The BETTER Light Bar Bracket - 42" Lower Grille bracket development thread

Sometimes... Sometimes you begin to lose your mind in the pursuit of perfection. Last night we punched out versions 3 & 4 as testing was underway.

V2 to V3 Adjustments:

• Moving end "notch" from the bottom to the top to allow for vertical alignment and placement. In the end we took some material from both the top and bottom to allow those who want to move it around the latitude to do so.
• Further adjustment of back plate holes to allow for adjustment by end user.
• Angle change on interaction between backing plate and support arm. We were getting a small gap at the lower-most hole of the plate where it met the frame. When tightening that down it was applying downward pressure to the system and passing that onto the support arm. As a result this was pressing the light bar against the lower bumper. Seemed cool as it made it more sturdy when it was being pressed down by virtue of being pressed against the crash bar, but essentially eliminated the ability to make vertical adjustments.

V2 vs V3 side-by-side:



Showing interaction angle changes between V2 (front) and V3



Welded and smoothed out V3 (assuming we were closing in on final product)





THEN THERE WAS V4

As testing continued on V3 it became apparent that we still had not knocked out enough of the vibration for me to be happy with putting the Hotshot name on it. Was it secure? Yes. Did it perform MUCH better than the DD offering? Absolutely. However, I still wanted more. We know we are working with a relatively heavy bar with long distances between support arms whose job is to hold something with a lot of leverage acting against it. That doesn't mean we're going to give up!

We were left with a few options for how to address:

1. Re-Engineer into a 2-piece design
2. Add more material width between upper-most hole and gusset as that is where we were getting our deflection
3. Further reinforce backing plate

OPTION 3 IT IS!

We moved from the already thicker backing plate that we were using up to a 3/8" frame support plate to essentially confirm that we would have enough meat back there to offset the deflections that plague a system like this. The support arm's specs were not changed at all during this change.

Other changes to V4:

• Narrowed rear adjustment hole to just slightly larger than bolt diameter (no photos showing). We were going to go with a sleeved approach on the back screw, but were finding that it wasn't applying enough pressure to be a true "support" component which simply cannot be.

Testing last night finally yielded the result we wanted! Headed over to the powdercoat place here shortly to get final pricing on that, and then I will be able to make this go live! We'll still need to source hardware that are up to our standards, but the hard(est) part is over and we should be able to open pre-orders soon!

 

Proof of concept here will potentially make way for a shim with an incorporated light bar bracket. That’s a song for another day though.

The OEM studs are tacked in via a weld and I figure most folks would not be interested in knocking them out.

 

14mm wrench, probably a breaker bar (or 1/2” ratchet) with a 14mm socket, some zip ties, a trim removal tool (or a screwdriver will work but may mar the plastic) to get the grille mesh out, and an Allen wrench. Sizing on the wrench is still TBD as I secure and decide on hardware.

 

Thank you kindly! I should be able to have the listing up later today for those jonesin' to pre-order. Did some hard hammering on it in the wee hours this morning to really confirm to myself that this was the spec!

That sounds like a Jake project... Not one that I would prescribe to the masses

 

Brackets and kits are NOW AVAILABLE! Both are on sale from now until 12/2!

https://hotshotoffroad.com/collecti...r-bracket-kit-the-better-bracket-14-21-tundra

First run of them hot off the press before heading off to powdercoat!

 

Appreciate it guys!

Yessir that's correct. Since you already purchased a big light bar from us though I can do you a little better than the $120 as a thank you for purchasing previously. I saw your order come in so I'll square you up

 

No problem at all. I'm excited to get these into folks' hands, and everyone's support is much appreciated!

 

Truly appreciate the support everyone! Can't wait to get them out to everyone!

Got it and updated!

 

Just dropped off the first official batch at the powdercoater! Should have them in just a couple of weeks! That'll give me a little bit of time to clean up the rubble from Black Friday festivities and source some suitable hardware.

For anyone else who may be lurking these will be on sale for just a few more days!

 

These will not. Depending on the uptake/feedback of this 42" variant we may look into developing a 30" version though.

 

BF Promo rates on the bracket are only applicable when bundled with a light bar, unfortunately. Thanks for the order though! We should be getting these out soon.

 

Brackets are back from powdercoating WAY SOONER than we expected! We've started to get ourselves dug out of the Black Friday fulfillment hole so we're back onto R&D projects. We'll spend tomorrow getting the final hardware situation figured out, and then work out sourcing if time permits. Hoping that we can get these orders started to ship late next week which is a week ahead of schedule!

If you want to jump on these kits we are discounting BOTH the DD light bars AND the brackets through tomorrow (12/2) when purchased as a kit.
BRACKET KITS LINK

 

UPDATE 12/14 -

First couple of production-spec test units out in the world! One of which was our own @TRDFerguson. He brought about a concern with a piece of the hardware which is what is our current shipping hang-up, but fortunately they were small issues that are easily remedied.

I have a couple of orders in to McMaster-Carr, and everything needed shows in stock on their end. I am anticipating that we should have no trouble shipping kits next week!