Video Review & Installation

I'm Ryan from ExtremeTerrain.com, and this is my review of the Barricade Light Bar fitting all 2007 to 2016 JKs. Those of you who are younger or newer to Jeeps might think of a light bar as the LED light bars that you see all over JKs these days. However, this is the sort of old-school light bar. This is designed to hold four individual lights above the windshield. There are a couple of benefits to doing your lighting that way. You can have four different lights that are aimed in completely different directions, you can have four different theme patterns, and you can have them switched independently. So if you're looking for one of these types of light bars, this is a really nice one with a couple of features that some of the other light bars on the market don't have. This bar is built of two-inch stainless steel, and it's covered in a textured black powder coat finish. I really like the textured black powder coat because it matches a lot of other aftermarket parts, and it'll also match the factory plastic black accents on your Jeep. Now, a lot of these bars are designed to mount in the same way to the factory windshield hinges and without the need to drill, and this is no different. However, some of those other less expensive bars will only have a couple of tabs that you'll bolt through into the Jeep. This has a much larger bolting pattern that is actually a similar design to your factory hinge. So in my opinion, this looks a lot better. This also has countersunk bolt holes, and it has adhesive padding on the inside to keep this bar from chafing your factory paint. This bar also has a little bit of a wind dam right up here that will help with any whistling that could occur from wind rushing between light bar and the top of the windshield. It also gives the bar a little bit more of a finished look. As I mentioned, this is designed to hold a total of four individual lights, and you can use any lights that are designed to mount on a single light mount bracket. This also has holes drilled at every light mount, so you can more easily run wiring. It also has holes down at the bottom here, so you can not only get the wires in but out without the need to drill any of your own holes. As I mentioned, a lot of light bars of this style are designed to be completely bolt-on, and this one is no different, so the installation process is pretty simple. If you follow the instructions, they recommend that you put some tape around the windshield hinge area, because the brackets can be a little bit cumbersome to work with and you don't want to scratch your factory paint. The first step in the install is to remove the six windshield hinge bolts that are holding the hinge together. Once you have those removed, you can lay the bracket over top and reinstall the factory bolts. Leave those bolts a little loose for now. From there, you can install the crossbar and work your way around to the other side of the Jeep installing the last windshield hinge bar. Once everything is installed, you can tighten up all of the bolts, including the ones that are holding the crossbar to the individual bars on either side. After that, it's just a matter of installing your lights. Now, as I mentioned, you can use any light that's designed to mount with a single post on a single-post mount. However, you will want to make sure that those posts aren't too long. If they are, they can contact the top of your windshield and, again, scratch your paint. After you get the lights installed, there's the matter of wiring. But as far as just getting this light bar installed, it shouldn't take you more than two hours. You won't need any specialty tools to get it done, just a good set of torque screws. Now, I've said a couple times now that there are a lot of light bars like this on the market, and this one at first glance, is a little bit more expensive than some of the other ones. In my opinion, this is worth the extra price. I like the way that this one mounts onto the hinges, as opposed to just having two tabs, that it has a more contoured mount. I personally think it looks a lot better. I like that it has the wind dam up top, not only to make it look a little bit more finished, but it's also functional to help keep from whistling. The fact this one is predrilled to run all of your wiring really cleanly inside of the bar all make it worth the additional cost in my opinion. So if you're looking to add some auxiliary lighting to your Jeep and you like putting them above the windshield, a light bar like this is a little bit more of an old-school look. But like I said before, it has some benefits. And a setup like this, depending on which lights you're running, can be a lot less expensive than a 50-inch light bar that you would otherwise put in the same location. So that's my review of the Barricade Light Bar fitting all 2007 to 2016 JKs that you can find right here at ExtremeTerrain.com.