Ditch lights and stealth light bar review

Wanted to share my thoughts on some ditch lights and a light bar I got on my truck in the last week. For reference I have a 2022 Tundra Platinum, iForceMax (hybrid), 6.5 bed with the TRD 3 inch lift and 285/65/R20 Falken Wildpeaks. These lights are from Diode Dynamics purchased through another vendor. Immediately after this post, I will post up some pictures as well for reference.

Ditch Lights - DD
These are fantastic. I purchased the SS3 Pro ditch lights and have been very pleased with them. They are high quality and have excellent output. I purchased with the brackets and have them mounted on either side of my hood near the A-pillars. With the pro version, they have a nice amber backlight which I use at night and really love the look. The wiring harness provided was great and simple to hook up. I have the hybrid version, and used the positive power terminal in the fusebox under the hood for power to the lights, and a factory ground right outside the box. I used the provided switch and mounted right next to the button cluster to the left of the steering wheel.

You can aim and point the light in virtually any direction - lots of adjustability with these both horizontally and vertically. I have the combo so both spot and flood. As mentioned above, the light output is really great. I was impressed. As you will see from the pictures below, I have them aimed more as driving lights rather than off to the side in a true ditch light fashion. More on that reasoning in a minute...

Stealth Lightbar - DD
I wish I had a positive review on this product. However, I have been more than disappointed with it. The bracket which holds the lightbar behind the bumper puts the lightbar at a terrible angle. With it all mounted up, it holds the lightbar about 1/2 inch too high and it makes contact on the top with the bumper which forces the lightbar to be pointed downward. I tried to move the lightbar back as the bracket does have a slider hole vs a single hole for mounting flexibility. However, moving the lightbar back just causes it to not fit in the hole properly and is partially covered by the bumper. Hopefully the pictures will provide some better visuals of what I am describing here.

Because of the angle in which the lightbar has to be aimed, the light output is just terrible. It is also a combo light with flood and spot. The spot portion of the lightbar literally hits the ground about 2-3 feet in front of the truck which is useless when you are actually in the truck driving. The flood does OK, but again the angle means most of the light is pointed down. In all honesty, the Tundra headlights have much better output and light.

I think I am going to have to try and drill my own mounting hole in the bracket. Hopefully I can get the lightbar mounted a bit lower so the light can be aimed properly forward and project out in front of the truck instead of downward directly in front. Hence the reason I have my ditch lights aimed forward as driving lights. That is where I wanted the most output and thought the lightbar would get it done. Obviously these lights are ONLY used offroad or really dark backroads where there are no other cars or traffic (think anywhere you might use your high beams in addition to low beams).


I did send an email to both Diode Dynamics and the vendor I purchased from. I got a response from the vendor saying to reach out to Diode Dynamics directly, which I said I had done. Been about a week, and haven't heard anything. Hoping to get some kind of response, but we'll see. I will be sure to update the thread if I do hear anything back or am able to get some kind of resolution by modifying the bracket.

Overall, as of now, I CANNOT recommend the steal lightbar. I am super curious to hear if anyone else has installed, and what their experience has been. The ditch lights I would highly recommend, and they are awesome.

 

Ditch lights







Stealth lightbar













Switches



All lights

 

Looks great.

can the stealth bar be adjust upward? Looks like it’s pushed in pretty tight?

edit: I see now

 

Bummer! Those ditch lights should be angled more outwards vs straight ahead for true ditch coverage fyi, takes some fine tuning to get them just right

 

Ya, I have them aimed that way to compensate for the anemic / bad output on the lightbar. If I can get that aimed properly, and actually adding good light, I will adjust those to point more outwards. But as of now, I wanted more light ahead of me. So I have them aimed more as driving lights vs true ditch lights.

 

Well, this morning I had a chance to take the bumper off to try and fix the lightbar. I thought maybe of drilling a hole that would let the lightbar sit lower on the bracket, but there wasn't really enough space on the bracket to do that. So I ended up with a much less clean approach. I got a heavy claw hammer and just banged on the tabs to try and bend the bracket lower. It for the most part worked. However, as I was banging the tabs, it wanted to pull the entire bracket away from the bumper. So I would have to use the hammer to try and bend back to sit close to flush with the bumper. I basically had to go through about 4-5 iterations of banging, attaching the lightbar, putting a level on the bumper, and then on the lightbar to make sure the brackets were even, put the bumper back on loosely to see if the lightbar aligned with the hole. It took forever and was a pain. I finally got it mostly aligned with where I wanted it and then just bolted in the lightbar and put it at the exact height I wanted and cranked it down tight. In order however to bolt the lightbar on BEFORE putting on the bumper, you have relocate some wiring and one sensor. I then had to trim some tabs which were also in the way of the lightbar sitting flush. This YouTube video was a huge help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5zGbu0OPeo&t=225s

If you fast forward to about the 3:00 minute mark, they describe relocating that bit of wiring harness as well as the sensor. I did just like they did, and then ziptied the sensor in a similar position. One thing I also noticed in this video is if you look at the Heretic bracket, it has holes that allow the lightbar to move UP/DOWN. Unlike the DD bracket which allows the lightbar to move FORWARD/BACKWARD. I think if the brackets allowed for vertical adjustment, it would be much better, and I wouldn't have had to bang it with a hammer to get them lower. I should say I am in NO WAY affiliated with either of these companies. Just an average consumer that spent my hard earned cash on a product that did not seem fully developed, or tested.

