Following GotGoo's lead, I decided to fab up a front light bar. I did it a little differently though. I drilled up through the bottom tube of the bumper support and used an L shaped bracket to connect to. I used 3/16"x2" steel stock that I had laying around. If I did it again, I would use 1/4" instead.

Very nice!

where did you get that bar from? looks good

NYPathfinder wrote:where did you get that bar from? looks good

Thanks. I made it using some stuff I had laying around. I originally had something different planned, but the steel tube I had was using was hot rolled steel and would not bend without kinking. I even tried heating it and no luck. I guess I need a mild steel for that.

Looks good! Do you have it attached to the bumper support with 2 or more bolts? Is the bracket sturdy enough that it won't flex/bounce around with the bumps in the road? Feel like making more & selling them to those of us desperately looking for something like this?

NVSteve wrote:Looks good! Do you have it attached to the bumper support with 2 or more bolts? Is the bracket sturdy enough that it won't flex/bounce around with the bumps in the road? Feel like making more & selling them to those of us desperately looking for something like this?

It's attached to the bumper support by two 3/8" grade 8 bolts. There is some flex due to using 3/16"x2" flat steel for the L brackets. 1/4" steel would be better. Also, if you were willing to remove the bumper cover, you could eliminate the L brackets and use straight brackets. That would get rid of any flex. I sacrificed ruggedness for ease of installation. It's a light bar, not a bull bar, so I'm ok with that. All I had to do for installation is remove the front skid plate, pull back on the plastic bumper cover, prop it out with a screw driver, and drill my holes upward through the lower support. I welded the nuts to the brackets so you put a lock washer and flat washer on the bolt and run it through the hole and thread it into the bracket on top of the lower support.

Yeah, I could probably make a few more. I'll get started on one next week and post some pics of it when I'm done. Give me some feedback on how you would want to mount it and I'll see what I can do. I'm also looking into some kind of bull bar / grille guard. I got all kinds of ideas while I was under there.

I'd preferably want the simplest possible setup, as it is only going to be held in place at the bottom. If connected with straight angles to the metal tube bumper, there could also be 3 supports for it instead of 2. Tabs for 4 lights would be fantastic-2 driving, 2 HID off road lights.



Here's a square bar setup that looks pretty nice, IMO. Kudos to Dragon over at fjcruiserforums. Right angles everywhere:





Haven't seen this link before:

http://www.kenmtnac.com/WiFron2005.html

A bumper that actually allows one to mount things onto it-how novel. The problems I've been running into with all the light bars available for the Pathfinder is that they either screw up clearance/approach or only have enough room to mount super slim lights.

If you can piece together something from all the ideas mentioned above, I'll gladly buy one off of you. No need for paint, and the only other request I would personally have is if you could weld on a couple of U-shaped pieces (kind of like U-bolts w/out the threads) that I can use as kayak tiedown points. The hole in the U only needs to be 1/2". Anyway, I'm thinking that if you stick to something perfectly straight, without any bending, it would be much easier for you to crank out a few of these. I know there are a few people who have posted here that sound like they are/have been looking for a solution just like us.

NVSteve wrote:I'd preferably want the simplest possible setup, as it is only going to be held in place at the bottom. If connected with straight angles to the metal tube bumper, there could also be 3 supports for it instead of 2. Tabs for 4 lights would be fantastic-2 driving, 2 HID off road lights.



Here's a square bar setup that looks pretty nice, IMO. Kudos to Dragon over at fjcruiserforums. Right angles everywhere:





Haven't seen this link before:

http://www.kenmtnac.com/WiFron2005.html

A bumper that actually allows one to mount things onto it-how novel. The problems I've been running into with all the light bars available for the Pathfinder is that they either screw up clearance/approach or only have enough room to mount super slim lights.

If you can piece together something from all the ideas mentioned above, I'll gladly buy one off of you. No need for paint, and the only other request I would personally have is if you could weld on a couple of U-shaped pieces (kind of like U-bolts w/out the threads) that I can use as kayak tiedown points. The hole in the U only needs to be 1/2". Anyway, I'm thinking that if you stick to something perfectly straight, without any bending, it would be much easier for you to crank out a few of these. I know there are a few people who have posted here that sound like they are/have been looking for a solution just like us.

My family and I spent Thanksgiving at a cabin in the woods of SE Oklahoma and I was able to test out the lights thoroghly. We drove on a lot of rough logging roads and found a few cool trails. They improved visibility greatly. I noticed some vibration when I hit very sharp bumps, but it was minimal. I'm pleased with the results.

It would not be a problem to add two extra tabs and the tie down provisions.

I like the square tube setup on the FJ, that was some nice work. That style would match my new steps very well. I could also do something in square tube if that's what you want.

I know what you mean about the products that are out there. I thought I wanted a bull bar until I saw it reduced the front approach clearance by over 3 inches, plus you lose the use of the factory tow hooks.

Here are some rough drawings of the bar I made:





The weakness in my design, other than using 3/16" steel, is the 90* bend in the L Brackets. I'm sure if I use 1/4" instead and weld in some gussets, there would be no vibration and it would be strong enough to hold down your kayak.

