Lowrance GPS and HDS-5 with LGC 4000 Baja Antenna
There are lots of GPS Units on the market, but one brand seems to dominate. Why fight it. I just went with what others before me have done. Did get the External mount antenna and from an installation perspective that proved to be the most challenging, Physically. The Custom mount we made for the head was challenging Mentally.
Even though I have the Stock OEM Nav unit, it is worthless when you are off-road. Ironic right?
Anyway, if you are going out in groups, you need this model GPS – so you can load in the Trail maps via smart card. And you need a VHF Radio. Since I was going out the next Saturday, those two items kind of got rushed and I simply asked Corey at RPG to just set me up.
First challenge was where to place the head unit. Was hoping it would fit near the driver’s “A” Pillar, but it is too big. Another vendor makes a bracket sits in the center tray, that basically puts the bottom even with the dash with solid angle brackets that greatly obscures the view out the front.
Corey suggested building a custom bracket to fit on the little shelf above the Nav. We found some thick Plexigalss in our surplus goodies that already had a neat little bend in it that Noah cut down to size.
While Noah was fabricating the plastic shelf, Corey and I installed the RPG Tie-Rods that I will write up later. The small bend positions the head unit lower while still providing access to the three buttons in the dash directly below.
Noah did a fantastic job on the shelf, he also made small rubber mounts that fit into the square holes surrounding the two shelf screws. The rubber sticks up about 3/32” above the hard plastic.
The Gps Head was mounted to the Acrylic shelf and then screwed into the stock shelf “Clips”. Seemed rigid enough.
That is as far as we got that day on the GPS, finished the Tie-Rods. Driving home I noticed the GPS vibrating a lot just driving on city streets so I knew it wasn’t going to cut it on the trail, it needed additional stabilization. So after dinner I go into work shop, open up drawer of cast off and extra brackets looking for ideas. I found a stout little piece of metal, used for sink drains. Removed the top tray and center speaker assembly. Noticed a convenient Frame Mounting point right in the middle. Spent the next two hours fabricating that bracket to fit around several bends and the speaker. Cut small hole in bottom lip of dash.
Another Failure: Bracket did no good at all, telemetry was all wrong.
Driving up the next morning to Irvine to RPG to complete the installation, I got the idea to make some cables and tie into the screws holding down that center tray. I needed to get some electrical parts at Home Depot anyway so picked up 3 feet of Bike Cable and two packets of Ferrell(s) for about $3.00. Created small loop and screwed it down then looped other end thru opening in bracket where the head mounts. Nice and tight now with proper telemetry, except the cable interfered with the rotation enabling lock knob.
Another Failure, CRAP
I’ll jump ahead to the next day, back at home where the solution was to fabricate a fastener with a hook. It was made it out of some interlocking chain links.
Melted small holes in the rubber mat that fits in the tray so only top of hook is exposed and keep the anti reflective properties of the mat in place. Other end was designed to fit between the knob and the bracket. To install cables, simply lift up on plexiglass mount and slip other end over the small hook. When pressure removed the cables are nice and tight.
Sucker does not move or vibrate and the visibility is not obscured in any way.
The other big benefit to our design is that it places the screen and keypad for the unit much closer to both driver and passenger. Having the screen closer is like having a bigger screen! Think Flat Screen TV, the further away you are, the bigger the screen you need. Plus much easier to zoom in and out and make other inputs into the nav while driving.
