Lightbar mounting question . . .

[corax]

Good stuff - I went to ReRack (used roof rack place on Sandy Blvd in Portland) with a pair of tower/cross bars that came off a used car at work and got a set of Yakima gutter mount towers and load bars for even trade! It may have helped that I mentioned I needed them to mount a light bar for volunteer work So, who has experience running with a light bar, it seems light weight enough, should I expect any bounce from this thing on my roof over rough surfaces? I'm basically working on 2 different ways to mount it. Here's the easy way, all I have to do is weld 2 pieces of flat metal (probably use very shallow c-channel) to bridge the gap between the Yak load bars.


Or, I can recess it 1" below the bottom of the load bar and keep it closer to the roof (still ~1/2" between the light bar and roof metal). It looks like the bottom and top lights will still get out OK, but the clear side lights may cast a shadow from the forward towers. (either way, I realize that I'll need to put a piece of foam on my radio antenna so it doesn't beat the plastic up)



So what are some other consideration I should take into account before I start finalizing the mounting for this?

[4x4mike]

I think the first pic is a better option because the entire light is visible. If there is even the need for a light bar might as well make it visible. Sounds like the bridging the bars is the way to go. I've had a lot of experience with gutter mounts and those ain't going anywhere.
The only other thing I'd mention is the bulb filaments and bumpy roads/offroading. If the vibration kills them you better carry spares and be able to replace them while on the road.
Let's see some video of them on. And the controls.

[corax]

I'm thinking you're right - if I was keeping the lightbar on the roof all the time it would make better sense to keep it a bit lower (looks and fuel economy), but since this will only be on a few weekends per year (and used on dirt roads and in the dust) it probably makes better sense to keep it up high.

The guy who gave it to me also handed over a bunch of spare bulbs and it only take a regular screwdriver to pull the entire top half of the lightbar off to get to the bulbs. He also said that with everything on I can expect this thing to draw 30-40 amps which means I may have an excuse to pick up a Sears Platinum soon (old battery is on the way out anyway). It'll be a week or two till I get it wired (still finishing up the bumper project + thinking of an overhead console for the 2M ham)), there's a relay box that I need to connect to power / ground and control wiring to a simple switch box with 5 toggles.