Lighting Options with 'A' Frame bar

[Leroy_Riding]

Has anyone on here fitten spotlights onto there defender with the A frame protection bar fitted?

I have a set of 240XGT's from my old 4x4 I want to fit to the new Defender (Pick it up 4pm Monday afternoon from the Dealer so excited!)
also thinking of putting on a few pairs of the Lightforce 140's (I like my lumens!)

What are the stock headlights like? as I was running 2x240XGT's and 2xstriker 170's plus a few sets of supercheap spotties on the old Suzuki and It made my long distance night driving so muh better, it was like driving at day time, and as the Defender is going to be built up as my Touring Wagon I want that same Daylight at night feeling but now Want to avoid runing roof lights.

what are the options opinions on lighting with the Defender running the factory winchbar and Aframe bar?

cheers.

[KarlB]

I have mounted LightForce 140 Lance HIDs upside down from my A-bar. The issue is the distance from the grill. You will have problem with mounting XGTs from the A-bar as the distance from the centre of the bolt to the back of the light is 107 mm (55 mm with the Lance throught to the Blitz). I gained a little more forward projection by reversing the mount. Don't know if this is possible with the XGTs. Either way you will still need to use some jerry-built bracket such as these photos from the Defender2 forum:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

It is also a good idea to the replace the plastic top bracket with a steel one from Mantec (see Mantec | Quality Land Rover Accessories (http://www.mantec.co.uk/productdetail.cfm'theProductID=21709FCC-15C5-F4C0-9974F237D3F73697)). They are much stronger and I have used mine to mount my UHF antenna.

Re the standard headlights: upgrade the H4 globes with Osram Silverstar or Philips X-treme Vision. They provide 80-100% greater output but are still legal. See http://www.lighting.philips.com.au/v2/automotive/productrange.jsp?id=1088066&app=car_&vp=more light&va=more light.

Cheers
KarlB
:)

[Leroy_Riding]

I have mounted LightForce 140 Lance HIDs upside down from my A-bar. The issue is the distance from the grill. You will have problem with mounting XGTs from the A-bar as the distance from the centre of the bolt to the back of the light is 107 mm (55 mm with the Lance throught to the Blitz). I gained a little more forward projection by reversing the mount. Don't know if this is possible with the XGTs. Either way you will still need to use some jerry-built bracket such as these photos from the Defender2 forum:

http://www.defender2.co.uk/gallery/albums/userpics/10795/normal_003.JPG

http://www.defender2.co.uk/gallery/albums/userpics/10795/normal_047.JPG

It is also a good idea to the replace the plastic top bracket with a steel one from Mantec (see Mantec | Quality Land Rover Accessories (http://www.mantec.co.uk/productdetail.cfm'theProductID=21709FCC-15C5-F4C0-9974F237D3F73697)). They are much stronger and I have used mine to mount my UHF antenna.

Re the standard headlights: upgrade the H4 globes with Osram Silverstar or Philips X-treme Vision. They provide 80-100% greater output but are still legal. See Philips Lighting Australia - X-tremeVision - Philips (http://www.lighting.philips.com.au/v2/automotive/productrange.jsp?id=1088066&app=car_&vp=more light&va=more light).

Cheers
KarlB
:)

Thanks a Million, that pretty well exactly what i was after.

So the brackets on the top of the A frame are plastic?
im sure I could knock up a spotlight/uhf bracket that also replaces the OEM plastic mounting hardware to hang the 240's upside down, Im not to concerned about them sticking out further than the A frame as in my expierience if im going to hit something its going to be off to the side of the car, and my mate already reversed (pretty hard!) into the front of my old 4x4 with his trayback ute smacking smack bang on the 240's and they surviced without a crack, only minor stratches on the lense covers, wich i could say the same for the front of the car that they got squashed back into! the things are stronger than the car!!

How do you find the 140's? i was looking to fit a set under the headlights facing slightly outward to lightup the sides of the road a little more (A duty normally taken care of by my 170's on the roof of the old 4x4)

In case you are wondering all my lights are currently 100W halogens, I want to keep them this way for now untill I can afford to go all out on HID's all round,

And are the stock headlamps really that poor?

[KarlB]

Thanks a Million, that pretty well exactly what i was after.

So the brackets on the top of the A frame are plastic?
im sure I could knock up a spotlight/uhf bracket that also replaces the OEM plastic mounting hardware to hang the 240's upside down, Im not to concerned about them sticking out further than the A frame as in my expierience if im going to hit something its going to be off to the side of the car, and my mate already reversed (pretty hard!) into the front of my old 4x4 with his trayback ute smacking smack bang on the 240's and they surviced without a crack, only minor stratches on the lense covers, wich i could say the same for the front of the car that they got squashed back into! the things are stronger than the car!!

