Hella 500 floating front bumper mounts...(install pics)

[momo.75]

First let me say these are not "official" instructions by any means. There has not been any testing so I have no idea how they will work for extreme off-road use, but I personally think they would do fine.

The lights I chose to use for this project are the Hella 500 driving lights. I like these since they are realtively slim and won't stick way out from the front bumper. i will probably end up switching to the Hella Black Magic lights, but wanted to see if this would even work first. In this first pic, you will see the lights, the stock Hella 500 covers, the clear stone guards (purchased separately) and the brackets. The brackets are made from my trusty 1.5" x 1/4" steel strips, you can get at Home Depot. All I did was take them to a freind's house and bend them to a 90 degree angle.

 

[momo.75]

Now, where to mount these. This pic was taken where I had opened the hood and looked right down behind the front bumper. You will see there is a beam that runs from side-to-side behind the bumper. In this beam, you will see 4 sets of holes. In the pic I already have two bolts sticking out of the holes furthest to the left.

First I picked the holes I was going to use and used my Dremmel tool to ream them out a little, to accept a larger bolt. In order to get the bolts inside this beam and sticking out, I ran a piece of wire through the hole and out the end of the beam. Here I took one of the bolts, with a washer on it and wrapped the wire around the threaded end. I wrapped the wire in the grooves of the threads then put a little strip of tape around that with some hanging off the end to make a cone shape, so ti wouldn't cathc anything. (MAKE SURE YOU PUT THE WASHER ON BEFORE YOU PULL IT THROUGH!!!!) When you start pulling it through you will feel it hang up some, but if you jiggle it around it will work it's way over the bumps. Just do this for each of the two hole on each side. Once I pulled them throught, I put on a washer then a nut on the outside, which you see in the pic.

I mainly did this so they wouldn't back into the beam and also because I want to be able to put on and take off the lights, depending on our road trips.

 

[momo.75]

Here is a side view of the beam (in orange), the bracket and the order of the bolt, washers, lock-washer and nut.

You will see the two bolts in the beam with washers on them, then the washer and nut just outside the beam. When I put the brackets on, I first put a washer on, then the bracket, then another washer, lock-washer and finally the nut.

 

[momo.75]

This is what it will look like with the bracket, washers and nuts. They are not tightened down so you could distinguish the parts.

 

[momo.75]

This is a close-up of how the bracket will stick out of the front bumper.

 

[momo.75]

The shows both brackets mounted.

 

[momo.75]

lights mounted up. Since there are two more sets of holes inside these, you could actually mount up another pair of lights to have four across te front, but i will let one of you guys try that.

 

[momo.75]

Finally, one to support the boys. War Eagle!

Last thoughts. If you do not want to keep the stock covers on them, I would strongly suggest you getting a set of clear stone guards before you even put them on. I had mine on for just a coupel of days and took a rock one the edge of one of the lights, but it didn't mess it up too bad, just a small peck.

I still have yet to wire them up. A freind if mine is going to help me do it where I can easily put them on and take them off, without shorting out the system. I want to be able to do that for long roadtrips, since I mainly drive at night on back roads.

Hope this helps those that have asked me about them. Thanks.

 

[sharp4runr]

Momo, that looks really good!!! Can we get a side profile shot?

 

[chiefiji]

very nice writeup! i can feel my wallet getting lighter already .

 

[sharp4runr]

Now that I'm looking at it again, I don't think it's a great idea for the guys that drive/park in the city. Just one bad parallel parking job would ruin those lights or brackets.

 

[momo.75]

Yep, I meant to put that in there that it would not be a good idea for the city guys to do this. I am lucky that I work out of my house, and when I go places, I am very careful where and how I park.

 

[T?@\7]

nice write-up!
Looks really nice and clean, now I just need to figure out if I like them better there or where fourunnabilly put his .

 

[momo.75]

I think they look really good on top of the bumper as well, but I didn't want to drill holes through the top of the bumper. I also wanted to be able to put them on and take them off easily for road trips. I can put both on, or take both off, within about 5 minutes. Now I just need to get the wiring done where they will be plug and play.

 

[jaemc]

Install

Looks really good. I've seen some really bad install jobs, but this is very nice and clean looking. I have to figure out something for my 96 4Runner as I'm planning on putting on some fogs for this coming winter.

Jason

 

[Gangus2006]

Where do you get the clear covers like in this pic? How much are they?

 

[momo.75]

I got mine from autobarn.com

http://search.store.yahoo.com/cgi-b...czj+nsearch.html&catalog=rodi&query=hella 500

They are well worth it. When i was test fitting them, I had them on there without the clear covers for just a day and got a small crack on one from a rock.

 

[Lexusbstrdchild]

good install! very clean, i like how everything turned out!

 

[Cliff s]

I have been looking at a Westen bull bar and they only mount on the bottom,
by adding a added bar mounted to the inner tubing(like you did) it would
strengthen the mount considerably. Then mount the Tacoma skid plate to the
bull bar, with an addition to tie into the skid plate under the motor. This would
prevent the damage from the large rocks that bounce up when you are off the road.
There is no real protection to the AC core or Trans cooler without this added.

Cliff s

 

[atomic punk]

Looks awesome!

Didja look into a way to mount those lights so that they won't be the first thing hit in a bumper-bumper collision? .... Specifically mounting them through the grill area of the bottom part of the hood?
I know they'd be a bit higher up than your mounting location, but I'm curious if that can be done too, all the while keeping the lights out of harm's way in a small crash.