Driving lights behind grille on 97 Mountaineer? Useless?

[LBoy]

I've kind of been thinking of adding a pair of lights behind the grille on my Mountaineer. They would probably use 130 watt bulbs.
I've seen other people do the same.........and I am wondering how much it kills it? They will only be on with the high beams. I'll be using them as "deer dodgers".....haha.
Is it even worth it? I can imagine it would hamper the side projection quite a bit?

Thanks for any info you can give me.

 

[expo5.0]

i don't think it actually reduces the light output in any perceptable manner

 

[Bill Kemp]

I am not sure what is behind the grill on a 97 that can be used for mounting the lights. On my 96 Explr. the grill area had plastic that wouldnt support any lights heavier than a set of PIAA 1500s. You would have to make some brackets to support the lights, as I did on the 98 and may have to dremel (file down) the backs of some of the grill bars to make the lights fit. Even behind the grill PIAA 80s put out a hell of a lot of light.

 

[LBoy]

Cool,thanks for the replies. I haven't actually gotten down to exactly how I would mount them yet,but I know I can fab something up. Seems to be enough room in there on my 97 so that a pair of lights would fit.
I haven't even picked out a set yet.......
Once I found whether or not it was even worth it to bother with the idea,I would start digging into it deeper. Thanks for the good news.