LED light bar on XR4046HC

[AaronS]

The bulb in my right front cab light broke, so I decided it was a good enough excuse to replace the yellowish dim stock lights with one of those LED light bars I've been reading about here on the forum. I found a 22 inch 120W bar on ebay for $96 (shipped from Denver, CO so I had it in a few days). I remembered a post by George2615 saying the brackets that hold the stock lights being somewhat flimsy, and I found that to be very true. The LED light bar weighs a lot more than the stock lights, and it was a lot of weight hanging there bouncing around. It appears the brackets are only secured to the fiberglass cab top, so much bouncing would most likely result in broken fiberglass. I think I remember George saying he relocated the mount to the mirror mount. I went a different route. I spent a lot of time trying to decide how to mount the bar because of clearance issues with the cab top. I had some scrap 1.25 inch by 1/8 inch flat bar laying around, so I cut it to length, drilled the appropriate holes, and bolted it to the existing light brackets. I then used some smaller scrap I had and bent/twisted it to fit to use as braces. I used self-tapping screws to attach the bottom of these braces to the cab frame. For wiring, I just clipped the wires running to the right stock light and used them to wire up the light bar. So far so good!

Side of light bar, flat stock and brace attached to cab frame.


Side view showing bend and twist of brace, and clearance of light bar.


Front view.

 

[AaronS]

Rear cab lights (what the front used to look like).


Front view now. Much brighter and whiter light makes night-work so much nicer.

 

[George2615]

I hope you were careful drilling into the cab frame for your light bar mount. There are hoses running up through those posts (heating and A/C). I didn't want to chance drilling through a hose which is why I drilled and bolted my light bar to the mirror brackets. Also keep an eye on the original light wiring. I thought it was pretty thin gauge to carry very many amps. I haven't ordered my front light bar yet but did install wiring for it in the cab roof when I installed the rear light bar.

 

[AaronS]

I didn't think about hoses but did expect there was wiring inside, so I was very careful to not go in farther than necessary with the drill bit and to use as short as possible self tapping screws. I used it for a while afterward to move firewood and the cab was nice and toasty. I had the same concerns about the small gauge stock wiring also but had no problems while running for an hour last night.

 

[All In A Days Work]

Looks like a very worth while addition! Nice Job.

 

[abatis]

Looks great. I did notice the driver side front cab frame is hot so careful is good. I plan to make a similar mod, thanks.

 

[gphil12873]

Yea I really like that. Can never have to much Light. I want to do this around spring time. Speaking of hoses, Does anyone know it there is a cut off valve or diverter for the heat. Just asking because my dads john Deere has a valve that can be turned in the summer so the hot water never goes up in the cab. Really helps the A/C is what the dealer told him. Only way he found out is he didnt have heat in the winter. Told him you have to turn the valve.