Let me know if you think that will work for you and I'll get started on it. Also, where would you want the tie downs located?

Hey Richard, I am really liking that for my pathfinder! I'll drop you a pm here in a second.

Id be interested in this as well. The 4 lights on the front look awesome.

richardekirby wrote: The weakness in my design, other than using 3/16" steel, is the 90* bend in the L Brackets. I'm sure if I use 1/4" instead and weld in some gussets, there would be no vibration and it would be strong enough to hold down your kayak.

Let me know if you think that will work for you and I'll get started on it. Also, where would you want the tie downs located?

The kayak tiedown points/anchors don't really need to be that strong. I only connect them to the front of my kayaks when driving 200+ miles on the freeway. They are more for piece of mind than anything else. It doesn't matter where they are, although I would probably say one on each side so my ropes don't interfere with the lights.

Some more thoughts:


If the bottom bar could clear the license plate by 1/4" or so, that would be great. And I think only 2 mounting points will be more than enough. As to the dimensions, I can't really offer much input. I'd say measure it out so that one could mount 4x 8" lights. I'm guessing each light would require no more than 9" of space, so roughly 3' wide? Your call on that, unless others here have some of their own input to share. I'm surprised mar hasn't jumped on here with an idea or 2 yet.

I think square would look cool, but so would square on the sides & round for the 2 crossbars. Whatever is easiest for you. Like I said, the more painless the design for you, the better off we'll all be.

bkmtnff wrote:Hey Richard, I am really liking that for my pathfinder! I'll drop you a pm here in a second.

Here is what I came up with for a double crossbar setup based on your PM:




Let me know what you think. Also, I'm looking into a square tube design for NVSteve if that interests you.

NYPathfinder wrote:Id be interested in this as well. The 4 lights on the front look awesome.

Send me a PM with details on what you would like and I'll see what I can do.

NVSteve wrote:

richardekirby wrote: The weakness in my design, other than using 3/16" steel, is the 90* bend in the L Brackets. I'm sure if I use 1/4" instead and weld in some gussets, there would be no vibration and it would be strong enough to hold down your kayak.

Let me know if you think that will work for you and I'll get started on it. Also, where would you want the tie downs located?

The kayak tiedown points/anchors don't really need to be that strong. I only connect them to the front of my kayaks when driving 200+ miles on the freeway. They are more for piece of mind than anything else. It doesn't matter where they are, although I would probably say one on each side so my ropes don't interfere with the lights.

Some more thoughts:


If the bottom bar could clear the license plate by 1/4" or so, that would be great. And I think only 2 mounting points will be more than enough. As to the dimensions, I can't really offer much input. I'd say measure it out so that one could mount 4x 8" lights. I'm guessing each light would require no more than 9" of space, so roughly 3' wide? Your call on that, unless others here have some of their own input to share. I'm surprised mar hasn't jumped on here with an idea or 2 yet.

I think square would look cool, but so would square on the sides & round for the 2 crossbars. Whatever is easiest for you. Like I said, the more painless the design for you, the better off we'll all be.

I think the all square tube design is very cool. I'll work up a drawing.

I do have a couple questions. 1) My lights have a 2" mounting pad with a 1/2" stud. Is that standard for most lights? 2) How far over your hood does the kayak extend? I want to make sure the ropes do not rub on the hood. If you have a pic with your kayak on your Pathy, post it up for me to reference.

NVSteve wrote:

richardekirby wrote: The weakness in my design, other than using 3/16" steel, is the 90* bend in the L Brackets. I'm sure if I use 1/4" instead and weld in some gussets, there would be no vibration and it would be strong enough to hold down your kayak.

Let me know if you think that will work for you and I'll get started on it. Also, where would you want the tie downs located?

The kayak tiedown points/anchors don't really need to be that strong. I only connect them to the front of my kayaks when driving 200+ miles on the freeway. They are more for piece of mind than anything else. It doesn't matter where they are, although I would probably say one on each side so my ropes don't interfere with the lights.

Some more thoughts:


If the bottom bar could clear the license plate by 1/4" or so, that would be great. And I think only 2 mounting points will be more than enough. As to the dimensions, I can't really offer much input. I'd say measure it out so that one could mount 4x 8" lights. I'm guessing each light would require no more than 9" of space, so roughly 3' wide? Your call on that, unless others here have some of their own input to share. I'm surprised mar hasn't jumped on here with an idea or 2 yet.

I think square would look cool, but so would square on the sides & round for the 2 crossbars. Whatever is easiest for you. Like I said, the more painless the design for you, the better off we'll all be.

Here is a square tube design. The mouth on our Pathies is about 28" wide and the bar needs to be wider than that to accomodate four 8" lights. This design will allow that. I may have to make one like this for mine.




I'm making a run to the steel yard tomorrow morning. I'll pick up some 1" square tube.

Also, I looked at my light bar today to see if it was possible to weld in some gussets on the L Brackets so they don't interfer with the upper tube of the bumper support. I went ahead and removed it and will weld them in tomorrow. Here are some pics of the light bar after I took it off. It's a little dirty from running trials this weekend.