Westin Safari Light Bar Install Issue/Problem

Hello all,

I recently purchased the Westin Safari Bar and mounting kit and am having some issues with the install.

Westin Safari Light Bar: 30-0005
Westin Mount Kit: 30-1145



Westin says that the 30-1145 kit fits years 2001-05 FORD EXPLORER SPORT TRAC 4DR 2/4WD.

http://www.westinautomotive.com/Main/applications/chart-sl_apps.html

Install Instructions:
http://www.westinautomotive.com/pages/Installation Sheets/75-0259.pdf

After mocking up the driver and passenger brackets the bar does not line up quite right with brackets.





Passenger Side Mounting Bracket



Driver Side Mounting Bracket




Offset Mounting Brackets and Safari Light Bar




I know that Flounder has installed this Light Bar on his Sport Trac, but I didn't know if anyone had any recommendations for me, anyone else have issues installing the Safari Light Bar on a Sport Trac or Explorer?

The brackets are 29 1/2" from the center of each hole whereas the Safari Light Bar is 32 1/2" from the center of each nut.

The mounts flex a little bit, but there is no way I'm bending the steel. There is a little room to pull out the flanges on the top of the brackets to extend the holes further apart, but I don't want to compromise the integrity of the mount by recessing flanges from the bolt.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Derek

Note the brackets are slotted. Slide them both out a bit until the correct width is achieved. It looks like you could pick up about 2" until they are close to the edge. I know the brackets are slightly "pre-bent" but this will work out fine, especially when you torque down the brackets.

I'll post some shots in a moment.

Attached. The winter salt has not been kind to my undercarriage.

Thanks Flounder, that's kind of what my question was. I didn't know if recessing the slotted brackets would weaken the mount of the light bar.

But I guess it's just holding up a couple of lights, so maybe some bigger washers would bite down better on the edge of the tow hook plates.

I'll mess around with it today and hopefully post some pics with the bar mounted!

Thanks dude!

So after some battling I got the Westin Safari Light Bar installed!

Flounder, thanks so much for your help, very informative on the washer balancing for the proper level.

I'm not totally satisfied with the Westin design on this product. The Safari Light bar itself is awesome, I just wish they had engineered the brackets a little better for the Sport Trac. The main issue I have are the flanges that attach to the tow hook frame plates. As Flounder stated above, the flanges are slotted, which is good, and allow for adjustment, but on my Sport Trac I had to slide them so far out it wasn't a very "comfortable" install. To work around this I got a couple of 1/2" cutwashers to get the bolt to bite down on a little more surface area of the flange. Even at the furthest possible position I still had to get under the truck and flex the brackets with my foot while a buddy lined it up and started the threads on the light bar. Have to hand it to Westin, the brackets are pretty heavy duty stamped steel, bending those is no easy task, will probably be an event in the next strong man competition, right after the tire flipping and pulling a tractor trailer with a chain.

Passenger side final bracket location:



Driver side final bracket location:



When the brackets are supposed to fit your truck specifically, I was hoping everything would just bolt right up. If the top plate (notched) of the brackets was 2-3" longer it would be perfect.

As Flounder pointed out to me, the Sport Trac tow hook plates are not mounted evenly on the frame either, so to adjust that I put 10 1/2" cutwashers on the drivers side when bolting up the light bar, this evens out the bar to 2 1/2" to the bumper (from the crossbar) on both driver and passenger side.

Also, there was no air dam trimming required as well as no license plate relocation or modification.

The bar is mounted though, and on there sturdy.

Looks good man.

I agree as to the fit of the bar. Westin likely uses the brackets on, e.g., a Chevy S-10 and merely figured the slots would be good enough.