Ibis Tek Light Bar Install

[Valence]

I've had this 66" Ibis Tek lightbar for nearly 2 years (purchased from a member here, TedG). So last weekend I thought I should do something about it!

I will say it really hurts to drill 1/2" holes in you truck's windshield frame (the lower holes I put in bolt sleeves, but just the 5/16" bolts only on the top). Grade 8 bolts of course!

The passenger window sits more to the right than the driver's, so there is some interference with the support hinge when opening/closing the front window. I wised up and reduced the problem (though sadly not eliminated) by flipping the bolt around and putting the lock washer and nut on the exterior.

 

[Valence]

Since this was designed for a HMMVW, and my cab is narrower, I swapped the brackets - passenger bracket on the driver's window frame, and the driver's bracket on the passenger window frame. However, that made it a little too wide so I had some aluminum blocks fabricated about the same size as the end of the lightbar.

But I forgot that reversing the mounting brackets would also reverse the direction of the curve, putting the bend on the inside, toward the lightbar. This bend interfered with the spacer blocks. So I just drilled a third hole further back to move the spacers forward (hence why you see an unused hole and the spacers sticking out 1.5" farther than the bar). I'll get the blocks shortened when I have more time. And the rattle can paint job on the spacers isn't that great of a match... So I'll need to address that too when I get the spacers fixed.



The 1" spacers were just a tad narrow , but I think it will be just fine.

 

[Valence]

Of course, I need to take a picture at night now too...

 

[Valence]

It also doubles as a sun visor but I can't see it from the driver's seat (that doesn't mean though that it won't help keep sun outta the truck though).

The hood lift from BBQROD was PERFECT, and IMO, absolutely necessary since the lightbar will not allow the hood to stay open without lashing it down and/or modifying the stock open hood secure latch.

Bonus: BBQROD's hood lift doesn't let the hood hit my fancy lightbar either.

 

[Valence]

It wasn't exactly easy to put on by myself though, especially with a hood out to "get you" on its mind!

 

[TedG]

Nice! Looks great. Please keep an eye on the bracket as it may work harden and crack.

 

[Kloakndagr]

I put the same lights on mine, wait till nighttime them lights are freaking killer!

 

[Valence]

Nice! Looks great. Please keep an eye on the bracket as it may work harden and crack.

That's a good point, I will. Thanks!

Best to change to wider spacers, shaped the correct size though.

 

[peashooter]

That looks cool! When I made my light bar I ended up using Rivet nuts in the windshield frame (which was quite a bit thinner metal than I expected). Unfortunately I overlooked the open hood issue and BBQROD's slick hood supports weren't around yet, they would have been a great solution! I like the dash mounted control panel too!

 

[rmgill]

Does the cover of the light bar open when the lights are turned on?

 

[Valence]

Does the cover of the light bar open when the lights are turned on?

No, not by itself. It requires manual action by the driver to get out, pull the retaining pin, swing the cover down, and put the retaining pin back in place. The pin holds the cover both open and closed (no flopping around either way), and the clip keeps the pin from coming out. Like a giant safety pin. A very good design. This is easily done one-handed while standing on the driver's door ledge.


I like that other motorists cannot be accidentally blinded by the offroad only lights. It requires a deliberate intervention. It also protects the bulbs from debris (and bugs).

(Sorry for the close ups of all the dead 'skeeters. There's so many in this "desert")

 

[TedG]

They are latched manually with pin on drivers side. Pull pin, open insert pin to keep open. Pull pin, close, insert pint. Good installs guys. I still have some...

 

[Valence]

A warning/heads-up to all Ibis Tek light bar owners:

In my opinion, these Ibis Tek light bars have an issue with the internal metal brackets that are supposed to hold the HID Lamp Ballasts in place. These, in fact, are made of too flimsy of metal and vibrations or jars (even from just FedEx shipping) will bend the tabs enough to allow the ballasts to move. I don't know how these are expected to survive when placed on an "active duty" military vehicle. If I were the original customer for these, I would issue a CAR (Corrective Action Request) to Ibis Tek.


The ballast will vibrate against bolts and the brackets and would probably result in early part and cord failures. I have a total of 4 Ibis Tek light bars; three of the 2' bars and this (pictured) 66" bar. Every, single, one of them has this issue, all present after just being shipped to my door. I didn't realize this until recently and this 66" bar has been installed on my deuce for about 1 year (~600 miles traveled, mostly on pavement). There are 6 ballasts in the 66" light bar (one for each HID light), 3 of the ballasts were completely free and doing damage to themselves, 2 were loose, and 1 was still secure.




