OK Redneck Buddies...... Help a fellow Redneck out here

[CowboyProtectionUnit]

OK Guys... ONE of the things that has Bugged me ever Since I got my truck was the Lack of effort put into the lighting system on the flatbed.... I'd Like To move the Light Towards the Grill.... Right Now its About an inch and a half away, id like it about 1/8th of an inch..... its been suggested that putting a z bend in the mounting Bracket... I'm afraid that will move it too far to the right.... I'd also like to Drop it down between 1/2 to 1 inch at the same time............... any idears

[motornut]

get a small piece of square box tube,
bolt to both
wider will allow for the movement you want left to right

[Gregs71]

What if you weld a piece of 1" square stock to the bottom of the existing bracket. That will move it an inch back. Then take a piece of flat stock and weld the top of it to the square stock (cut it to desired length). Drill new holes in the "new piece of flat stock and re-mount the light.

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[CowboyProtectionUnit]

Originally Posted by Gregs71

What if you weld a piece of 1" square stock to the bottom of the existing bracket. That will move it an inch back. Then take a piece of flat stock and weld the top of it to the square stock (cut it to desired length). Drill new holes in the "new piece of flat stock and re-mount the light.

[]

By "back" you mean towards the Rear of the Truck.. correct

and These are the Cheap Lights that have three Threaded Posts on the back of the plastic housing..... The Posts aren't long enough to put spacers on and they only used 2 outta the 3 that form a Triangle......thats how they're attached to the flat Iron piece they used currently so a 1 inch Square Stock and bolting on the inside of it is kinda out.....

[Tex_50613]

bend yourself a big u shaped peice of 2x1/8 flat say 1"wide x 6"long with the bolt pattern for the light drilled into one leg then mount the light to it, after witch clamp the other leg to your existing bracket, position the light where desired then drill and bolt or weld the new "U" bracket to the existing bracket, thats just my 2 cents

[CowboyProtectionUnit]

Prolly What I'll End Up Doing.... Was Hoping Not to have to break out the welder... 1. I suck at it... 2 I Burnt It Up and Almost Burnt Down the House last time..... (freak accident) Spark Flew into the oily Rags pile and I didn't notice it and went downstairs came back up to a RAGER

[andrewmp6]

Just get a piece of metal something you can bend easy and bend it so the light is where you want it and spray paint it when your done.

[donut]

What would happen if you moved the bracket to the angle iron?

Wise man told me (many times), you just need to be smarter than the materiel your working with.

[CowboyProtectionUnit]

Originally Posted by donut

What would happen if you moved the bracket to the angle iron?

Wise man told me (many times), you just need to be smarter than the materiel your working with.

What is this Angle Iron you speak of.... The Light Housing is Attached by three threaded posts to a piece of like 1/8th inch flat stol that is actually Free Floating

[RandyP]

Run some plumbers strap tape or something on the bed itself, across the lamp opening. Give yourself something to attach the lamps directly to the bed? You can use the screw holes that mount the lens to the body of the lamp, to mount the entire lamp flush to the bed.

Clear as mud? Just my thought.

[CowboyProtectionUnit]

I actually Understand what your Getting at... its the Same Straps that HVAC use's to hold vent tubes up right....... I'm not thinking that would last tooo long (rusting).... I'm Captain Overengineering When I do something I want it to last LONGER than the truck lol

[RandyP]

Use some 1/4 channel then, that'd even give it a lip to rest in. To get it exactly where you want, centered in the hole and as close to the opening as possible. It makes sense to just attach it to the bed. Heck, even using the openings chicken wire stuff, maybe the holes would line up and you could use some small washers to help it get a good grip.

[jitteryguy]

that strap stuff is galvanized, it'll las longer than the rest of the truck.

another idea is take a piece of 1X2 stock ( you can short peice's in steel or aluminum at Lowes pretty cheap) drill it out to fit the light then insert the nuts from inside the hollow stock, then take 2 or 3 1/4-20X1" bolts and nuts to bolt the new light bracket to the exist'n holes ! you offset the holes up/down or side to side as disred.
also the studs in the light house'n should just be carrage bolts, you could remove them and replace em some what ever lenght you need'd.

