I see the ditch lights posted for sale, we are due for an update!

I wasn't planning on posting them because they are not very exciting, but I will now. Thanks for your interest.

I wasn’t too thrilled about how the typical ditch light mounts are attached to the hood hinge. Also not too wild about their location, which can cause light glare on the hood, as they sit too far inward. I also didn’t like how the lights vibrate (bounce up/down) when on bumpy or washboard roads.

I really wanted to mount the lights up a little higher and on the A-pillar, which also puts them outward further. (Similar to the spot lights on police cars). The mount design I came up with can be 3D printed.

I did not want to drill holes into the A-pillar, so I decided to use double-sided 3M trim tape to mount them. The trick here was to get the curvature on the back side of the mounts to match the A-pillar exactly, so the tape would have maximum contact area and holding power. This took several trials to get just right.





I did have to modify the brackets on my VisionX lights in order to make them work with my mounting system.









I really like the look of this light position better than the hood mount. I have had these on for a few months and no issues with the tape holding them in place. Best of all, the lights do not vibrate at all on washboard roads. I’m really happy with the final product.

3M tape is great stuff.

I've always looked at the back of the mirror and thought its a great place for ditch lights.

Your pillar solution looks great.

So I started a new project this past weekend:




No turning back now:


Rear bumper design is still in process, but at least I now have an idea of where the new steel bumper will meet up with the stock plastic bumper.

Update on the rear bumper build. The design is basically complete. I tried to keep it fairly simple. A few CAD images:




Started cutting out a few pieces:


Bolted them to the truck’s frame:


And welded the first few parts together: