GEN 2 Alternative offroad A Pillar mount fitment issues

[smurfslayer]

Any of you running the Alternative Offroad A pillar mounts -
are you seeing fitment issues, particularly the mount impacting the rear of the hood area?


I was going to install some new lights on the a-pillars when I hit a couple snags.

First was the getting the doggone thing affixed to the hood hinge bolts. got past that and uncharacteristically I thought I’d better check fitment before slamming the hood closed.

So far, so good:


That’s about 1/4” , maybe 5/16” clearance.

This, however, is not so good. When I close the hood, unlatched - mind you, the gap is non existent. This picture is with the hood closed, but not latched. You can see the hint of a gap, and I’m not willing to close it further.

Checking fitment, I noticed it’s already scuffed the cowl. Wonderful.



Frustrated, I manipulate the mount some more, hoping there really is a secret ingredient in the secret ingredient soup.



This is the best gap I get, again, hood closed, but not latched.

What’s happening is the mount smashes down on the cowl as the hood gets closed.

This looks to me like it’s going to be a problem, so I pulled them.
I hit up @Skyline who has them on his truck and he was kind enough to send some pics. I definitely cannot run the mounts oriented like his. To get the gap shown above, this mount was almost fully seated on the front, but, as far inboard on the rear mount as the mount will allow. Even so, I’m concerned about the minimal gap that will exist and significantly ******** up the paint on the hood.

anybody have experience installing / running them?

 

[Aaron]

 

[smurfslayer]

 

[smurfslayer]

Revisiting the Alt offroad mounts, the I couldn’t mount the driver’s side “one mount point at a time”. After an hour of shifting the damn thing around as many ways as possible, it was too much of a PITA to continue.

So I broke out Dad’s old rotary grinder and fixed the damn mount points. Less than 10 minutes with the grinder wheel and driver’s side went on in about 5 minutes. NOW the mounts fit and actually have a gap between the bracket and the hood.

 

[sixshooter_45]

Revisiting the Alt offroad mounts, the I couldn’t mount the driver’s side “one mount point at a time”. After an hour of shifting the damn thing around as many ways as possible, it was too much of a PITA to continue.

So I broke out Dad’s old rotary grinder and fixed the damn mount points. Less than 10 minutes with the grinder wheel and driver’s side went on in about 5 minutes. NOW the mounts fit and actually have a gap between the bracket and the hood.

I have these A-Pillar mounts myself but haven't installed them yet.

Did you grind the thickness of the hole mounts flush to the rest of the bracket?

Also if I remember correctly, I believe that there is a YouTube install video using this bracket.

 

[smurfslayer]

There is a youtube video, and it says you can install the mounts “one bolt at a time and not have to realign the hood”. The latter is true, if you’re careful, you won’t need to realign the hood. I couldn’t get the driver’s side to slot in the 2nd connector, the passenger side worked with some persuasion...aka, a mallet. Driver’s side was hitting the outer edge of the 2nd bolt and wouldn’t seat. It was either grind, or throw hands up in defeat.

I took the grinder to the inside of the bolt mount area; they’re u - shaped, like a wrench. I did a ‘relief’ and ‘grind’. In other words, did my best to grind away at the sides, an then ‘rounded’ the edges so they would seat using the youtube “one bolt at a time” method.

If you install them, be mindful of the clearance on your hood, particularly the inside of the bracket.

 

[Sheeepdog18]

Anyone know of a "A" pillar mounts that hold two lights, one on top of the other staggered? I once saw a picture of it on a Gen 2.

 

[sixshooter_45]

Well, after my post above I realized I have two sets of brackets, one from Alternative Off-Road and on set from Z-Roadz.

One set was for my 2014 which I purchased prior to trading it in on my Raptor and since they wouldn't work I had to purchase another set for the Raptor.

I'll have to check them out but I'm thinking the Z-Roadz are the one I had purchased for the Raptor.

 

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

Anyone know of a "A" pillar mounts that hold two lights, one on top of the other staggered? I once saw a picture of it on a Gen 2.

Z-Roadz makes an adapter that sits on top of the mount. But Zroadz is made overseas so not recommended for brackets. Better to use the SDHQ or Alternative Offroad brackets and then just cut a plate out of stainless (powder coat it too) that can support 2 lights. Just a flat piece with 3 holes

 

[smurfslayer]

B/D showed a pic of the S1 side mounted to an a-pillar light. The xl80 is tall enough, I wouldn’t want any more height than this.

I dared Adam to mount a light bar across the 2 Alt-offroad mounts, but he was like

fab’d up adapter plate is probably the best answer for multiple pods on a pillar mounts.