Ideas for fastening strobe light to tractor roof

   / Ideas for fastening strobe light to tractor roof #61  
I work for municipality in Washington and we glue beacons on all our city vehicles including tractors with fiberglass/non-metal roofs. The beacons feet have a much smaller footprint than what you have and we experience very few failures typically only due to local automated car washes. The trick is surface prep but basic. Clean oxidized surface and clean pads on beacon with alcohol. I use PartsMaster brand Adhesive "Flex-Master UV". A small blob on each 3/4" round foot on our beacons and once cured overnight the beacon is there for life. I have done more damage trying to remove the beacons years later so I usually leave them on roof when vehicle is sold
 
   / Ideas for fastening strobe light to tractor roof
  • Thread Starter
#62  
Got it done with 1” to spare. Going to do one on the other side, too.
You can see how the previous owner cracked the roof by hitting the old taller beacon on a 10’ garage opening, or maybe a big branch.

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   / Ideas for fastening strobe light to tractor roof
  • Thread Starter
#64  
I really like those and would like to have in 4 cab corner lights.

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   / Ideas for fastening strobe light to tractor roof
  • Thread Starter
#65  
Just a little update. I added a second matching beacon to the other side of the roof, where the other steel magnetic base is.
I wired them together and they work well.
Only thing I don’t like is since they are low profile, they are also not easily visible particularly during the day.

At night or 30’ from the tractor, they look great. Up close, you can’t really see them since they are 9&1/2’ in the air.

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It came down to a choice of being able to fit into a 10’ garage opening with low profile strobes.
Now I have to tape that cross-over cord down to the roof with gorilla tape so a branch wont rip it off.
 
   / Ideas for fastening strobe light to tractor roof #66  
Just a little update. I added a second matching beacon to the other side of the roof, where the other steel magnetic base is.
I wired them together and they work well.
Only thing I don’t like is since they are low profile, they are also not easily visible particularly during the day.

At night or 30’ from the tractor, they look great. Up close, you can’t really see them since they are 9&1/2’ in the air.

View attachment 785294

It came down to a choice of being able to fit into a 10’ garage opening with low profile strobes.
Now I have to tape that cross-over cord down to the roof with gorilla tape so a branch wont rip it off.
Good, that's the people you want to see you the most.... good job.
 
   / Ideas for fastening strobe light to tractor roof #67  
I wouldn't trust the adhesive to stick to rubber in the cold.

I'm curious if a fishing magnet would stick to any kind of metal support on the underside of the roof? Or if you could glue some large fender washers to the roof top and then use a fishing magnet to hold the strobe to the washers?
Hed be at 9' 11" with light directly on roof. 10' door.
 
   / Ideas for fastening strobe light to tractor roof #68  
I know this isn't the most recent thread but for others with similar issues or if this comes up again you might look into 3M VHB double-sided tape. The VHB stands for very high bond and is commonly used for attaching solar panels to RV roofs - and one of the most common types of RV roof is rubberized. If it can stand up to 70 mph pulling on a solar panel attached to a rubberized roof I would think it would be okay for tractor service.
The solar panels on my RV are attached with this tape and have been for the last couple years without any issues
Edit: I see jokurt already suggested this so I'm voting x2 here
 
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   / Ideas for fastening strobe light to tractor roof #69  
A little more info: The home made light bar was welded to the 2 flat circular metal magnetic bases mounted to the roof plastic.
I found these: 6” diameter only 2” high with magnetic base.

Maybe I cut off the home made light bar from the 2 bases and just mount these to the flat metal magnetic bases?

That sounds like the best so far or add magnets to your existing strobe and mount it on one corner.
 
   / Ideas for fastening strobe light to tractor roof
  • Thread Starter
#70  
The lights came with a gasket, so I pre drilled the steel plates using the light base as a template and screwed them down. I used quad caulk around the tractors steel bases to seal them and hold them down. Hopefully, with just one more trip up there to tape the wire lengthwise across the roof, I’ll be done.

I think the twin steel base mounting system Challenger mounted on their roof was borrowed from Caterpillar backhoes.


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