Bracket Solutions for Mounting LED Light Pods (Chase Lights)?

[AndyT]

I need the help of the hive mind...I recently purchased a few Morimoto 1Bangers and intended to mount them to my Bison Gear 3/4 roof rack. The issue I am having is that the mounting bracket for the lights come with 10mm (~3/8") bolts but the roof rack uses standard 1x2 extruded aluminum cross members with t-slot channel widths of 6.35mm (1/4"). So the mounting bracket bolt is too big too fit into the t-slot channel. I'm having a hard time finding a simple/inexpensive bracket that allows me to attach to the crossmember and the mounting bracket of the light. Seems like many LED light pods out there use the 10M (3/8") bolt size and many roof racks use the standard 1x2 extruded aluminum crossmembers, so why are there not a ton of solutions out there? I found a few things that were close, but not perfect. Leitner: what I want, but the hole to mount the light is too small, Awning mount: Overkill for a small LED light pod; Rhino Rack: probably the closest to what I want, but not sure if the mounting hole dimension is big enough and $33 for bent steel is a bit much; Sherpa Antenna Mount: The Weboost Mount looks like it might work. Anyway, what have you guys used? Ideally, I'd like the mount to have the shape of the Rhino Rack one where is has an S-curve so that the mounting surface for the light sits below the top surface of the cross-member. Hope you guys can help or give me ideas on what I can use.

 

[Ovrland Bill]

I need the help of the hive mind...I recently purchased a few Morimoto 1Bangers and intended to mount them to my Bison Gear 3/4 roof rack. The issue I am having is that the mounting bracket for the lights come with 10mm (~3/8") bolts but the roof rack uses standard 1x2 extruded aluminum cross members with t-slot channel widths of 6.35mm (1/4"). So the mounting bracket bolt is too big too fit into the t-slot channel. I'm having a hard time finding a simple/inexpensive bracket that allows me to attach to the crossmember and the mounting bracket of the light. Seems like many LED light pods out there use the 10M (3/8") bolt size and many roof racks use the standard 1x2 extruded aluminum crossmembers, so why are there not a ton of solutions out there? I found a few things that were close, but not perfect. Leitner: what I want, but the hole to mount the light is too small, Awning mount: Overkill for a small LED light pod; Rhino Rack: probably the closest to what I want, but not sure if the mounting hole dimension is big enough and $33 for bent steel is a bit much; Sherpa Antenna Mount: The Weboost Mount looks like it might work. Anyway, what have you guys used? Ideally, I'd like the mount to have the shape of the Rhino Rack one where is has an S-curve so that the mounting surface for the light sits below the top surface of the cross-member. Hope you guys can help or give me ideas on what I can use.

 

[AndyT]

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Thanks! Can you provide a like to the brackets you used? Also, what size bolts do your light pods use to mount to the bracket?

 

[Ovrland Bill]

Thanks! Can you provide a like to the brackets you used? Also, what size bolts do your light pods use to mount to the bracket?

Fittings to attach lights to ‘grab rails’ are from Amazon:
“ BRCOVAN Light Bar” (Amazon has at least two choices, I ordered 2 Pieces for $19.99)

The lights themselves are from Baja Designs, but I don’t know the bolt size.

 

[Loc Nar]

@AndyT, if you are going to go the grab bar route, there is lots of info in this Work light on roof grab bar thread.

 

[AndyT]

@AndyT, if you are going to go the grab bar route, there is lots of info in this Work light on roof grab bar thread.

thanks @Loc Nar. Yeah, I've scoured that thread and unfortunately didnt find what I'm looking for. I actually have (4) sets of the 1Banger pod lights and plan to mount 1 on each side using a generic grab bar mount. I've seen the ones @Ovrland Bill installed and like them. Any complaints? The issue I see on those is that the 1Banger pod mounting bracket is rectangular (longer dimension is the width), so if the grab bar mount is less than 1" wide like the BRCOVAN ones are, then the light pod will look a bit goofy as the light bracket will be wider than the mounting surface. Not only will it look weird, but I'm afraid that the light wont have much stability. Since you mounted your chase lights facing backwards instead of downwards, your bracket is probably sitting completely on the mount. As for my chase lights, I really do want to utilize the roof rack rather than the grab bars, so my search for a suitable bracket continues. This one here will also work, but $40 for one!! No thanks. I am still kind of surprised that there are no plentiful (and cost-reasonable) solutions out there for this type of mounting scenario. Anyone also have the Baja Designs S2 lights and know the size of their mounting bolts? Are the M8 or M10? I'm starting to regret getting the 1Bangers if they are the only ones who use M10 bolts and there are so few options for a mounting bracket to the T-slots of the common 1x2 extruded aluminum crossmembers.

 

[Loc Nar]

Looks like you could get the Rhino Rack ones you linked in your first post for $20 here. Also, no hole is too small if you have a drill with a hardened (e.g., Cobalt) bit. I can confirm this step bit works well.

 

[AndyT]

Looks like you could get the Rhino Rack ones you linked in your first post for $20 here. Also, no hole is too small if you have a drill with a hardened (e.g., Cobalt) bit. I can confirm this step bit works well.

Wow! Awesome find. Thanks! I'll look into it.