I've just purchased an Xterra and want to mount a light bar where the roof storage would go. I've found that if I were to mount a set of KC HiliTES up there on a straight piece of alumimum track that I would have just about a half of an inch of clearance before hitting my garage. That's really too close for comfort and I would like to be able to put at least a 2" lift kit on - so I need to lower the lights 2" or go with smaller lights.

Size matters and I like big lights so going with a 4" light would mean likely having to drop down to 55w bulbs (whimpy!). I looked around the dealers and found a few light bars but they all look like they stick up too high to fit my garage. I'm also a ham radio operator and need a mounting for a nice size 2M or 440 stick ... the middle of the roof is the best location for antennas.

So I'm pretty handy with metal working but I am not a machinist by any measure. I'm better than most but not as good as some with tools. I put my mind to a roof rack mounted lighting bar that would be mounted lower than the mounting points for the roof storage, could be made with common power tools (no CNC or TIG welding), and could fold over to allow enterance into a garage. Here's what I came up with - total parts are going to be about $100 which includes mounting screws and a can of black spray paint.



I thought about angling the lights downwards rather than putting them at 90 degrees straight back to avoid collecting water on the lens but a closer examination of the design of the KC's makes me think that straight back would be fine as long as the whip ham antenna has enough flex to bend on the next bar back.



So the end is a solid piece of 2" T6 aluminum with a mounting drilled and tapped for a 1/2" mounting bolt. That's going to be the toughest part of the whole project but I already have taps that size laying around. There is one hole drilled straight up and down into which a retaining pin slides into - these guys are sold at Home Depot. I figure I could subsitute a bolt and a wing nut if the retaining pin lets the lights wiggle too much while off road.

Using 0.25" T6 thick tube means that this thing is going to be pretty beefy but the tube weighs in at just a bit less than 7 pounds.



The "L" bracket on the side is 10 inches long meaning it can hit both of the stock roof storages mounting bolts. I'll put a third one in there in the middle and come through with a nice machine bolt and a bottom backing plate a few inches long to spread the stress load out across the bottom. If I wanted to get lower I could as there is about 4" of dip down below the very front air dam on the '06 model but then the lights would point into the air dam.



Here's a scale picture to estimate what the lights would look like at that height. I'll leave enough slack in the power wires so that they can rotate the 90 degrees each way. That center hole will be used for a universal antenna mounting allowing me to swap out antenna's as the spirit moves me to match my radio use. Normally I'll keep a tri-band 70 Cm, 1.25M, and 2M antenna in there but can go bigger or smaller as needed.

I figure it's going to take a couple of hours worth of time to drill the holes, tap each end with a mounting bolt, and paint everything a flat black. Before I mount the thing to the truck I have an idea of putting a 1/4" wooden dowel in the retaining pin's place to see if it will function as a safety allowing the dowel to snap if the lights were to hit a low laying branch (we don't do trees in the desert).

Any suggestions or feedback would be welcome ... before I get out the drill press and chop saws.

Edited to add: These measurements are for the '05-06 model and I'm not sure that they'll work with the earlier generation. The concept ought to work with minor modifications.