Through-Roof Spotlight

[Treads]

As some of you may be aware I do a bit of feral animal termination by means of high-velocity lead injection :angel: , and after getting well and truly sick of using a handheld LF 170 Striker spotty out the window of our Defender 110 wagon, I have invested in a 240 Blitz mounted on a Lightforce suction bar:
http://www.elks.com.au/accessories/lights/Suction%20Bar.jpg

only to find that the roof must flex or vibrate or something, leading to the suction mounts coming off all the time. It is truly :censored: me off, so now I am thinking of putting the handle directly through the roof for a permanent installation, eg:
http://www.rooshooter.com.au/Photos/images/spotlight%20handle_jpg.jpg
(But neater, it amazes me how people can cut a hole in their roof; but not run the wiring under the lining! :p )

For normal everyday driving the handle and light would be removed from the mounting plate, and a plug fitted to stop rain coming in.

The issue I have is that I'm not sure if the lightweight roof construction on a Defender would lead to vibration of the spotlight during use? Anyone here have a similar setup?

[waynep]

Yeeeee harrrrr you good ol' boys will look just the picture with one of those on the roof .......

now all you need's some banjo music ;)

[Treads]

Ahh, 'know-it-all' city folk, gotta love 'em....

If you'd actually read my post instead of making stereotypical, anti-everything comments you would have seen this:

For normal everyday driving the handle and light would be removed from the mounting plate, and a plug fitted to stop rain coming in.So what's your major gripe? The spotlight? My right to own a firearm? or the fact that I kill cute little furry things?

[austastar]

If you can get hold of some old computer hard drives (local repair should give them to you), demolish them gently and extract the magnets that control the little arm.
They are incredibly strong.
You should be able to make up a base of 13mm or thicker ply wood or similar, maybe laminex or similar on the top for the suction caps.
Araldite 3 magnets underneath to grip the roof, maybe use some furniture felt pads to protect the roof surface from the magnets.
cheers

[roverrescue]

Treads,
I accidently parked a 500kg steel portal on my defender roof... caved in the front section. smashed the frame surround and glass obviously.

Anyway point is in the rebuilding process all I did was get a new window frame, and then pushed and beat the rood back up to shape.

Once you pull away the roof lining you will reveal all! I would be building out of Al plate a frame that bolts to two of the 6 top bolts between turret and window frame. The frame is amazingly rigid (cast Al) and a frame of that will be solid. Then just punch a hole in the thin roof and Silastik is your friend.

Interestingly, despite my caved in roof look, the fender cab is now more watertight than before as I silastiked all around the frame, door seals etc etc.

Anyways, once you drop the front section of lining you will find lots of places to make a sturdy attachment point.

Steve

[abaddonxi]

I have an almost exact match to the second picture mounted in the roof of my 130. I've never used it except to bump my head on, but just on the general grab-and-wiggle test I'd be looking at putting in something stiff under the headlining to stop the roof wobble if you want it to be still and drive at the same time.

[isuzurover]

Do you have a ute or wagon???

The wagon roof in the county has 3 strong ribs on the top. On the defender they removed two ribs and put the third in the middle of the underside.

If you can install it so that it passes through the rib it may be OK. However a better idea may be to get an AL plate and get it tig welded (or riveted) to the underneath of the roof, to strengthen it.

I was shocked when I owned a 110 (roof) how weak they were - you slam the back door and the roof wobbles.

[tazd]

I will be interested to see what you do as im looking at doing the same. i have built a roof center console that have the cdplayer and uhf in it and that sits against the roof and has stiffened it up alot ( before if i had both windows open the roof would vibrate so much it was deafening)

[87County]

..................Araldite 3 magnets underneath to grip the roof, maybe use some furniture felt pads to protect the roof surface from the magnets.
cheers

:D must be good magnets to grip aluminium..........

[Blknight.aus]

if thats all your using it for why not get a pair of the cheap gutter clamps from supercheap and a length of unistrut to remake the mount from and leave the poor roof without extra holes.

[Bigbjorn]

Have a look at UNITY HAS THE RIGHT LIGHT (http://www.unityusa.com)

Their current product line is HID, but if you search the site you can find QH or sealed beam lamps.

[Shonky]

if thats all your using it for why not get a pair of the cheap gutter clamps from supercheap and a length of unistrut to remake the mount from and leave the poor roof without extra holes.

Thats what I was thinking... Why not gutter clamp it?

[waynep]

Ahh, 'know-it-all' city folk, gotta love 'em....

If you'd actually read my post instead of making stereotypical, anti-everything comments you would have seen this:
So what's your major gripe? The spotlight? My right to own a firearm? or the fact that I kill cute little furry things?

twas merely an attempt at humour ....obviously misplaced in this case, so apologies.

I have no gripes -against your accessories, guns, or your pastime ...I have lived in the country more of my life than the city, owned firearms and hunted ( larger furry animals ). Not now, I have no need for one, as I prefer to pursue other activities on my trips to the bush.

[Treads]

twas merely an attempt at humour ....obviously misplaced in this case, so apologies.

I have no gripes -against your accessories, guns, or your pastime ...I have lived in the country more of my life than the city, owned firearms and hunted ( larger furry animals ) myself in the past. Not now, because I have no need for one, and I prefer to pursue more productive activities on my frequent trips to the bush.

Apology accepted :)

As you can probably imagine, anything to do with guns, hunting etc these days is getting harder and harder to justify to anyone who doesn't live in the bush. Thus when someone makes comments such as yours, I generally miss the humour and get my back up ;)

There seems to be alot of people in this world that are so far removed from reality that they honestly must think that their meat comes from the supermarket; where no animals get hurt :angel: :D

I choose to be actively involved in my own environment/food gathering; thus I hunt for conservation (foxes, rabbits, cats, dogs, pigs, horses) and for food (deer and goats).

[waynep]

Agreed ... we maintain a lot of the huts down here that hunters/fishermen use, so we meet guite a few. Most of them are great people.

Oh, and BTW Armidale is a city too ...
"Resting high on the Northern Tablelands, it is the most cosmopolitan NSW city outside Sydney catering for harmonious living for 25,000 citizens from 53 different nationalities"

[Treads]

It's only a city because it has cathedrals, our population is about 20,000. The other 5k is made up of the transient university types that are only here for 6 months of the year :p

[Tote]

My brother in law has one mounted in the roof of his new dual cab hilux. The roof flexes quite a bit but it dosent affect the use of the light.
Regards,
Tote

[Bigbjorn]

Have a look at UNITY HAS THE RIGHT LIGHT (http://www.unityusa.com)

Their current product line is HID, but if you search the site you can find QH or sealed beam lamps.

Also have a look at Grote The First Name In Vehicle Safety Systems (http://www.grote.com)

[malleefowl]

Used to have on on the 2a diesal ute.Lights were not flash and was great when negotiating river tracks at night.Mine is a Lightforce unit and still have it if you are interested.when in the bush it became my driving light.A really good set up in a series landy!
Cheers,
Mary