Aftermarket gauges

[Zeus33rd]

Those of you that have them mounted somewhere other than the stock gauge bezel/area, where and how did you mount them? As always, pictures, pictures, pictures!

I have a pretty bad ass Autometer digital trans temp gauge that I need to mount somewhere, and I refuse to mount it in one of those ugly, tacky things hanging off the bottom of the dash or sticking up off the top of the dash pad. Does anyone make a windshield pillar gauge pod for our trucks, similar to the ones you can get for the newer trucks? It's pretty small, 2 1/16", so mounting it in the dash somewhere is an option too.

One idea I had was just to the left of the center dash vent, above and to the left of the tank selector switch, in the face of the dash pad.

I've seen people remove the vent next to the headlight switch and mount gauges there...Don't want to do that because I want to keep my A/C.

 

[sweetk30]

whynot use the empty gauge hole you got in lower left of the 4 gauge factory spot. ?

easy to cut out and mount in there.

 

[Zeus33rd]

The brake light is in that spot. I'd rather not take away from what gauges and things are already in the truck.

 

[sweetk30]

weird. my brake light is under the speedo . kind of weird to see a idiot light with gauges in 1 combo. most the time its all 1 style.

 

[mr250twostroke]

whynot use the empty gauge hole you got in lower left of the 4 gauge factory spot. ?

easy to cut out and mount in there.

Seems like a no brainer, especially considering the size. Relocate your brake light with something different, like a bulb. Could keep it factory looking easy.

 

[k20]

http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/interior/gauges_dashmounted/gauges_dash_mounted.jpg

 

[dremu]

I have mounted them to a piece of plastic in place of the ashtray:

It's possible to put one in the dash, but that's a ton more work. (See attached, not my truck, some random pic from somebody here.) You can also do under the dash in onesies, pairs or threes as pictured here.

-- A

 

[Fordum]

Couple of a little off the wall ideas.
First, is there anything above and between the speedo and tach? And is there enough room?

And the most off the wall one, naturally the one I prefer, would be to take the display out of the housing of the gauge.
On most of those digital setups, the housing is much larger than the guts.

From the pics, the actual number display part is not all that big. I'm thinking a small cutout in the bottom of an existing gauge with the display inserted.

The speedo has the odometer in the bottom, but what about the tach? Don't have one in front of me, and don't drive one, so I don't know.
Also don't know if there is room inside.

 

[Zeus33rd]

I have mounted them to a piece of plastic in place of the ashtray

It's possible to put one in the dash, but that's a ton more work. (See attached, not my truck, some random pic from somebody here.) You can also do under the dash in onesies, pairs or threes as pictured here.

-- A

Thanks for the pictures. That bottom one is great. The ashtray idea was a good one, but I use my ashtray, so that was a no go.

Couple of a little off the wall ideas.
First, is there anything above and between the speedo and tach? And is there enough room?

And the most off the wall one, naturally the one I prefer, would be to take the display out of the housing of the gauge.
On most of those digital setups, the housing is much larger than the guts.

From the pics, the actual number display part is not all that big. I'm thinking a small cutout in the bottom of an existing gauge with the display inserted.

The speedo has the odometer in the bottom, but what about the tach? Don't have one in front of me, and don't drive one, so I don't know.
Also don't know if there is room inside.

No tach...the large gauges are speedo and fuel level.

There probably would be room in any of those spots....but I have no desire to dismantle my $105 gauge....lol!



Last night I actually started working on cutting the hole to mount it in the dash like in dremu's picture. Couldn't finish it because it was getting dark and my buddies cordless dremel battery died. I'll finish it up today with my corded one and snap some pictures.


Or maybe I won't....it IS Black Op's double XP weekend, I might end up playing hermit with my xbox for the next couple days. Halfway through 12th prestige on my way to 15th.

 

[folkenheath]

I just put in an extra sending unit and a switch so I could flip my engine temp gauge to read the trans temp. No other gauge needed, just a little switch.

 

[Zeus33rd]

I just put in an extra sending unit and a switch so I could flip my engine temp gauge to read the trans temp. No other gauge needed, just a little switch.

OOoooo.....I like that idea. A lot.

Same sending unit that came with the trans temp gauge? It seems like I remember the instruction sheet for the trans gauge mentioning water temp stuff too...so that would make sense. I guess a temp sending unit for water and trans fluid would be the same. Temps would be within the same range... Cool frickin idea dude.

 

[folkenheath]

OOoooo.....I like that idea. A lot.

Same sending unit that came with the trans temp gauge? It seems like I remember the instruction sheet for the trans gauge mentioning water temp stuff too...so that would make sense. I guess a temp sending unit for water and trans fluid would be the same. Temps would be within the same range... Cool frickin idea dude.

I used the same sending unit that is used for the water temp gauge, I just bough an extra sending unit and mounted it in the trans pan. In my case it was an autometer sending unit. But for factory you would just need to buy another factory water temp sending unit for your truck, and mount it in the trans pan and wire it up so when you flip the switch the water temp gauge reads trans temp. It works excellent so far. You just need a SPDT (On-off-On) switch so it has two ON positions and three terminals. The center terminal goes to the gauge sender terminal, and the other two termials go to each sending unit wire that would normally go to the gauge.

