lose use of the camera by installing their light bar, that they were designed with a Raptor in house. I settled upon a rough country x5 30” light, and called n-fab again to discuss. They said if it was a 30” bar, it would fit fine and once again said no worries clearing the front camera.
I’ll spare some of the class the extra drama; the n-fab no drill light bar(s) do in fact block the front cameras, almost completely.
So I took the plunge, not knowing what I know now. I got both parts, mocked them together and noticed the light bar mounts on the end of the light bar do not match up with any 2 holes or slots on the n-fab bar. No bueno.
I called n-fab to discuss, mentioning the poor quality images in the instructions.
They agreed to send me a set of mounts that should work and a new instruction set.
While waiting, I decided to see if I could prepare by disassembling and possibly getting the mounts done. No, I could not.
Using a trim panel popper, I opened up the bumper trim, popping most of one side off, losing 2 of the dreaded u-nuts and dropping 2 more. at this point I realized I had to pull the plate cover, meaning the rivets have to be drilled. I wasn’t keen on doing this without sufficient replacement parts, so I reassembled, went to the arbiter of all things truthiness- aka the internet and set about finding part numbers for the plate rivets and the accursed bumper trim u-nuts. I went to the local stealership and the parts guy brought out the parts by number that I’d found, and they were both not the same as what was on my truck. And of course, having left the house in a hurry, I forgot to bring the spare u-nuts with me to visually identify. I headed back home figuring I’d either wing it or return to pick up what was on the truck.
New brackets arrived in about a week, but no new instructions. well, what the heck. I pull the plate, drill out the plate mount rivets, and pop the trim off. I get the requisite tools and start disassembling. I get to the bracket mount and get stopped.
I am stopped for an amount of time I am not proud of because the instructions say to line up to the --inner-- bolt. as you can see above, that will lead to a fairly steep angle. The actual bar has straight mount points. I figure the instructions probably refer to an incorrect lower mount point and proceed. It would appear i was right, as I mount the bar and mock it up successfully.
It appears much as the n-fab stock photos do.
Unfortunately, that’s about as good as it gets because when you look at it from the side, things become more clear.
Now, if you’re thinking to yourself, yeah, your camera will still work ( it will just always show you the back of the light bar and light ) you would be correct.
As you can see, this is not even close. More importantly, because this sticks out so far, it doesn’t even appear that moving the camera up works to recover much usability - I used a laser to test out that theory. I’m bummed and have a beer, discussing my options with the voices(™). A few want me to press on, but there is a chorus of voices chanting no effin’ way. To make this work I still have to mark a pattern on the bumper cover, cut the covers for the bar mounts, and at some point figure out what to do about the camera. Nothing I am able to immediately find on the internet assuages my concerns about whacking the front camera function. Reluctantly, I disassemble everything, box it up and reassemble the truck.
I’m more than a little put off because I asked more than once about camera function. Their stock photos on the n-fab website show the bars mounted on trucks with cameras, but no side angles. When I called to get the RGA number, they again indicated the bar should clear the camera.
So my customer experience was not good.
I’ll look for other options. Hopefully the pics will be useful and mind you if you’re running without a front camera or aren’t concerned about it these bars are under $300.
http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f265/n-fab-radius-o-r-light-bar-users-56383/
apparently nobody did, so I called and asked about them, my main concern being would I lose use of the front camera by installing the bar. At Raptor Assault, their light bar is minimally intrusive. n-fab assured me I would not lose use of the camera by installing their light bar, that they were designed with a Raptor in house. I settled upon a rough country x5 30” light, and called n-fab again to discuss. They said if it was a 30” bar, it would fit fine and once again said no worries clearing the front camera.
I’ll spare some of the class the extra drama; the n-fab no drill light bar(s) do in fact block the front cameras, almost completely.
So I took the plunge, not knowing what I know now. I got both parts, mocked them together and noticed the light bar mounts on the end of the light bar do not match up with any 2 holes or slots on the n-fab bar. No bueno.
I called n-fab to discuss, mentioning the poor quality images in the instructions.
They agreed to send me a set of mounts that should work and a new instruction set.
While waiting, I decided to see if I could prepare by disassembling and possibly getting the mounts done. No, I could not.
Using a trim panel popper, I opened up the bumper trim, popping most of one side off, losing 2 of the dreaded u-nuts and dropping 2 more. at this point I realized I had to pull the plate cover, meaning the rivets have to be drilled. I wasn’t keen on doing this without sufficient replacement parts, so I reassembled, went to the arbiter of all things truthiness- aka the internet and set about finding part numbers for the plate rivets and the accursed bumper trim u-nuts. I went to the local stealership and the parts guy brought out the parts by number that I’d found, and they were both not the same as what was on my truck. And of course, having left the house in a hurry, I forgot to bring the spare u-nuts with me to visually identify. I headed back home figuring I’d either wing it or return to pick up what was on the truck.
New brackets arrived in about a week, but no new instructions. well, what the heck. I pull the plate, drill out the plate mount rivets, and pop the trim off. I get the requisite tools and start disassembling. I get to the bracket mount and get stopped.
I am stopped for an amount of time I am not proud of because the instructions say to line up to the --inner-- bolt. as you can see above, that will lead to a fairly steep angle. The actual bar has straight mount points. I figure the instructions probably refer to an incorrect lower mount point and proceed. It would appear i was right, as I mount the bar and mock it up successfully.
It appears much as the n-fab stock photos do.
Unfortunately, that’s about as good as it gets because when you look at it from the side, things become more clear.
Now, if you’re thinking to yourself, yeah, your camera will still work ( it will just always show you the back of the light bar and light ) you would be correct.
As you can see, this is not even close. More importantly, because this sticks out so far, it doesn’t even appear that moving the camera up works to recover much usability - I used a laser to test out that theory. I’m bummed and have a beer, discussing my options with the voices(™). A few want me to press on, but there is a chorus of voices chanting no effin’ way. To make this work I still have to mark a pattern on the bumper cover, cut the covers for the bar mounts, and at some point figure out what to do about the camera. Nothing I am able to immediately find on the internet assuages my concerns about whacking the front camera function. Reluctantly, I disassemble everything, box it up and reassemble the truck.
I’m more than a little put off because I asked more than once about camera function. Their stock photos on the n-fab website show the bars mounted on trucks with cameras, but no side angles. When I called to get the RGA number, they again indicated the bar should clear the camera.
So my customer experience was not good.
I’ll look for other options. Hopefully the pics will be useful and mind you if you’re running without a front camera or aren’t concerned about it these bars are under $300.
