LED light bars install (planning stages)

[Fallon]

Got the 43 & 52" light bars in. Hooked my variable power supply in & fired the 52" up on the kitchen table. Unsurprisingly it isn't pulling 300 watts. It was pretty bright inside, but not blinding. We'll have to see how it does mounted. Power draw was a little odd as I fiddled with the voltage. As voltage went up, amps would fluctuate up & down. 144 watts at 12v, 166 watts at 13.5. Amps finally started dropping as expected a little higher, 161 watts & only 10.2 amps at 15.8v.



I took the 43" up to the shop & set it on the roof in front to see how it looked & liked it. Definitely glad I got the curved ones, think they will fit the best, not to mention give a wider pool of light. It was -7 outside (inside my shop too for that matter).



Just need to get some decent weather to build up the bracketry. Unfortunately when I went to build a test plug & terminate the wires on the bars & found my the crimper that came with my Deutsch DTP connectors isn't big enough for those pins. I do also have a stash of Deutsch DT connectors I might just build things with. DT is rated to 13@, DTP is rated to 25@. With the actual amperage draw half what it's claimed the smaller plugs should actually work. Amphenol-Deutsch vs weatherpack plugs when wiring up a truck - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum is a great post on connectors if you are interested in nerding out on things like that like I do.

 

[Kubota Tee]

I recently replaced the stock cab lights on my slightly used L5740. For the rear lights, I was able to reuse the factory brackets with a slightly modification, but for the front lights, I had to fabricate a new bracket (used aluminum) to fit the LED's. I also replaced the factory lollipop lights with LED versions. Here are some pics.

 

[dragoneggs]

Looking good Thomas!

 

[Fallon]

No sign of my fuse/relay box & relays yet, but my brackets are finished except for the painting.

The rear hazard light arms just needed to be rotated in a bit. They flexed a bit so I welded a brace underneath. The hazard lights were in the way, so I'm going to flip them upside down & use the stem to mount the light bar to the bracket. They are hollow so I pumped some silicon in there to keep water out.

Welded up a couple pieces of angle iron & a little bar stock for the front. Mounts to the mirrors nicely. I was going to try & tie in to the original light brackets for more support, but it was rock solid off just the mirror. Added another hole on the right bracket as the one on the mirror was the antenna mount. Very minimal vision blockage from the seat. Almost none when leaning against the back rest. At least half an inch gap between the heatsink fins & the roof so it shouldn't interfere with the cooling.

Back brackets were actually painted black, not dark Kubota grey. Matches the black plastic air vents & stuff i guess. They just need 1 more coat of black on the back brackets. Need to prime & paint the front. Going with dark Kubota grey there to match the mirror brackets. Hopefully it gets above 50 in the next few days so I can finish painting & assemble everything.

 

[LRover]

I like how you were able to use the existing mirror brackets and how the curve of the light follows the curve of the cab. Nice job!

 

[Fallon]

Ya, me too. The roof of the cab is surprisingly curved so it fits well. I was planning on curved even if the cab was straight though, for better light spread on the sides.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Put your primary circuit protection (80A) as close to the source as possible. I would even consider a fusible link for that.

I wouldn't. I would never use a fusible link if I could help it. Too much of a pain to replace if it blows. Why build in more work? I'd use a Maxi-Fuse and have a spare or two on hand.

With a fuse you have a known amperage rating. You can choose to oversize your wire run if you wish, and still have the correct amperage rating for your circuit.

Not so with fusible link.

They are a relic of the dark ages. Manufacturers use them because they are cheaper than fuses, but that's their only advantage.

 

[Fallon]

Well all the brackets are done. Annoyed the wife painting them in the garage yesterday so it would be above 50 degrees when I was painting them rather than in my 30-40 degree unheated shop.

Ran into a catastrophic issue the other day when I found the fuse box & stuff still in my Amazon save for later list rather than purchased & shipped like I thought. Hopefully that will show up soon. Pretty much on hold until then.

Anybody know how to pull the roof on a L4060? The workshop manual goes into great detail like "7. Remove the outer roof (13) of cabin". Need to figure out how many bolts I need to pull & where they are all hiding. I hear it was a 10 minute job on a Lxx40. I left the original front light brackets in for now as they weren't in the way & you can't remove the bolts without removing the roof (you can't even get a box end or adjustable wrench on them because of the roof, has to be a skinny open end wrench). So the brackets keep those bolts from rattling around. May or may not pull them when I pull the roof.

Like the way things came out on the brackets. The black on the rear brackets is to shiny though. Might respray them Kubota dark grey like the fronts. Or more like I'll just leave them that way for years & be slightly grumpy about it.

Front


Rear


Just the wiring left to do at this point.

 

[Juiced06GTO]

Nice set up. I am also awaiting my amazon shipment of switches/fuses/relays so I can finish fabbing up my mount and LED's for my new B2601. I am putting in a weatherproof fuse block under the hood mounted on the firewall with fuse and relay outputs for future accessories although there isnt much we can run off the 40A alternator.

 

[wmonroe]

Looks very good. What about mounting up a couple small led's that point out almost to the sides that would use the original factory wiring and switch, some small cubes maybe. Can't ever have too much light, and the wiring is already there.