How do you find the 140's? i was looking to fit a set under the headlights facing slightly outward to lightup the sides of the road a little more (A duty normally taken care of by my 170's on the roof of the old 4x4)

In case you are wondering all my lights are currently 100W halogens, I want to keep them this way for now untill I can afford to go all out on HID's all round,

And are the stock headlamps really that poor?

By older Land Rover standards. the Puma headlights are not too bad but the globe upgrade is a great improvement. Such an improvement that for touring I could do with out the 140s and have not really used them. To me a sensible rule when touring is minimise drive at night unless you really have to. As for fitting the 140s directly to the bumper you would have two issues. Firstly the clearance issue (all the significant dimensions are on the LightForce website) and the secondly their size in terms of sitting, at least partly, in front of the headlights. There is not a lot of room with the A-bar attaching to the bumper where it does.

You need to be mindful with the XGTs of impacting the airflow to the radiator because of their size, especially if you also have a winch doing the same thing. The A-bar acts a bit like a funnel I expect. This is why I opted for the smaller 140s.

The A-bar brackets are plastic and not flat. I am sure they would not be difficult to make a replacement but when I thought about the time involved the cost of getting from Mantec, It seemed the sensible way to go (the replacements are powder coated stainless steel). They are small enough to go normal parcel postage so only took about a week to get here.

Cheers
KarlB
:)

[Leroy_Riding]

By older Land Rover standards. the Puma headlights are not too bad but the globe upgrade is a great improvement. Such an improvement that for touring I could do with out the 140s and have not really used them. To me a sensible rule when touring is minimise drive at night unless you really have to. As for fitting the 140s directly to the bumper you would have two issues. Firstly the clearance issue (all the significant dimensions are on the LightForce website) and the secondly their size in terms of sitting, at least partly, in front of the headlights. There is not a lot of room with the A-bar attaching to the bumper where it does.

You need to be mindful with the XGTs of impacting the airflow to the radiator because of their size, especially if you also have a winch doing the same thing. The A-bar acts a bit like a funnel I expect. This is why I opted for the smaller 140s.

The A-bar brackets are plastic and not flat. I am sure they would not be difficult to make a replacement but when I thought about the time involved the cost of getting from Mantec, It seemed the sensible way to go (the replacements are powder coated stainless steel). They are small enough to go normal parcel postage so only took about a week to get here.

Cheers
KarlB
:)

Thanks again Karl,

given me a bit to think about, I might go ahead and order a set of 140's and if i cant mount them under the headlights with there standard brackets, I ahve seen "slimline" brackets for the lance/striker/blitz spotties which should do the trick, once i get the car ill see how the cooling goes then ill try blocking off the front to the same extent the 240's and winch will and take it for a long drive to see the impact it has before deciding on a final solution, I would like to avoide running roof lights, but if i have to run the 240's on the roof so be it.

As far as avoiding night driving is converned, I find that i prefer to do most of my road travel at night and my offroad travel during the day, i know most people do-not like this idea, but just how I personaly like to travel.

Ill give the headlight globe replacement a go first off the bat though, is there any good reason why i could not upgrade theese to 100w units? or is the wiring seriously under rated for sutch current?

Cheers
Leroy

[chook73]

I do a lot of night driving, I upgraded the existing headlight loom and put in higher wattage low/high beam, a set of lightforce 240 hid and a 40" led light bar on the roof rack. Night driving is the best I have ever had especially on the long straight outback roads and it is great for nighttime off road and recovery but I turn the light bar off in rain and windy mountain roads as it is too much for the signs reflecting back.

I can see road markers and street signs at 7km and skippy at about 1km and about 150m on each side easily. Cost a bit but doesn't draw too much power and lights up like nothing else

I don't have photos on the iPad but I will drag a couple up tomorrow for you.

[pureredcordial]

I have the A frame factory bar and I have just bought a light bar mount that bolts behind your front number plate. It fits pretty neatly between the "A".

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/03/620.jpg

No lights fitted yet but I plan to use a pair of shallow Hella's I have lying around. Not sure there would be clearance for Lightforce.

cheers
Matt

[Leroy_Riding]

I do a lot of night driving, I upgraded the existing headlight loom and put in higher wattage low/high beam, a set of lightforce 240 hid and a 40" led light bar on the roof rack. Night driving is the best I have ever had especially on the long straight outback roads and it is great for nighttime off road and recovery but I turn the light bar off in rain and windy mountain roads as it is too much for the signs reflecting back.

I can see road markers and street signs at 7km and skippy at about 1km and about 150m on each side easily. Cost a bit but doesn't draw too much power and lights up like nothing else

I don't have photos on the iPad but I will drag a couple up tomorrow for you.

Hrm I could go LED. . . cost if rather large, but I guess its worth it, and nice and slim for mounting aswell, Ill have a look into theese further.

those photos would be great though ;)