Off-road light / brush guard adapters ready!

[Dugn8r]

I got the first batch of brush guard adapters ready to go... they are a very limited quantity because I want to see how they sell before I produce a lot of these. These came about in another thread - I hated the factory lights on the Land Rover brush guard but they had special mounts that prevent you from mounting any other type of light other than the factory ones. So here's what everything looks like, how they are made and how they are installed.

First, I started with .400 T6061 aircraft aluminum stock. This will not rust and is very strong. I could have used stainless, but it would have been needlessly heavy and would cost much more because of the slower production and increased tooling costs. Because this was a small batch, I busted them out of the bridgeport. Should there be demand for them, I will have to do them on a CNC machine.

 

[Dugn8r]

Setting up the machine

Milling the parts

Here are peices I will be supplying with the adapter kit. Two adapters, four 8mm-1.25x30mm hex head zinc bolts, and four 5/8" lock washers. I am supplying the extra bolts because with the increased thickness of the adapter, the factory bolts won't cut it.

First, remove the rush guard from the vehicle. There are four black plastic covers on each side of the guard that must be removed to gain access to the four bolts that hold the bruch guard on. Use a 13mm socket to remove the bolts. Don't lose the four spacers inside the brush guard.

 

[Dugn8r]

Once complete, you mount the light to the adapter with the light's stud, lockwasher and nut. On the Vision X HID lights, the nut is a 17mm.

Here is the underside of the top verticle bar where the old mounts used to reside. There are two options here. The factory light stud is too long, however, providing one with the light would be cost prohibitive; you would have to pay shipping twice. SO - you can either put the new bracket on without the light and drill a hole in the foam to make room for the stub, of you can go to Home Depot and get a now stud for the light. The size is 10mm-1.5 x 20mm. Then you have to open the light up and replace the stud. It takes about 10 minutes per light, but it is a cleaner install. Obviosly, I did NOT do that here. You can see the hole in the foam above the two threaded collars inside the brush guard.

Next, insert the plastic hood retaining bracket, as shown

The last steps - align the bolts to the two threaded collars inside the brush guard and tighten them. Use a 13mm box-end wrench to tighten them.

 

[Dugn8r]

You have now installed the new light on your land rover's brush guard.

Now, just attach your brush guard to the vehicle and install the lighting per the light manufacturer's instructions. I you are using the VIsion X HID lights, it's a snap.