The GOOD NEWS, is that I believe these can be simply fixed with a liberal application of zip-ties.

I loosened the bolts holding the ballast brackets to the bar, and ran a pair of zip ties between the bracket and its mount point, one on each side of the center 'C' tabs. I then replaced the ballast and added zip ties on top to complete the fix (my zip ties weren't long enough for a single one to go all the way around the ballast). Of course, I then re-tightened the bracket nuts and bolts. Unless the ballasts get quite hot and melt the zip ties, I don't see having this problem again. I did this for all 6 ballasts, loose or secure.

 

[Valence]

Even though the paint is so nice on the light bar, my duce just isn't desert tan. I finally decided to attempt to paint it to match with my new shipment of Rapco CARC brown & green substitute spray paint.

I conveniently already had the light bar in pieces to fix the ballasts issue, so I masked off the labels, serial/part numbers, electrical port, and light lenses and applied the first coat.

(not visible, but the light bar internals are paper masked off to prevent their unnecessary painting)



I still need to pull the control/switches box from the cab and paint it too (as well as the flip up/down light cover that I forgot about after taking off... oops)

 

[Valence]

I finished the camouflage paint job and had a larger spacer spacer made (2", vs the old 1") for a total spacing of 3" (I reused one of my previous 1" spacers) - no more twisting/flexing the side brackets wrong like I was doing. I also had the spacers made to the correct (flush) length this time so it doesn't look dumb as seen above in my earlier pictures.



The dash mounted switch box was a real pain. I disassembled it as far as I could because I liked the look of the black switches, black switch guards, and dark colored screws and I didn't want to blanket paint them all green. The switches I couldn't remove from from the plate unless I unsoldered them and I didn't want to do that. It turned out pretty good. It's not perfect and still has some over-spray, but I'm happy with it.

It took me a while to figure it out (and a lot of masking tape), but I found it easiest to tape off the switches with many small pieces of tape and scratching at the tape with my finger nail to ensure that it was stuck in place well. Then I used a sharp pocket knife to trim the tape to fit the switch base.

 

[kfrosty]

This is an old thread but I'm hoping you can help me figure out what else I need and where to get the parts. I have an IBIS Tek 24" light assembly shown in the pictures. That's all I had. I'm trying to figure out where I can get the wiring harness and switches I need to mount these lights.

You mentioned another member on here and I'll PM him as well. But any information on where to get what I need to mount these lights would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Valence]

The thread was active just this year, so not so old

The member I bought this 66" light bar from does not have the control boxes or wiring harness for sale separately (the switches and harness only came with the longer light bars).

You will need to build your own wiring harness, supplying power and On/Off control of the end HID lights and center infrared filtered LEDs - they can be controlled separately (If you're trying to run dark, you wouldn't want the visible light on at the same time as the infrared now would you?)

For reference, in another thread a member asked about the pinout and what the proper connector was for these light bars. See my reply in post #4

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...-out-diagram&p=1651624&viewfull=1#post1651624

I feel obligated to apologize as I've still not yet sat down and made an "official" Ibis Tek "How-To" article.

 

[Gunzy]

This is an old thread but I'm hoping you can help me figure out what else I need and where to get the parts. I have an IBIS Tek 24" light assembly shown in the pictures. That's all I had. I'm trying to figure out where I can get the wiring harness and switches I need to mount these lights.

You mentioned another member on here and I'll PM him as well. But any information on where to get what I need to mount these lights would be appreciated.

Thanks

View attachment 592909View attachment 592908

I got pin out specs from IBIS TEK and I have seen the connectors for sale commercially online, cant remember where though. The switches can be standard lighted toggles as they are a control swict and don't carry the current for the lights. Still haven't done anything with my 2 24" bars yet.

 

[Valence]

Driving with the hard top off the truck I could see how much the light bar actually shook and vibrated.

I've removed the mounting brackets (which are aluminum) and I'm having them reinforced, strengthened, and stabilized. After the brackets were removed, I noticed one was already cracked.

I don't know how these were ever supposed to survive on even a non-war time HMWWV...

 

[scboolitcaster]

Valence, you are such a bad influence.. First the gun ring and now the light bar.