Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

Ahhh, my phone likes to speak for me.

Washer, or wafer head screw.....

Ahhh! That makes sense.

Today's plan is to see how many satellites the Garmin sees outside of the truck, and then how many it sees when down where I want to put it. If that seems to work then I'll mount it and connect it to the Sony stereo. That way we should have turn-by-turn guidance if we want it, and the Garmin will be charged as we drive.

[Gary Lewis]

Ahhh! That makes sense.

Today's plan is to see how many satellites the Garmin sees outside of the truck, and then how many it sees when down where I want to put it. If that seems to work then I'll mount it and connect it to the Sony stereo. That way we should have turn-by-turn guidance if we want it, and the Garmin will be charged as we drive.

Here's the result of testing the Garmin Montana 750i in the yard, left, and then in the truck on the right. Yes, the signal strength is down some, but not enough to worry about. So I'm in the process of installing its mount on the transmission hump.

[Nothing Special]

Here's the result of testing the Garmin Montana 750i in the yard, left, and then in the truck on the right. Yes, the signal strength is down some, but not enough to worry about. So I'm in the process of installing its mount on the transmission hump.

I'm not surprised it worked out well. As I said, I saw that problem a while ago. It seems that newer generation GPSs have better reception. Still, it seemed worth checking before you committed.

[Gary Lewis]

I'm not surprised it worked out well. As I said, I saw that problem a while ago. It seems that newer generation GPSs have better reception. Still, it seemed worth checking before you committed.

I'm really glad you mentioned it as now I know it shouldn't be a problem. However, it is easy enough to pop the unit out of the stand and get it up at window level in case there is a problem in some conditions.

Anyway, I got it mounted, although the wiring will have to wait until tomorrow. Here's a pic of it mounted to the floor, but the story of how much fun that was will wait a minute or two.

And here's a driver's eye view of what it looks like. Yes, it is a ways away, but I think it'll work well there as the audio output will be connected to the Aux In on the Sony, so we'll know when and which way to turn. Plus, as said, it can be easily popped out of the stand. Note the wiring that comes off of the mount. That has power, ground, audio, and some serial outputs, but I won't be using the serial outputs.

And now for the how-much-fun story. In the pic below you can see the tools that finally worked. But not until I broke two 1/8" drill bits and pulled a bit of carpet pad out.

The final solution was to use an awl to create a bit of a hole in the carpet and pad, and then run that soldering pin down in the hole, letting the #8 screw open things up a bit. But even then the drill bit grabbed the padding. So I finally put a piece of tubing over the bit and that did the trick.

[Rusty_S85]

I'm really glad you mentioned it as now I know it shouldn't be a problem. However, it is easy enough to pop the unit out of the stand and get it up at window level in case there is a problem in some conditions.

Anyway, I got it mounted, although the wiring will have to wait until tomorrow. Here's a pic of it mounted to the floor, but the story of how much fun that was will wait a minute or two.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n121945/Garmin_750I_Mounted.jpg

And here's a driver's eye view of what it looks like. Yes, it is a ways away, but I think it'll work well there as the audio output will be connected to the Aux In on the Sony, so we'll know when and which way to turn. Plus, as said, it can be easily popped out of the stand. Note the wiring that comes off of the mount. That has power, ground, audio, and some serial outputs, but I won't be using the serial outputs.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n121945/Garmin_Mounted_%26_Acquiring_Satellites.jpg

And now for the how-much-fun story. In the pic below you can see the tools that finally worked. But not until I broke two 1/8" drill bits and pulled a bit of carpet pad out.

The final solution was to use an awl to create a bit of a hole in the carpet and pad, and then run that soldering pin down in the hole, letting the #8 screw open things up a bit. But even then the drill bit grabbed the padding. So I finally put a piece of tubing over the bit and that did the trick.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n121945/Tools_For_Drilling_Through_Carpet_%26_Pad.jpg

When drilling through carpet its always an issue, I found the best way to do it if something is being mounted atop the carpet, I like to use a razor and cut a slit in the carpet and the jute and then spread it open and hold the jute and carpet away from the drill bit. You have to be careful as I have had instances where punching a hole through the carpet and then drilling resulted in the drill bit grabbing carpet fibers and pulling a whole strand of carpet out. Not a huge deal with cut pile but is a huge deal with loop carpet as it creates a line of no loops.

[Gary Lewis]

I'm really glad you mentioned it as now I know it shouldn't be a problem. However, it is easy enough to pop the unit out of the stand and get it up at window level in case there is a problem in some conditions.

Anyway, I got it mounted, although the wiring will have to wait until tomorrow. Here's a pic of it mounted to the floor, but the story of how much fun that was will wait a minute or two.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n121945/Garmin_750I_Mounted.jpg

And here's a driver's eye view of what it looks like. Yes, it is a ways away, but I think it'll work well there as the audio output will be connected to the Aux In on the Sony, so we'll know when and which way to turn. Plus, as said, it can be easily popped out of the stand. Note the wiring that comes off of the mount. That has power, ground, audio, and some serial outputs, but I won't be using the serial outputs.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n121945/Garmin_Mounted_%26_Acquiring_Satellites.jpg

And now for the how-much-fun story. In the pic below you can see the tools that finally worked. But not until I broke two 1/8" drill bits and pulled a bit of carpet pad out.

