Auxiliary Lights Behind Grille?

CuttersAndRakers

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Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to get some insight from this great forum. I'm looking to add driving lights to my 2020 Tacoma and have settled (I think) on either the Hella 700ff or 4000s. Use would be dark roads at night, primarily to avoid animal collisions.

The grille on the truck looks like this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0869K37VZ/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Though not with the led markers on top, just the stock grille. Some large openings but also enough material to cast shadows when I mocked up a 700ff behind the grille I've done some searching on these forums and some tacoma specific forums. Would it be rediculus to mount up these lights behind the grille? That is, would I be waisting good lights just to have part of them blocked? Alternatively I could devise a was to mount them out front but that doesn't seem to be a popular option in the tacoma world, which seems to favor led bars. I'm hesitant to add more length to the already long front by puting the lights outboard.

Thanks for the insight.
 

Alaric Darconville

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Hi everyone
:welcome:
Would it be rediculus to mount up these lights behind the grille? That is, would I be waisting good lights just to have part of them blocked?
They would be rendered ineffective if mounted behind the grille.

This in the driving beam pattern would work well. Yes, it's a light bar, but a small and lightweight one. More details are at MyHellaLights. Note there are other options for it but for an auxiliary high beam, pick the "driving beam pattern".
 
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shumanchu

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Perhaps you could purchase the TRD Pro grille, cut out the TOYOTA lettering and mount the light bar that Alaric recommended in the new open space. See this product (warning: cheap garbage product, use only for reference) for an idea of what TRD Pro grille looks like with no TOYOTA lettering. I don't know if its the right width though, hard to get measurements.
 

Alaric Darconville

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I don't know if its the right width though, hard to get measurements.

The Hella light bar product is 16" wide, so maybe it could be mounted slightly in front and centered within that opening. That would limit the forward protrusion (or you could widen the 'slot' somewhat carefully, but if you're doing that on an expensive grille it may be better to try to do some sort of pass-through bracket so long as you could maintain a rigid mount to preserve the aim. They say it weighs 2lbs so it doesn't take a lot to keep it stable if it's mounted to something rigid.
 
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Sasquatchian

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What you do to make that work is take the appropriate sized hole saw and cut holes in that plastic grill exactly where your lights are going to me mounted. It'll both look great and be fully functional, plus there's a boatload of room right behind the grill - at least a foot on mine. You will have to fabricate suitable mounting attachment points but that's not too hard with some steel and a torch. This is the route I was going to take on my Tacoma but after upgrading to the 2020 LED headlamp units for about fifteen hundred clams, there didn't seem to be much need.
 

CuttersAndRakers

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Thanks everyone for the replies. I asked the same question on a Tacoma forum and was able to find a few folks who had mounted round halogen lights out front. Looks pretty good, and I think I might go that route.

Any insight on the Hella 700ff vs the 4000? I'd probably up the wire gauge on the 700s and run 100w bulbs in them. I'm leaning towards the 700s just because they are out front and I've dealt with enough rocks to the windshield that I know I'll eventually have to replace them. Are the 4000s that much better or would I primarily be paying for the metal housing?
 

aginthelaw

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I entered my buick centurion in the four-ball rally back in the 80's and we mounted our auxiliary lights behind the grill. First time we turned them on, no more grill. Those things burn the hair off your arms from 20 feet away. Gooood times
 
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