Idea for light bar........

[badmix]

I seen an H3 with a bolt on light bar the other day. It was pretty low profile and was tube design. But it did bolt thru the roof.

Has anyone seen this or think it would be a good idea?

 

[dremu]

I seen an H3 with a bolt on light bar the other day. It was pretty low profile and was tube design. But it did bolt thru the roof.

Has anyone seen this or think it would be a good idea?

Well, bolting through the roof is tricky. You have the possibility of leaks, so proper sealing is in order.

I can't recall whether the roof is two bits of sheetmetal separated by air or if it's just one; if it's two, you'd need a spacer in there if you drill all the way through. Alternately, you could use a captive nut/rivet setup just on the outer layer.

You'd want to either have a strip or a tube maybe a foot long on each side, to spread the force out. Even if it's low profile, if you only attach to the roof in one plane, i.e. with the bolts real close together, you're gonna wear the sheet metal out in short order.

You'd want to build a coupla "feet" on the bar, one the outsides, so it makes a real wide H looking at it from the top (like this |--------------------| ain't ASCII graphics great? )

Besides, real K5's don't have a roof.

-- A

 

[MNorby]

real k5s must be scared of the dark too..... J/K I like having alot of light too.

We put a roof rack on a crew cab and attached it to the roof. We drilled one layer of the roof larger than the otehr and make a spacer the thickness of the 2 different layers. Strap on top of roof and inside with the spacers welded to it. works pretty good but kinda has an oil can effect it will pop up or down sometimes. Ended up making some braces to the rain gutters and it uber rigid now

 

[George_Pimpdaddy]

why not just attach to the rail gutters?

 

[dremu]

why not just attach to the rail gutters?

IIRC, the rain gutters are fairly thin sheetmetal and are attached at the ends only with relatively small screws. They're not made to carry the weight ... and the wind resistance is an issue as well, though at least it's along the long axis of the gutter.

If I was to use the gutters I'd at least take 'em off, pop another hole a coupla inches back from each end, plus one in the center, so as to reduce the bend axes on both the gutter and the body sheetmetal. 'Course at that point you could weld in a little piece of inverted channel or something, tap and thread it for a mount point, etc etc... and it snowballs.

And MNorby, yeah, the lighting may be a bit excessive, but the lights are HF cheapos, so I needed a lot ... and the lightbar is my one concession to chrome pimping excess. I have no pink shocks, the steering is sensible, etc ... but the lightbar is just plain good ole redneck "yeehaw" fun

-- A

 

[86-1ton]

i built a 'bar' from stuff i had around, and mounted it like a headache rack... about 6 months ago, and now i don't reall like it... so i've been thinking of a way to replace it... i got a set of roof rails from a mini-van, grabbed the 'nut-serts', and some foam insulating tape... it's mounted now, and i have 4 lights mounted on it thus far... i still have a 48" federal signal jet stream light bar that i'm going to mount to it later, to remove my bubble light (hey, she's an all around duty truck...)

 

[Avery4jc]

why not just attach to the rail gutters?

I agree with dremu... I built a light bar that attached to the gutters and after a few days of building I scrapped the whole thing and mounted them on the front bumper. It's too flimsy to really torque anything down.

 

[badmix]

Another idea I had was to incorporate the Jeep liberty light bar some how. I know its narrower than our roofs, but I like the looks. I dont know how much theyd be at the junk yard, maybe ill have to check it out. How good is someone with photoshop. Take Jeep liberty light bar and a normal K5. put em together.

 

[bot0611]

Ill sell you mine, can go on top as well.

 

[abig84]

i made one out of those stainless steel handicap bars that people use to aide them from getting up after going to the bathroom

 

[troutbum_mt]

i made one out of those stainless steel handicap bars that people use to aide them from getting up after going to the bathroom

There's a good joke in there somewhere but damn if I am gonna say it

 

[lectric80]

IIRC, the rain gutters are fairly thin sheetmetal and are attached at the ends only with relatively small screws. They're not made to carry the weight ... and the wind resistance is an issue as well, though at least it's along the long axis of the gutter.

If I was to use the gutters I'd at least take 'em off, pop another hole a coupla inches back from each end, plus one in the center, so as to reduce the bend axes on both the gutter and the body sheetmetal. 'Course at that point you could weld in a little piece of inverted channel or something, tap and thread it for a mount point, etc etc... and it snowballs.

And MNorby, yeah, the lighting may be a bit excessive, but the lights are HF cheapos, so I needed a lot ... and the lightbar is my one concession to chrome pimping excess. I have no pink shocks, the steering is sensible, etc ... but the lightbar is just plain good ole redneck "yeehaw" fun

-- A

I think that only certain years have gutters like you are describing. I can tell you my gutters are welded on all the way around, and have no screws holding them to the body. It is just spot welds, but my gutters have a piece of steel that wraps into the door frame and is spot welded in multiple places all the way around. It may be that the 81+ got the screw on gutters, but I can say for certain that my 80 has welded gutters. I believe my buddy's 79 is welded gutters as well.

 

[dremu]

I think that only certain years have gutters like you are describing. I can tell you my gutters are welded on all the way around, and have no screws holding them to the body. It is just spot welds, but my gutters have a piece of steel that wraps into the door frame and is spot welded in multiple places all the way around. It may be that the 81+ got the screw on gutters, but I can say for certain that my 80 has welded gutters. I believe my buddy's 79 is welded gutters as well.

Duh... I'm thinking of my sixpack, which is a '74... maybe the crewcabs were screw-on?

Obviously my '74 K5's raingutters were molded into the roof 'cuz they were fiberglass

-- A

 

[k20]

well the pickups gutters are screwed on but they are screwed all the way around the perimeter. When I had mine off for paint it seemed like 50 of them dang things.

 

[sweetk30]

i have federal signal streethawk on my plow truck.

i have scraped a few extras over the few months i found. i did save the basic mount. and thay set on the roof and clip to gutters with propor mount clips.

 

[dremu]

well the pickups gutters are screwed on but they are screwed all the way around the perimeter. When I had mine off for paint it seemed like 50 of them dang things.

Mine only had holes on the ends, IIRC. I suspect that, like all else, GM changed its mind a bit at a time over the years...

Anyway, they're still pretty flimsy.

-- A

 

[lectric80]

Duh... I'm thinking of my sixpack, which is a '74... maybe the crewcabs were screw-on?

Obviously my '74 K5's raingutters were molded into the roof 'cuz they were fiberglass

-- A

It may be body style or year, not really sure. Mine are fairly sturdy in their mount and construction, but I would be worried about the possible deflection allowing water into the gap between them and the cab. They are seam sealed, but the quality is suspect as far as how well they would hold up to the weight pressing down on them and slowly opening them up a bit.