Ditch Light Brackets - Fitment Issues

[ngfilla94]

FYI - any company that says the Tacoma brackets will fit the 4Runner is incorrect. My first order of brackets came form Cali Raised. They're selling them as interchangeable. I initially wanted to order from Diode Dynamics, but they said the brackets are not interchangeable (or at least theirs weren't) because the cowls are different. I thought Cali Raised maybe had a different design that might bypass the issue. They did not, and when I brought this up with them, they said the interference with the cowl is "unavoidable but shouldn't damage anything". There was a lot of downward pressure on the plastic and the metal tab on the fender below the cowl. I opted to return. I went with CBI. The drivers side initially made a lot of contact with the hood, enough that over time would wear through the paint and probably deform the aluminum. I was able to get around this with a washer on the rear mounting hole. There is very minimal clearance, but enough. The passenger side had very good clearance in that aspect, however it gets pretty close to contacting the fender when the hood is open - about 3/4" difference from the drivers side. They do not sit evenly with the hood closed (nitpicking, I know, and realistically doesn't matter since the lights get adjusted independently, just saying). I understand that vehicle to vehicle there will be minor differences, but this seems to be a manufacturing issue where the parts are not being bent symmetrically in the press brake. Anyone else experience this? I already waited 5 weeks for these so I'm going to end up running them, but just a little annoying to not have things fit as expected right out of the box.

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[Archer]

Seems that the part is not very interchangeable if the tolerances are that close. I don't know about your hood, but mine likes to do the boogie going down the road. I don't think I'd feel too confident that's not gonna make contact.

Out of square from factory in my experience is not all that uncommon. Worse one I found was a 99' Dodge that the roof was out of square by almost an inch from corner to corner.

 

[ngfilla94]

Seems that the part is not very interchangeable if the tolerances are that close. I don't know about your hood, but mine likes to do the boogie going down the road. I don't think I'd feel too confident that's not gonna make contact.

Out of square from factory in my experience is not all that uncommon. Worse one I found was a 99' Dodge that the roof was out of square by almost an inch from corner to corner.

These CBI brackets are 4Runner specific, so I guess I'm not sure if mine is that our of square or if it's an issue with the brackets.

 

[Icculus]

So haven't heard anything else on this but just an idea that popped in my head and thought I'd ask as I'm currently trying to decide which ditch brackets to go with. The pics look like they are taken with the hood up. Are you running Redline or similar hood struts? My understanding is the redline struts open the hood slightly more than the standard hood prop and I'm wondering if perhaps the cbi brackets were designed for the factory hood prop and the additional opening off the auto struts is causing the contact. Again, just speculation without full info; just curious if that could be the issue. Cheers

 

[ngfilla94]

So haven't heard anything else on this but just an idea that popped in my head and thought I'd ask as I'm currently trying to decide which ditch brackets to go with. The pics look like they are taken with the hood up. Are you running Redline or similar hood struts? My understanding is the redline struts open the hood slightly more than the standard hood prop and I'm wondering if perhaps the cbi brackets were designed for the factory hood prop and the additional opening off the auto struts is causing the contact. Again, just speculation without full info; just curious if that could be the issue. Cheers

No hood Struts. I do know Diode Dynamics is working on their updated brackets, and the lights mount "forward" over the hood, rather than over the cowl like the CBI. I will probably switch to those when they come out because I prefer that mounting orientation.

 

[EZink]

I don't know about your hood, but mine likes to do the boogie going down the road.

? same here

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