So with about 1200 trouble free miles on the new drivetrain and all fluids changed and everything looking good I decided to tackle my navigation setup installation.
I had a little bit of time yesterday so I decided to install my Vector Off-Road full-width dash bar that I picked up a while back. I was really torn here as it was not exactly what I wanted to mount my accessories on but with limited space on the face of the dash in the JK’s there’s not a ton of options and many of the smaller components that I’ve seen advertised and used over the years haven’t offered enough support and either look like hell or they end up cracking and destroying the dash due to the weight of the mounts and tablets bouncing around on the dash.
After much deliberating I came to the conclusion that a bar mounted to the body and not directly to the dash was the best option to preserve the dash's integrity. I was going to fabricate one myself but I ran across one that a guy bought and never installed and it would have cost me more than what I paid just for the powder coating so I snagged it a few months ago and finally installed it yesterday.
Pretty clean and simple installation. It compliments the interior nicely.
RAM mount hardware.
Central command setup and operational. While I was ordering the RAM mount for my Samsung 10.1” tablet I also ordered a mount for my camera. The el’ cheapo windshield suction cup camera mount that I have been using is just not quite rigid enough and my video quality hasn’t been that great. I would like to post up more off-roading videos to my YouTube channel in the future so I opted to pick up a mount that would hold the camera more securely and hopefully help the video quality a bit.
After taking the above pictures I actually turned the tablet to the landscape position and it now resides slightly lower than the stereo and well below the dash. It really didn't block any view in the upright position but now it is well below the dash yet still just above the switches for the power windows so I think this is where I will run it for a while and see what I think but so far I really like it here. The camera is above the dash but actually blocks the windshield much less than the suction cup mount that I have been running for the past couple of years.
To be honest, I have prolonged the navigation setup for many years because I really hadn't decided on a mounting setup nor a tablet so I couldn't justify spending the money even though many of our RV'ing and Jeeping friends continually gave me crap about using BLM maps and guide books on the trail.
Thanks for looking.
Mike