Defiant Light Bar

[ohnoitsyu]

I've been wanting a good light bar since I received my '06 in Sept of '05. KORE was supposed to have an aluminum one at the beginning of '06, but that never happened. Another company that had a nice bar had issues and could never have one in stock to ship, and putting it on backorder proved to be worthless, as he'd never actually ship one. And Defiant had a decent bar. Unfortunately, all of these bars required that I get rid of my front tow hooks. :{



Toward the end of last year, Defiant released a bar that allows the stock tow hooks to stay in place. I bought and installed one in December. I have to say, the guy from Defiant (I forgot his name) was really nice to chat with. I called on a Saturday, somewhat expecting them to be closed. He was just on the way out the door, but would wait for me if I could get by there soon. I pinned it.



Installation was a bit tedious and a tad difficult. But I'm glad. The reason it's difficult is that you have to install the parts in a specific order, and as a result, it makes the bar theft resistent, since it would take a fair amount of time to remove it.



With all of the trucks I've had, I can't believe that I've waited so long to have good lighting on the backroads and offroad.

 

[JDerbedrossian]

I'll be picking one up tomorrow in gloss black with 4 tabs, looks very nice ohnoitsyu. How did you wire up the switches in the cab.



Jake

 

[ohnoitsyu]

I have one switch wired to the two pencil lights in the middle, and another switch is wired to the outer Euro lights. Each switch activates a Bosch relay that is feed by 12 gauge wire and a 25 amp fuse. Since the relays are not waterproof, they are mounted under the driver's side of the dash.



That reminds me, I want to take a picture of my switches.



Lee

 

[Bob4x4]

Paul is his name. Heck of a guy. We have spent a bit of time talking. I love my light bar too.

#ad




Bob

 

[MCummings]

its you,,



What lights are those?



Could you give me a direction, or even a part number for the two styles of lights, and a ballpark price on teh bar? (It should fit an '07 correct?)







Merrick



EDIT: Removed a rather fruitfull line. LOL

 

[Bob4x4]

http://www.defianttruckproducts.com/prod_display.php?cat=LIGHT BARS&cat_id=19



It's all here.

The lights are from Hella 1 pencil beam 2 wide beam



Bob

 

[ohnoitsyu]

Thanks Bob for including the Defiant link. I meant to have that in my original post.



The Hella Rallye 4000 lights (standard not compact) can be viewed here: Pencil beam: http://www.4wheelparts.com/PDT29507.aspx

and

Euro beam: http://www.4wheelparts.com/PDT29504.aspx



It should fit the '07 just the same.

 

[MCummings]

Thanks a ton! I'll be picking one up soon enough. .



Merrick

 

[CRuth]

Hmmm, you only airbrushed out the license in one pic

Looks very similar to mine. And if any thief wants to steal it good luck. Eight bolts and none are exactly easily accessible.



Curious as to why you went with the pencil beams. I have a set of the lightforce and hella driving lights, and those have all the range i need at anything close to approaching legals speed limits.

 

[Bob4x4]

Curious as to why you went with the pencil beams. I have a set of the lightforce and hella driving lights, and those have all the range i need at anything close to approaching legals speed limits.

My reason for spending a bundle of money on good suspension so the legal speeds can be surpassed off road to need the pencil beams :-laf



Bob

 

[ohnoitsyu]

My reason for spending a bundle of money on good suspension so the legal speeds can be surpassed off road to need the pencil beams :-laf



Bob

That about sums it up.

It doesn't take much to outdrive Euros. And now I think anything more than around 10mph offroad is outdriving the stock headlights.



It also makes driving legal speeds on the road much safer. As I said, I can't believe that I did put these kinds of lights on my previous trucks. After a few minutes of driving with good lights and then turing them off, it seems like the stock headlights don't work... really.



And regards to legal speeds, my father, in all his wisdom, taught me when I was first learning to drive that speed limits can usually be doubled with a good handling vehicle. Of all things my father told me, I remembered that. :-laf Using good judgement, try it, and you'll find that it's mostly true.



About the license plate. I was just playing around trying to learn to use photoshop with that picture. I apparently saved that version, and I didn't remember I even did that until I saw the picture after I posted it.

 

[CRuth]

I absolutely agree. The first time I drove twenty miles with all the lights on and then turned them off, I wasn't at all sure the stock lights were still on.



Whats amazing to me. I have the lightforce lights, which remain covered most of the time, and the hella auxiliary headlights. The hellas alone make you think the stock lights aren't on, but the lightforce lights almost make you think the hella's aren't on.



Craig-the light be with you

 

[Regcabguy]

Light Nazis

Years ago Ca authorities would pull over anyone with auxiliary lighting on a private vehicle,especially when Baja Bugs came out. Covered or not,the Light Nazis didn't care. Hopefully they won't revert back to that behavior. I do wish they'd do something about those Beemers and their daytime lights. They blind me on the freeway when oncoming. Those lightbars look great especially with the added shielding below for the radiator,etc.

 

[CGresswell]

ohnoitsyu picture of switches?

Did you ever take picture of your interior light switches? Where you put them? If you did can you send to me... I'm kind of a clutz mounting inside dash items and am looking for ideas of where to put light switches?

Thank you for any help with this

Dick

 

[Bertram65]

Similar to the Randy Ellis bar that has been out for a couple years, looks nice but I think the Randy Ellis is a little cleaner looking.

 

[JDerbedrossian]

Similar to the Randy Ellis bar that has been out for a couple years, looks nice but I think the Randy Ellis is a little cleaner looking.

Cleaner and functional are two different categories, I have seen these light bars in action, you can jack-up your truck if need be in the sand, or use as a pulling point for a strap even stopping front end carnage cause a animal popped out of noware. Plus they look good too. I will post pics soon of my 4 tab version once I get a new camera.



Jake

 

[Bob4x4]

Similar to the Randy Ellis bar that has been out for a couple years, looks nice but I think the Randy Ellis is a little cleaner looking.

The brackets on the Ellis bar are not as strong. What part is cleaner looking?



Bob

 

[Bertram65]

The brackets on the Ellis bar are not as strong. What part is cleaner looking?



Bob

Matter of opinion on both.

 

[Bob4x4]

The Ellis bar also has NO protection on the ends??? Most front end damage I see is on the outer corners.





Bob

 

[CGresswell]

How many tabs do you recommend?

You have sold me on the Defiant Light Bar! How many tabs (lights) do most use?

Most of my night driving is on long highway usage (So Cal to Cedar City, Utah) and the stock lights just don't cut it. Have almost hit a deer or two as well as debris on the road as well.

Was it the Defiant Bar that was used as a "jacking point"?

Dick