So, to answer anybody's question right off, yes, I did do a search. Both here and Google. I cannot find what I am looking for.

I have a 2022 F350 Platinum dually. It has the front sensors and the adaptive cruise control.

I would like to find a light bar that either fits in the area where the license plate mount is or somewhere else, WITHOUT drilling. I suspect that something exists, I just can't find it. I don't have a specfic preference on the size, but am not too keen about replacing the grill to get them in there.

Does anybody know of a manufacturer that might fit this need? I suspect the easiest and most convenient is where the front license plate goes, but that means I will need to relocate it to one side or another, possibly blocking a sensor? In Texas, we are "supposed" to have both, but I drove my AM Vantage for four years without one! So, maybe that is the best answer. I would even go for a roof mount, if they had something that would mount where the current clearance lamps are. Not sure if that is strong enough or not.

Any and all thoughts appreciated.

Scott

 

My truck is a 2022 F250 STX 7.3, with none of the adaptive cruise control sensors or cameras. I’m a cheapskate so I went with this 20” light bar from Amazon wired to 2 separate upfitters through a diode, with 1 of the upfitters also triggered by a relay from the high beam switch.

The light bar mounted in the front license plate/winch mounting area with no drilling as long as you hang the light from the top as opposed to putting the mounting brackets on the bottom of the light bar. Pop out 2 trim plugs from the top of that area to run the mounting bolts through. No grille or trim removal needed but I had to squeeze my hands in from underneath the truck to mount it and a flex head ratchet helped.

It’s worked perfectly and I’ve had no issues in about 6 months since I installed it. My state also doesn’t require a front license plate so not an issue for me but I believe I’ve seen license plate relocation brackets.

 

Looks like this would be a solution for the license plate relocation. The description says it works with adaptive cruise control as long as you mount it on the passenger side:

https://swarfworks.com/f250-f350-and...ation-bracket/

 

Both of those look like they would be perfect solutions. The license bracket looks very similar to what I put on my wife's M4. It goes where the tow hook goes, so it is out of the way and she didn't want any drilling in the front of her car either. It's a shame that the license bracket is about $100. I too am a cheapskate (although you wouldn't know it by the truck!). I was looking on Amazon, but couldn't find anything similar that didn't require drilling or blocked one or more sensors. Nice thing about Amazon is the return policy. I may go with the Swarfworks one, but I'm going to keep looking today. Thanks for the suggestions.

Scott

 

I was just looking for something like that, I have a ‘19 and it should fit very well. Can you be more specific about the connection you made?

 

It's easy to put lights where your license plate is, if your state doesn't harass you for not having a plate.

I get a piece of card board and cut it to fit the area and hold it up and trace the empty bolt holes in the bumper mount area. I figure if I can get 2-4 bolts into the existing holes they will hold what I'm installing
I then cut a piece of 14 or 16 gauge metal to match my card board layout. This piece of metal can actually slide behind the radar unit for the adaptive cruise, if it needs to to reach bolt holes.
I then screw my lights to the sheet of metal.
Of course paint everything to prevent rust and you are good to go.

 

I have a 10” Rigid E series Pro on mine with a custom mount I made so I can fit it in there with the adaptive cruise module.

 

I’m definitely no electrician but I have the light bar wired to upfitters 3 and 5, with 5 set to always hot so I can use it as a work light with the truck off.

Upfitter 5 wire goes to 1 of the diode inputs. Upfitter 3 wire goes to the power in on a relay. Trigger wire for the relay is tapped from the high beam wire going into the headlight bulb housing (I have halogen headlights, not sure if this works with LEDs.) Power out from the relay goes out to the other diode input. Diode output then goes to the hot wire for the light bar. Light bar and relay are then grounded to a chassis ground.

Doing this gives me the light bar as an aux high beam light (but only if upfitter 3 is switched on), or as a front work light that I can use with upfitter 5 regardless of whether the ignition is on.

If you do a similar setup make sure your diode is rated for enough current. I think I used Hy-Power brand diodes that were around $10-12 each but could handle a lot more amps than the light bar was pulling measured with a clamp meter.

I also have basically the same setup wired to 2x 6” LED bars in the back that I can use as additional reverse lights relayed to the reverse lights on upfitter 4, or as always-hot rear work lights on upfitter 6.

 

Great, thanks, that’s exactly what I needed to start planning…

 

Baja designs has several options for bumper mounted lights. Fogs, a 7 light set up, a license plate bracket you can mount to. I'm sure other stuff. Best lights I've found.

 

All Diode Dynamics

 

Couldn’t you put the lights in that part of the bumper opening

get the f450 front plate bracket

then have both the light you want and not worry about removing the plate?

 

do you have picture and/or measures of this bracket trying to do the exact same thing and don’t want to buy a 300 dollar mount…