Did you already cut a hole in your dash?

I would think with that "fresh mud" cooling system your tranny wouldn't overheat?

 

[Zeus33rd]

Yeah, already cut the hole. My idea was to use the autometer gauge I have, like you said, with the switch and dual sending units. Any reason why that wouldn't work? I'd have to order another sending unit from Autometer and get the switch of course, but it seems simple enough.

 

[folkenheath]

Yeah, already cut the hole. My idea was to use the autometer gauge I have, like you said, with the switch and dual sending units. Any reason why that wouldn't work? I'd have to order another sending unit from Autometer and get the switch of course, but it seems simple enough.

That would work yes, but you don't have a factory engine temp gauge? I guess I am confused because I did it to avoid installing an extra gauge(I had already filled the ashtray with an air pressure gauge), but you already have an extra gauge now?

 

[Zeus33rd]

That would work yes, but you don't have a factory engine temp gauge? I guess I am confused because I did it to avoid installing an extra gauge, but you already have an extra gauge now?

LOL, yeah, I guess I see why that would be confusing. Yes, I have the factory gauge in the dash in the factory spot. I don't have an extra gauge so to speak, just the autometer trans temp gauge that I linked to in the first post.

!Clicky!

No real need to do the dual sending unit/switch thing, just to be different I guess?

 

[folkenheath]

LOL, yeah, I guess I see why that would be confusing. Yes, I have the factory gauge in the dash in the factory spot. I don't have an extra gauge so to speak, just the autometer trans temp gauge that I linked to in the first post.

!Clicky!

No real need to do the dual sending unit/switch thing, just to be different I guess?

Well maybe you should use your factory water temp guage with an extra sending unit for the tranny temp, then you can use the hole in your dash for a depth finder!

Or if you really want to do the dual sending unit thing, you could get the trans temp gauge to display oil temp by mounting another sending unit in the oil pan since you already have engine temp.

 

[Zeus33rd]

Well maybe you should use your factory water temp guage with an extra sending unit for the tranny temp, then you can use the hole in your dash for a depth finder!

LOL! Depth finder...Touche my friend!

 

[Fordum]

LOL! Depth finder

Don't laugh, I had one!

Me and my old Jeep did a lot of water crossings. There were two small bridges where we hunted that washed out every year.
Plus a long road that went under water and eventually became uncrossable as the water rose.

After the river came up, we stayed on a high area and went to other high spots by Jeep or boat depending on depth.

After the two bridges washed out and the water went back down some, we could cross the streams with the Jeep.
Little spooky at night when the headlights went under, but you could tell from the height on the trees how deep it was.

The long road was another matter. Not only was it hard to judge the depth, but sometimes there were washouts that made it above carb height without warning.
Daytime, you could usually see a problem, but sometimes we needed to go out at night.
Then a guy would lay on the hood with a light under the water watching for trouble.

Fellow I knew replaced the bottom machine in his charter boat and gave me the old one.
I mounted the transducer on the front bumper of the Jeep with a temporary mount. Had it sticking about 3 feet out in front, pointing straight down.

It worked, but I only used it one season. It was a huge PIA.

First, it was one of the old paper chart types. Other than a flasher, that was all they made back then, and it was one of the older types for that era.
Plus, it only told how far down the road was. This was OK, because it gave a warning about a dropoff, but it told nothing about water depth.
If I was in 1 foot of water and hit a 2 foot dropoff, that was OK, but if I was in 3 feet and hit a 2 foot dropoff, I had problems.

Which meant that the guy in the passenger's seat with the machine in his lap had keep figuring the sums.
After a couple of near misses I got smart and mounted the transducer on a float which could ride up and down a shaft.
This worked a lot better, since it gave actual water depth. But the bow wave from the Jeep kept messing things up.

Even when it was working, it was not great.
The cone of detection was too narrow. It would spot a washout that went all across the road, or a hole right under it, but it would miss a pothole that the tires would not.
Plus the machine was heavy, got hot when it ran and gave off some kind of fumes. Eventually no one would volunteer to work it, so I gave it to someone else.

I don't do the water crossings I used to. They have built up the road, replaced the two bridges that used to wash out, and we have camper trailers instead of tents so they need to be out before the water comes up.

Plus, my old Jeep did not mind the water. After every hunting season, I would drain the water out of the gears. Front and rear end, transfer case and tranny.

My truck has an automatic tranny, and they cannot stand being run full of water for a season.
But, you knew that already........

 

[Fordum]

Just to give an idea of what I'm talking about, here is a modern picture of that same road.
One day I am going to dig up the DVD I made of all the old camp films I had on super8, and copy off a few stills of the Jeep.
The deer, campfires, people and steaks were the stars of the show, but I got a few of the equipment.
Don't think I have any of the Jeep going down this road. It was just not remarkable enough to waste film on back then.
Wish I had now.........

This was taken out of a friend's Chevy a couple of years ago.

 

[K85 Octane]

That's great J
I swear, you've added nothing in the way of help but somehow your posts are always funny and insightful. I never knew people went through so much effort to be crazy. You're the bear on bottom of that totem pole, holding the rest up and carrying them down that road! lol