rigtec
New member
Hi tech team'
The other day I was putzin' around the house (just wicked bored) and really wanted to get into a bit of mischief... "in the old days I'd go out to my local saloon and find plenty mischief to get into; (L.B.S.H.) liquor, bros & some hoes! But I kinda took that wayyyyyy too far :help: and... well, let's just say that I needed to find a better road
ray:" Hahaha! Anyway... I had been a little curious about the LED light bars; not that I would go for anything that I couldn't use on the street. My truck's a serious "Mall Princess" and hates: mud, gravel, small rocks, big rocks, slippery surfaces, rain, snow, ice, dust, 'The Great Outdoors', direct sunlight, hills, wind... You get it, lol! It does get really dark after dusk around my 'backroad' suburban neighborhood, so I thought about adding some extra 'beams'.
I've got plenty of light with my two sets of fog-lights (stock and PIAA), and the high intensity H-11 low-beams (also by PIAA). Out of pure curiosity though, I went online and looked at some high quality light bars. The one that caught my eye was by "Ridged" (of course). I studied their spec sheets 'just for comparison sake', and then I looked at some that I wouldn't need a 'second mortgage' to purchase. Ridge's prices, to me are somewhat inflated; and that's putting it as politely as I know how! I will admit however, that they were quite well built and hold up to some very high standards. The other one that I was pretty well impressed with was the OPT7 (C2 series). They too were very well built, and their customer service is reviewed as second to none!; Here's just one example, typical of ALL the reviews that I saw: YouTube
<a href="http://s1077.photobucket.com/user/rigtec/media/46ec6df0-94a3-41a8-84d6-aee9acac7535.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w465/rigtec/46ec6df0-94a3-41a8-84d6-aee9acac7535.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 46ec6df0-94a3-41a8-84d6-aee9acac7535.jpg"/></a>
The other reason that I wanted a 'short' light bar in front of the grill, is because after I installed the fog-lights I realized that I had obscured the front license plate and where I live, they will ticket you for that! So I moved the license plate to below the grill to avoid getting pulled over. But after I moved the plate, I noticed that It left a gaping space between the two PIAA fogs, like a row of missing teeth (drove me crazy seeing that), so I wanted something to put there to fill that empty space. The short OPT7 light-bar seemed the perfect thing! The price was a very strong selling point for me; at $69.00 for the 8 inch LED device and just $89.00 bucks to include the complete relay/harness assm., you can't go wrong!
I also ordered an aftermarket "Exact Toyota O.E.M. replacement" Spotlight switch to go in the dash (from AOB). These switches will fit directly in your 5'th gen empty "Blank-off" cover spaces (No trimming/No cutting). The face has a lighted, etched icon and tag to describe what the switch will be used for e.g., fog lights, Bed lights, Winch, Frige, etc... There's a wiring option for tying the switch into the instrument cluster lighting circuit for when the parking/headlights are on so the switch will illuminate along with the other dashboard buttons but you don't have to use it. pushing the button in will activate your accessory and a tiny etched led on it's face so you'll know the the switch is turned on! The cost is very cheap (compared to the stock Toyota dash push button switches), a steal at only $28.00 bucks plus S&H, 'Take a look':
I installed the 8 inch spot light yesterday (what a Bi*ch trying to drill two holes in the top of that bull-bar 'at a 45-Deg downward angle'), but the switch didn't arrive until this afternoon so I'll build the switch'es wiring harness tonight and finish the install tomorrow; hoping to post some good installation and 'beam intensity' photos when it's done; "See you then! Thanks for viewing this thread, Regards
rig cheers!
The other day I was putzin' around the house (just wicked bored) and really wanted to get into a bit of mischief... "in the old days I'd go out to my local saloon and find plenty mischief to get into; (L.B.S.H.) liquor, bros & some hoes! But I kinda took that wayyyyyy too far :help: and... well, let's just say that I needed to find a better road
ray:" Hahaha! Anyway... I had been a little curious about the LED light bars; not that I would go for anything that I couldn't use on the street. My truck's a serious "Mall Princess" and hates: mud, gravel, small rocks, big rocks, slippery surfaces, rain, snow, ice, dust, 'The Great Outdoors', direct sunlight, hills, wind... You get it, lol! It does get really dark after dusk around my 'backroad' suburban neighborhood, so I thought about adding some extra 'beams'.I've got plenty of light with my two sets of fog-lights (stock and PIAA), and the high intensity H-11 low-beams (also by PIAA). Out of pure curiosity though, I went online and looked at some high quality light bars. The one that caught my eye was by "Ridged" (of course). I studied their spec sheets 'just for comparison sake', and then I looked at some that I wouldn't need a 'second mortgage' to purchase. Ridge's prices, to me are somewhat inflated; and that's putting it as politely as I know how! I will admit however, that they were quite well built and hold up to some very high standards. The other one that I was pretty well impressed with was the OPT7 (C2 series). They too were very well built, and their customer service is reviewed as second to none!; Here's just one example, typical of ALL the reviews that I saw: YouTube
<a href="http://s1077.photobucket.com/user/rigtec/media/46ec6df0-94a3-41a8-84d6-aee9acac7535.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w465/rigtec/46ec6df0-94a3-41a8-84d6-aee9acac7535.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 46ec6df0-94a3-41a8-84d6-aee9acac7535.jpg"/></a>
The other reason that I wanted a 'short' light bar in front of the grill, is because after I installed the fog-lights I realized that I had obscured the front license plate and where I live, they will ticket you for that! So I moved the license plate to below the grill to avoid getting pulled over. But after I moved the plate, I noticed that It left a gaping space between the two PIAA fogs, like a row of missing teeth (drove me crazy seeing that), so I wanted something to put there to fill that empty space. The short OPT7 light-bar seemed the perfect thing! The price was a very strong selling point for me; at $69.00 for the 8 inch LED device and just $89.00 bucks to include the complete relay/harness assm., you can't go wrong!
I also ordered an aftermarket "Exact Toyota O.E.M. replacement" Spotlight switch to go in the dash (from AOB). These switches will fit directly in your 5'th gen empty "Blank-off" cover spaces (No trimming/No cutting). The face has a lighted, etched icon and tag to describe what the switch will be used for e.g., fog lights, Bed lights, Winch, Frige, etc... There's a wiring option for tying the switch into the instrument cluster lighting circuit for when the parking/headlights are on so the switch will illuminate along with the other dashboard buttons but you don't have to use it. pushing the button in will activate your accessory and a tiny etched led on it's face so you'll know the the switch is turned on! The cost is very cheap (compared to the stock Toyota dash push button switches), a steal at only $28.00 bucks plus S&H, 'Take a look':
I installed the 8 inch spot light yesterday (what a Bi*ch trying to drill two holes in the top of that bull-bar 'at a 45-Deg downward angle'), but the switch didn't arrive until this afternoon so I'll build the switch'es wiring harness tonight and finish the install tomorrow; hoping to post some good installation and 'beam intensity' photos when it's done; "See you then! Thanks for viewing this thread, Regards
rig cheers!
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