Alt. Lower Grill LED Light Solution DRL

[RV-Junke]

I previously had a set of Recon DRL tucked in below bumber and skid plate. They worked great, until you do something at an angle in which they get ripped up, which I did...

So I began a hunt for a solution, and it seemed the closest I could get was the 20" Ridid solution with a License plate delte, or the Ridgid 2 Duelly with License plate in place but both had lower grill removed (I know there are alteernatives to Ridgid, but all are basically the same so I stayed with Ridgid...)

I really like the lower grill, and these were for Daytime Running Lights (DRL), not off road additional lighting...so I fabricated a solution that keeps the license plate, and lower grill by using 2 Ridgid SR2 6" Driving bars. Yes, I could have went with the 10" but I wanted the look of seperation, so the below would apply to any light less than 18"...

The installation took about 6 hours mostly the fabrication of the base plate to hold the lights:

1. Alluminum Angle 18" long 2x2 (there were 3 holes already drilled in the frame that holds the bumper

2. Flat Aluminum 18" long 2" wide

3. Rivets to make bottom part of angle 3 1/2 wide. So I attached the flat piece to the angle. This allowed the Lights to Butt up against the lower grill on the far corners while keeping a straight line end to end

4. 1/4 x 20 Coupler (x2) with a 1/4 20 1" stud (I cut the head of a 1" bolt) to link the 2 lights.

5. A bunch of stainless steel hardware, all 1/4 20...

6. 2 - Rigid Industries 90661 SR2-Series 6" Driving White LED Light Bar

7. 2 - Rigid Industries 19098 SR-Series Smoked 10" Light Cover (You have to cut these since they do not make a 6"

I hope you all like the alternative to the lower grill lighting options...

Here is my original Recon set up:



Here is new set up...TRUCK IS SO DIRTY sorry...Salt in NJ was BAD this year:




Here are some install images:[/I]







I had to trim the 2nd rectangle on both sides so I could get the cover on the lights. The cover was used to tone down the lights so I can run them as DRL:[/I]



You have to notch the clip on the license plate bracket so you can slide up:[/I][/I]



Original location of license plate. As you can see blocks the 1st row of openings and lights, which BTW, are centered in the opening:



Plate moved up very little as you can see. I removed the rivet and installed screw and nut:



To me a VERY stealthy clean look:



A little off topic, but added 2 more marker lights to grill today. Thanks to Barry and SwampKing for the idea and support...VERY DIFFICULT mod....


I will get better images at night::















Did I say what a PITA?...Really looks cool...Thanks again Swampking & Barry!

 

[Java]

It looks cool, will be great until snow and frozen highway slush gets into the grill. Then it will dim out until it thaws. With the grill on you won't be able to clean off the lens which will get pretty dirty. Just speaking from experience.

 

[RV-Junke]

Yes, I weighed that and thought its 4 screws to clean if they get that messed up...that was the other reason I added the added protection to the lights. Thanks for the comment.

 

[SuperRaptor]

I really like the extra marker lights, got a write up on how you did that?

 

[RV-Junke]

Not a full write up because I am sure there are many ways to do it.

In short, OEM lights are $65 a pop from Tasca Parts, a dremel, lots of patience, some plastic build up to hold the light...Now there are gaps and if you look close it does not look OEM but past 10" from the grill it looks OEM, just on CLOSE inspection do you see the flawed designe...an oval in a rectangle...NO GOOD...LOL...so I will be taking to a body shop and having them bondo the gaps and paint the whole grill to look cleaner.