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Any body have a off road led light bar on there Dakota? 97-04

7.9K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  ZMAN24250  
#1 · (Edited)
I would like to put a led bar on my truck, but I still haven't seen any Dakotas what so ever with a led light bar. Seen plenty of rangers with them.
 
#2 ·
I have a 21" light bar from superbrightleds (gift from my dad 2 years ago) its 54 watt 4k lumens. Its mounted where the three uprights are in the lower bumper. Also have led headlight conversion from superbrightleds, i finally got factory fogs with regular bulbs (50 watt replacements) just for weather conditions plus imo the Dakotas and Durangos look better with fogs. I am planning on putting 2 Rigid Industries Dually D2 driving patter cubes on my brush guard. Where i am in SC there is a Dakota (dont know if they are a member on here but its a quad cab slight lift 4x4 blacked out) in Taylor/Greer area that has Led cubes in the factory fog light spot and a bar where mine is, seen the truck when i was leaving the LKQ in Greer. After the Rigid lights i would like to get a bar across the windshield, but that's a while off need more $$$. Ive seen some others on Instagram that have light bars on them, DakotaNation posts pics of other peoples Dakotas, awesome page and has given me ideas for my truck in the future.
 
#4 ·
I've not had any problems with my led headlights. Only major difference is high beams aren't as good. But 99% of the time I have my led bar on also, I've ran my bar and headlights past highway patrols and sheriff's. So far no one has said a word to me. I did re-aim my headlights after I installed the led for two reasons 1 the drivers side was way off( aimed way to close) and 2 I knew the led were going to project a different pattern. But overall the nice part is a white light vs a dull light( and I know some of us have faded headlights mine aren't to bad yet). I can't say for anyone who has aftermarket projectors or any other type of headlight but the stock ones are fine. The headlights pull very little power, the 21" bar only pulls 5 amps if I'm not mistaken. But each to there own I say, that_guy has a point on the glare, mine has some but no where hear as bad as some of the hids in my area that are highway patrol blue and aren't aim properly. Annoys the (insert word) out of me.
 
#5 ·
The leds are considerably dimmer than the hids, so that's the reason for there being less glare. The fundamental flaw with plug n play hids and leds is that neither the arc from an hid bulb nor the emitter of the led can replicate the position and size of a halogen filament. You can read more about that on Daniel Stern's (renowned automotive lighting engineer) website: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html.

So from an engineer's perspective they're a bad idea. I'm surprised that you can see better with them, but that might just be a byproduct of more light being up close in the foreground. The effect of that is that you see brighter light up close, but that causes your pupils to constrict which kills your distance vision.

Obviously I think these drop in "bulbs" are dangerous and a bad idea, but I've given you the information and you can make an informed decision on your own.
 
#6 ·
I just prefer the whiter light vs the yellow ish light, I'll compare when I park next toy cousins quad cab later this month to see. The article is very good, I have it book marked for future use.
 
#8 ·
I've seen a bunch of them on instagram that have light mounted there, some show there brackets.