My new extendable light pole and tyre spacer

[MalcomM Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MalcomM]

90 owners may be interested in the extending light pole & tyre spacer I've had made up for me.

I had this fabricated by Ferret Industries in WA as they already have the carrier bolt spacings from their own Prado light brackets.


Supplied with all the painted mounting hardware including padded washers.


Upright view to show the angle section that the pole locates against. Held in place with stainless hose clips.


Note the ground out areas to locate the hose clamps. Nice touch that


Mounted.
Note the turned up angle bit at bottom right. Thats to clear the door skin dish whilst maximising the pole clamping length.


more in part 2...

[MalcomM Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MalcomM]

More pics of it all mounted

After shortening the pole by 400mm, I cut the end off the rubber boot to allow any water to drain out.



Here it is attached to the bracket.
Bit of bicycle inner tube to help grip without collapsing the fiberglass tube.


Pics showing the clearances to the door skin and tyre


Looking down from the top of the tyre. Heaps of clearance.

[MalcomM Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MalcomM]

More pics-

Looking behind the wheel from the left hand side


its only 25mm square tube but massive clearance to the tyre without having to bend brackets to follow the door skin.
Looks like its touching the door skin but it isn't.


Lots of clearance between the door skin and the bracket


Here's what I did with the cabling. Just shut it in the door. Plenty of padding in the rubber but make sure there's a drip loop in the cable or the rain will run down the cable and into the car.


more to come

[MalcomM Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MalcomM]

Some details of the pole top

The pole


My light via Ebay


Heres the pole top fitting that the light screws onto. It unclips from the pole.


Drill a hole to take a 10mm thread. Hole appears offset but it was drilled up from the inside following the casting hole to give maximum thread capability.


Tapped a 10mm thread into the top of it and screwed on the light.
Used thread lock on the bolts so I can get a bit of pan and tilt action without it all coming undone.



more to come

[MalcomM Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MalcomM]

To shorten the pole, you have to get the boot off. Slide a screw driver between the boot + pole and squirt some liquid soap in.


Heres whats inside. This is a bump stop for when the pole is collapsed. You need to remove this, shorten the pole and stick it in again.


I shortened the boot to prevent it hitting the bottom of the door dish. This also lets out any water thats run down the pole



more to come

[MalcomM Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MalcomM]

Wiring

This is whats inside the door.
I opted to fit a 6.5mm headphone socket into the brake light fitting. The sockets permanently live at present and I just plug the light in when needed.
To get the door handle off, you remove the screws and slide to the left about 10mm.
The power feed is from my Aux battery and is run via the rubber gland into the door frame. Then follows the factory wiring path to the brake light assembly.





Here's what I did with the light cabling. It just hangs loose from the light and is just shut in the door. Plenty of padding in the rubber seal but make sure there's a drip loop in the cable



Done


The intention with this is to take the light off the pole when travelling. If you don't then I doubt the pole will survive very long as the light is fairly heavy and I think will eventually bash the pole to bits.
The pole is a painters extendible pole from Bunnings. Coast around $45 for a 1.2-2.4 meter model.
I also sprayed the plastic latch parts with Armour All to try and give some UV protection. No idea what quality the plastic is so this can only help.

[MalcomM Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MalcomM]

Anyone wanting one, here's the details.
This was made for me by Ferret Industries in WA
http://www.ferretdeflators.com

Cost me $85 plus $15 express post.
Rod knocked it up in a couple of days and I had it on the 90, in Sydney, two days later. Top service from a friendly and helpful guy. Can't say highly enough of Ferret.

Its a completely flat bracket. No bending for door cavities was required at all.
25mm hollow section with anti crush tubes welded into the bolt holes.
The angle is 25x25 also which is enough to hold the pole nicely.
My tyres are 275 BFG AT's and as you can see, there's a ton of room in there for bigger tyres.
The bracket came with all the high tensile bolts, flat and lock washers plus some fabric washers to protect the paint work.

Any Q's, just ask...

[MDST Member Find all posts View Profile Close MDST]

That's a good idea!!!!

I like the space now between the tire and the door.

Very usefull, movable light!

Cheers

[the ferret Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close the ferret]

How about a coily wire inside Malcom, you can get it at super cheap??
Then you can just plug it in below the towbar somewhere .
Cheers, the ferret.

[MalcomM Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MalcomM]

How about a coily wire inside Malcom, you can get it at super cheap??
Then you can just plug it in below the towbar somewhere .
Cheers, the ferret.

I looked at that idea but the inside diameter of the inner aluminium tube isn't that big and there are plastic 'end stop' pins protruding into the tube as well which would foul the coil.
Also, those coils do not have a very good current capacity and long lengths will result in some voltage drop, especially if you mount two lights on top.
Lastly , this would make removal of the light difficult as the wiring would now be captive in the tube which is now part of the car.
Providing a waterproof plug/socket at the top of the pole is more trouble than its worth for me.
I take my light off the pole when traveling.

cheers
Malcom