[CowboyProtectionUnit]

Originally Posted by jitteryguy

that strap stuff is galvanized, it'll las longer than the rest of the truck.

another idea is take a piece of 1X2 stock ( you can short peice's in steel or aluminum at Lowes pretty cheap) drill it out to fit the light then insert the nuts from inside the hollow stock, then take 2 or 3 1/4-20X1" bolts and nuts to bolt the new light bracket to the exist'n holes ! you offset the holes up/down or side to side as disred.
also the studs in the light house'n should just be carrage bolts, you could remove them and replace em some what ever lenght you need'd.

Best Idear yet!!!! depending how some Finances work out here till march I may be replacing the flatbed with one I want anyways So If I can Get the lights Closer I may just "live with" The Fact That I Don't like the Position of them.....

[motornut]

Be sure to make it removable to replace the light,
or make the hole, bigger,mesh removeable ,to pull the lense threw the hole
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[CowboyProtectionUnit]

I'm not Putting the lens on one side of the mesh and the body on the other..... I'm gonna attempt the carriage bolt thing first an run from there

[motornut]

hard to explain
easeier maybe to show,what i was thinking
enlarge the hole,center the light,better viewing radius
if the mesh was removable you could work on the light without removing all the bracketry
may want it a little further then 1/8th ,at least the lense thickness.
or a kick might move the mesh enough to crack it?
but looking again that hole there has a nice finished edge to it...

[CowboyProtectionUnit]

TOTALLY forgot about paint! lol Hopefully this helps... I'll climb under'r tomorrow and get a straight on view from behind the Mounting Bracket

[grayharville]

Just cut that damn bracket off, and move it towards the rear 7/8" and add a 1"piece of plate to the top in order to move it down. reweld. Done. That's a 15 minute job, you could already be done!
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[CowboyProtectionUnit]

all Fine and Dandy... but the welder went up in the Rager........... Hence the REDNECK in the Title of the Post...... I realize there's 100 different ways to do this......I'm Looking for the Simplest, Cheapest, Best Looking of the Cheapest, Solid Way...WITH WHAT I HAVE...... I do realize that I may not have mentioned I lost the welder in the fire... but I KNOW I mentioned I'm Not that good with a Welder.................................................... your language sir... was unnecessary.. and your suggestion Whilst a Solution... was NOT in the spirit of the Thread...


I'm Hear To Feast Off of the Knowledge of Those who have Gone Before Me In This Customization World... and am Basically a Modification Virgin.... Keeping along the Sexual line here... Possible Getting the Equivilant of a Strip Tease (swapping Radio's in Previous Cars) a Lap Dance( a Center Console Modification in my 94 Caprice Classic 9c1) a handy-j (Swapping Manual Seats in the 9c1 to 6 way Power Seats), a polishing of the Knob (Seat Swap in the Truck, and Many Other essential things on Both Vehicles I.E. Rear Axle on the 9c1 and tearing into my Dana 60) but have yet to do anything that even comes close to Doing the Deed... and even when I had the Welder..... I was Not Good at it..... I know I need the Practice at it... and this would be a good spot to practice.... but that brings me RIGHT BACK around to I HAVE NO WELDER RIGHT NOW.....

[john_p]

how can you call yourself a redneck if you never heard of duct tape, or bailing wire?

[john_p]

i would get longer lens screws, then sandwich the grill with the lens and the unit.. puts the lens in harms way but you can see it... might keep a spare lens handy..

[grayharville]

Hey man, I didn't realize you didn't have a welder, and sorry bout my language.

It seems like your just starting off in the fabrication world and im not bashing you for being a "noob" lol I respect the fact that you are trying to solve a problem with what you have. I've been there plenty of times.

Bring it down to my shop and i'll fix it for ya. I'll even show ya how to weld!

Ill try to think up some southern engineering for this issue
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[MudBug]

To move the light down,use some 1/8" inch plate,drill holes to mount plate and holes to relocate lights. To move the lights toward the opening, use tubing large enough to go over the bolts used to mount light to plate.

Or get to 90 degree angle mounts and bolt to lights and to the bed.

or used bailing wire and wire the lights to the grating in the opening.

It all depends on the level of redneck your looking for

But a real redneck dont give a damn abought the lights anyway

[78 Chevyrado]

Get a piece of metal the same width as the bracket thats there, z shape it and bolt it to the light and to the bracket where the light mounts right now.