Bumper LED Bar - cut grill and trim with what type of material?

[jayhat]

I've decided I want to move my Baja Designs 20" from the Gobi rack down to the bumper. I am going to use Rago brackets to mount this.

Hidden looks pretty sleek, but I think it will rob too much light from the bar. I've decided I want to cut the grill but I cannot decided a material to create a trim or border with, to hide the cut edges. What did you use or what have you seen used?

Anyone use their outside mount option for those brackets? Pics? Looks like you could avoid hacking the grill up.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

I've decided I want to move my Baja Designs 20" from the Gobi rack down to the bumper. I am going to use Rago brackets to mount this.

Hidden looks pretty sleek, but I think it will rob too much light from the bar. I've decided I want to cut the grill but I cannot decided a material to create a trim or border with, to hide the cut edges. What did you use or what have you seen used?

Anyone use their outside mount option for those brackets? Pics? Looks like you could avoid hacking the grill up.

On my 4th gen, the whole lower mesh grille piece came out with 2 screws and a bunch of clips. I have the same Rago brackets and haven't looked to see if this one does or not. As far as trim, most people I've seen when doing grille mods and such have used bondo or fiberglass to fill in the cut edges and sanded it down to make it smooth. I'd love to see what you come up with

 

[jayhat]

On my 4th gen, the whole lower mesh grille piece came out with 2 screws and a bunch of clips. I have the same Rago brackets and haven't looked to see if this one does or not. As far as trim, most people I've seen when doing grille mods and such have used bondo or fiberglass to fill in the cut edges and sanded it down to make it smooth. I'd love to see what you come up with

I'm not an autobody guy at all and know nothing about bondo and fiberglass. THat said I dont really see how you'd use it in the area I am talking about. It's thin, diamond shaped, plastic mesh with fairly large holes. It being diamond shaped doesn't really allow you to cut out a sqare uniform hole using any lines to seams in the grille.

In the pic below, I'd basically cut out that shape wherever the led bar sat behind there. I guess worst case, I could just make a frame of sorts with some flat aluminum stock and use bolts/washers to clamp it in place. This would overhang the cuts enough to hide the cut shape and frame the light.

 

[e60ral]

black plastic L or U stock

 

[spetka]

On my last truck, I went to home depot and bought some aluminum channel and rattle canned it black. Worked pretty well. Something like this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbil...C-Channel-with-1-16-in-Thick-802657/204273938

 

[Cymon]

I've decided I want to move my Baja Designs 20" from the Gobi rack down to the bumper. I am going to use Rago brackets to mount this.

Hidden looks pretty sleek, but I think it will rob too much light from the bar. I've decided I want to cut the grill but I cannot decided a material to create a trim or border with, to hide the cut edges. What did you use or what have you seen used?

Anyone use their outside mount option for those brackets? Pics? Looks like you could avoid hacking the grill up.

[MENTION=103267]Saker[/MENTION] was the 1st I remember posting on it in his light bar write-up. Here is the link. See post 34 for the cut out. The install is on the previous page.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/164966-led-light-bar-install-2014-toyota-4runner-3.html

 

[jayhat]

[MENTION=103267]Saker[/MENTION] was the 1st I remember posting on it in his light bar write-up. Here is the link. See post 34 for the cut out. The install is on the previous page.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/164966-led-light-bar-install-2014-toyota-4runner-3.html

Thanks. Interesting way to cut the grille. There was another post later on in the thread where someone had a cutout made from some aluminum sheet stock. I may go see if there is fab shop that can cut me something with a water jet.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

I'm not an autobody guy at all and know nothing about bondo and fiberglass. THat said I dont really see how you'd use it in the area I am talking about. It's thin, diamond shaped, plastic mesh with fairly large holes. It being diamond shaped doesn't really allow you to cut out a sqare uniform hole using any lines to seams in the grille.

In the pic below, I'd basically cut out that shape wherever the led bar sat behind there. I guess worst case, I could just make a frame of sorts with some flat aluminum stock and use bolts/washers to clamp it in place. This would overhang the cuts enough to hide the cut shape and frame the light.

You would definitely need to fashion some sort of frame for that

 

[Saker]

[MENTION=103267]Saker[/MENTION] was the 1st I remember posting on it in his light bar write-up. Here is the link. See post 34 for the cut out. The install is on the previous page.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/164966-led-light-bar-install-2014-toyota-4runner-3.html

Thanks. Interesting way to cut the grille. There was another post later on in the thread where someone had a cutout made from some aluminum sheet stock. I may go see if there is fab shop that can cut me something with a water jet.

[MENTION=120701]Cymon[/MENTION] .... thanks for the kudos!

[MENTION=50362]jayhat[/MENTION],

Read thru my write up,
What you are describing is exactly what I did.

Had a waterjet co cut what I needed and also cut plates to install on the back side of the grill to be used to sandwich the grill between the front trim and the back plates.
Easy... choose your hardware to mount.

You will be happy with the install and the look.

 

[On Point]

you could go my route...

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/192219-trd-pro-grille-alternative-thanks-harkco.html

 

[jayhat]

Ended up doing this. It will also be painted flat black which I have yet to do. This was a test fit.

Light is mounted in the KC Hilites 20" LED bar bumper brackets for 14-18 4Runners. Works w/ other lights too.
KC HILITES | 20" LED Light Bar Behind The Grille Bracket Set for 14-18 Toyota 4-Runner

The piece - It will also be painted flat black which I have yet to do. This was a test fit.

Was just planning on using washers and some bolts to sort of "pinch" it onto the grille slots. It's not a great way to mount as the grille holes are pretty big and there isn't much of a surface for the washers to interface with. I think the final iteration will use a flat piece of bar stock with holes in it that run the length of the top and bottom. Also only using 4 of the holes. I had no ideas where I would use bolts so I had them evenly place bolt holes along the piece.

Little handheld hacksaw made short work of the cuts. The grille is super soft and easy to cut.

truck is filthy, sorry. Freshly cut.

Test fit. Again this will be flat black.