Let there be light - L4060 light bars & nice auxiliary fuse box

[FatTire]

People do steal diesel. One of our friends realized some hwy diesel had been taken from their farm tank, so he put a padlock on. It seemed pretty brazen to me, driving into someone's farm and filling up, but I guess they have enough vehicles coming in and out that neighbors wouldn't realize. Soon after that his padlock was cut, so he put up a video security camera. That stopped it. I keep ours locked, not that the lock will stop anyone, but a cut lock would let me know if someone was stealing. I got 150 gallons delivered in the fall, and there was about 75 in there, so that should last me through the summer. Having bulk storage is unbelievably great, isn't it?

Looks like you have a nice place, and lucky to be able to borrow a backhoe. I can just see the other driveway fork under the backhoe. Didn't mean to pry into your business, but usually when there is a fresh pile of dirt there is an interesting project. I have the BH92 and have used it quite a bit. It is not the most cost-effective tool that I own, that's for sure, but it will eventually break even.

 

[Fallon]

Thought about a hoe, but don't have enough projects to justify one. My commercial insurance doesn't cover digging. Much more expensive for insurance that covers digging & I'm not ready to go down that path.

 

[myyaz33]

I just put 7 different Senlips LED light bars/pod on my Mule Pro FXT including the exact 52" curved one you did. I cannot believe how much light they put out. Saw some people had moisture problems with the lenses, so I went ahead and ran a bead of clear silicone caulk around the edge of the lenses. The 52" one seemed better quality than the smaller ones and didnt look it needed it, but I caulked all of them anyway. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Fallon]

I misordered an extra... think it's the 43". At $50ish it wasn't worth sending it back. Figured I'll find another use for it or keep it as a spare.

Saw some of the fogging issues as well. Thought about caulking it, but generally caulk or sealant around the outside of a joint is a poor bandaid at best. To get a good seal, you need to pull it apart & get a good gasket or sealant directly on the mating surfaces.

That and with the lights being the cheap part of the install. Not to mention only taking 2 bolts & a plug to replace. Also having 1 spare already my inner lazy didn't want to bother with the caulking.

 

[Hyrb]

Thanks for the detailed build instructions!

 

[Fallon]

Minor updates:

One of the OEM hazard light brackets broke. Given the amount of vibration, it's not that suprising. I'll weld that bracket back together here shortly. Step 2 is running another bracket from the end of my bracket extension down to lower on the cab. That should properly support things this time. Have the start of the brackets made. Just need to trim the square stock that will connect the 2 ends & weld everything up.

Front bracket is rock solid & has no vibration issues.

Also running the lights kind of kills the radio. They have noisy power supplies that kill reception.

 

[Fallon]

Here is the busted bracket. It fractured where the factory bracing stopped. Not really surprising really as that bar vibrated a fair bit when moving, maybe as much as 1/4 to 1/2" or so.


I had to pull the roof off to get my tig torch in there, but I got it welded back together, than put another chunk of steel ontop to splint it even more.


Then I sandblasted my origional brackets & fabbed up some braces. Some small square tube that goes to just a steel tab down at the bottom. Lots of grinding & tweaking to make sure it didn't hit either window when they were open or closed. Not much clearance, but I didn't need massive amount of strength. The brackets are all welded together, but I used 2 bolts to hold the bottom to the tractor so I can easily remove everything. I could probably hang on the light bar & it wouldn't budge now. Still looks a little funky without the roof on.


I spent this evening adding some ferrite beads to the wires. When I turned on the light bars, my radio reception went to ****. The rear 52" is now behaving nicely & has little to no impact to the radio, but the front 43" light bar makes the radio barely intelligible with static whenever you turn it on, even after the ferrite beads. Both bars are nice & bright, but I wouldn't recommend the 43" one I got if you care about your radio working, otherwise both are fine.