Once I moved the wire, and had banged the trash out of the DD bracket to lower it, when I went to attach the bumper, there were some plastic tabs in the way. Some hacksaw made quick work of them, but just noting that I did need to remove these to make the lightbar fit. And now finally some pictures with some explanation.



Probably hard to see in this photo, but this was meant to show how much I had to bang on the bracket to lower the tabs that hold the lightbar.



This is probably the most helpful for anyone else looking to do this. So the yellow line runs along the wire that needs to be relocated to above the metal bracket that has the "TOP of Bumper" words on it. The turquoise box shows the sensor that needs to be relocated to up above and ziptied (exactly like what they did in that YouTube referenced earlier). The red boxes show the tabs that I had to remove to make the lightbar sit flush and not hit anything. And finally the green circles show some additional cutting I had to do on the back of the bumper so the lightbar would clear.

The end result turned out good - but it was a PAIN and certainly not the kind of modifying you want to do when you think you're buying a bolt on modification made specifically for your vehicle.





Now it sits nice and flush, and actually points straight ahead instead of angles so far down.

Beam pattern:



Light output: 1) headlights only 2) headlights and lightbar and 3) headlights, lightbar, and ditch lights

 

Sorry I'll try to get some better pictures of the light output. The lightbar is more noticeable than the pictures might suggest due to the phone using fancy magic in adjusting automatically. It is definitely not a dramatic difference, but you can tell it is brighter. However, flip on those ditch lights and it is significantly brighter. Here are some more just in front of my garage so you can see the beam patterns.

Same story as above: 1) headlights only, 2) headlights and lightbar, and 3) headlights, lightbar, and ditch lights

 

Doesn’t seem like the light bar is doing much for all that dicking around

maybe the pics aren’t showing it or something

 

Ya I would agree. Doesn't seems worth the effort to me at all either. In real life, there is a slight difference with it on vs just the headlights, but like I said it is not dramatic. Slightly brighter and there is more of a hotspot in the middle where the focused portion of the lightbar hits.

I would tell everyone to skip the light bar and just get the ditch lights. Way easier to put on, and you get MUCH better light output.

 

the ol dick around… eh? Lol

 

How about switching the Oem fog lights to the diode Dinamic fog lights?

I used to have diode Dinamic short light bars (fog lights) on my ram for the past 5 years and those were VERY VERY bright. I'm wondering if dd is using same fog light bars or something weaker now?

 

Not sure - I wish I would have skipped the lightbar and maybe just gone with upgraded fog lights. I know over on the Diode Dynamics thread they had some pictures showing the output difference between the OEM fog lights and theirs. They did look brighter.

I honestly don't want to take my bumper off anymore - the clips that hold a couple spots right below the headlights were not holding up great for the 2-3 times I took it off. And one of my fender flares already had one clip break. Thankfully in the middle where there were plenty that still hold it on tight.

 

I just posted a video of the fog light output in the DD thread…

 

So I have DD fogs, stealth in combo and pro grille bar with driving. Think ss5 pro ditch in spot are worth adding? Or would it be too much. This is all for rural highway

 

Well when you’re within feet of a door, and it’s in the lower bumper you won’t see much.

 

Too bad the light bar is kind of pointless. Seems like low mounted lights are usually kind of a letdown for anything but fog lamps.

 

I would disagree. As long as you aim them right. I didn’t have any aiming issues. If you’re expecting Great Wall shots from short distances. Yes they won’t do that.

 

Everything else being equal a higher mounting on a light source does a better job.

Even after the OP got his light bar aimed he admits it’s not worth the effort.

At work some of our older locomotives have two headlights mounted above the windshield, newer locomotives have those same lights mounted on the top of the cab nose. Guess which arrangement provides better light? Hint: the ones mounted higher up.

 

Where did he say that? He said it was not what you expect when you thought it was a bolt on mod. And he said the ditch lights were better. Where did he say it wasn’t worth the effort?

 

Go read post #9 and get back to me.

 

Missed that one.

that being said mine took way less effort. No cutting. Just moved the wiring harness.

 

OP, does the ditch light add much wind noise? Considering adding them.

 

What did you install? Just curious.

I suspect that if the OP was able to mount a light bar around the same height as the TRD Pro grille mounted light bar he would notice a marked improvement in performance. Currently it’s mounted lower than the fog lamps.

 

I installed a driving pro grille, stealth combo, and dd fogs

 

Glad your lightbar install went easier than mine.

The ditch lights are great. And no added wind noise at all that I can hear.

 

great review!

 

Hello about to pull the trigger on the DD stealth light bar but I have hesitation after reading the reviews here. Is there other brackets available for the DD bar? Has anyone installed the rough country stealth light bar? It's around $100 compared to the $360 for the DD one. Thanks for any info.

 

I’d go with DD personally just for the fact that they have a longer warranty

 

Thank you, Bailey1794

 

I have the DD bars on my tundra and swapped out the lens for the wide/fog ones and it made a huge difference in light spread since it’s lower in the bumper.