The final solution was to use an awl to create a bit of a hole in the carpet and pad, and then run that soldering pin down in the hole, letting the #8 screw open things up a bit. But even then the drill bit grabbed the padding. So I finally put a piece of tubing over the bit and that did the trick.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n121945/Tools_For_Drilling_Through_Carpet_%26_Pad.jpg

When drilling through carpet its always an issue, I found the best way to do it if something is being mounted atop the carpet, I like to use a razor and cut a slit in the carpet and the jute and then spread it open and hold the jute and carpet away from the drill bit. You have to be careful as I have had instances where punching a hole through the carpet and then drilling resulted in the drill bit grabbing carpet fibers and pulling a whole strand of carpet out. Not a huge deal with cut pile but is a huge deal with loop carpet as it creates a line of no loops.

I hadn't thought about slitting the carpet and the pad, but the mount's screws are ~1/8" from the edge of the mount so I didn't want to do much cutting for fear it would show. So I came up with the idea of slipping something over the bit to prevent it from grabbing the pad and that worked - finally.

[Gary Lewis]

I'm really glad you mentioned it as now I know it shouldn't be a problem. However, it is easy enough to pop the unit out of the stand and get it up at window level in case there is a problem in some conditions.

Anyway, I got it mounted, although the wiring will have to wait until tomorrow. Here's a pic of it mounted to the floor, but the story of how much fun that was will wait a minute or two.

And here's a driver's eye view of what it looks like. Yes, it is a ways away, but I think it'll work well there as the audio output will be connected to the Aux In on the Sony, so we'll know when and which way to turn. Plus, as said, it can be easily popped out of the stand. Note the wiring that comes off of the mount. That has power, ground, audio, and some serial outputs, but I won't be using the serial outputs.

And now for the how-much-fun story. In the pic below you can see the tools that finally worked. But not until I broke two 1/8" drill bits and pulled a bit of carpet pad out.

The final solution was to use an awl to create a bit of a hole in the carpet and pad, and then run that soldering pin down in the hole, letting the #8 screw open things up a bit. But even then the drill bit grabbed the padding. So I finally put a piece of tubing over the bit and that did the trick.

Got the Garmin wired up today. It comes on with the ignition and I'll connect the audio to the Sony. Need to plan a route and see if it really does give turn-by-turn guidance.

[Nothing Special]

Got the Garmin wired up today. It comes on with the ignition...

I've gone back and forth on that and have landed on not wanting my GPS to be switched with my ignition. It's nice to not have to remember to turn it off when you want it off. But I find I still want it on when I shut the vehicle off pretty frequently. So I always run mine on an always hot circuit now, and have to manually turn it off when I want it off.

As they say, your mileage may vary...

[Gary Lewis]

Got the Garmin wired up today. It comes on with the ignition...

I've gone back and forth on that and have landed on not wanting my GPS to be switched with my ignition. It's nice to not have to remember to turn it off when you want it off. But I find I still want it on when I shut the vehicle off pretty frequently. So I always run mine on an always hot circuit now, and have to manually turn it off when I want it off.

As they say, your mileage may vary...

I thought about that, but went ahead and wired it to the ignition because that was easiest. Turns out that when you turn the ignition off the Garmin says something like "The charging power has been lost, do you want to continue on battery power?" And you are presented with a Yes/No option. So it is easy enough to say "yes" and it'll stay on. Or ignore it and it'll turn off by itself.

This evening in prep for the new tires and alignment check on Tuesday I printed out the alignment specs from the '95 factory shop manual since that's where the D60 came from. I'll put that in the documentation folder that stays in the truck, but will give a copy to the tire shop as well.

And tomorrow I'll take the LF, which was the spare and is by far the best tire, off and put it in the bed. And put the tire that is now the spare on the LF. Plus I'll put all of the recovery gear in the truck. Then on Tuesday I'll top up the tanks to make sure that I'm weighing it at a known state.

Any other suggestions?

Oh, by the way, Steve/FoxFord33 came by today and set in the driver's seat. He said "It feels right, much better than before." He's a big guy, so that was a good test.

[Gary Lewis]

I thought about that, but went ahead and wired it to the ignition because that was easiest. Turns out that when you turn the ignition off the Garmin says something like "The charging power has been lost, do you want to continue on battery power?" And you are presented with a Yes/No option. So it is easy enough to say "yes" and it'll stay on. Or ignore it and it'll turn off by itself.

This evening in prep for the new tires and alignment check on Tuesday I printed out the alignment specs from the '95 factory shop manual since that's where the D60 came from. I'll put that in the documentation folder that stays in the truck, but will give a copy to the tire shop as well.

And tomorrow I'll take the LF, which was the spare and is by far the best tire, off and put it in the bed. And put the tire that is now the spare on the LF. Plus I'll put all of the recovery gear in the truck. Then on Tuesday I'll top up the tanks to make sure that I'm weighing it at a known state.

Any other suggestions?

Oh, by the way, Steve/FoxFord33 came by today and set in the driver's seat. He said "It feels right, much better than before." He's a big guy, so that was a good test.

Mid-day report: I got the spare & LF swapped and then I loaded up the recovery gear for the scales tomorrow.

And in doing so I remembered that I had a bit of a problem with the tool box holding hand tools sliding into the hose of the compressor, which worried me. So I screwed a stop-block into the 1" floor I have in the bottom of the tool box, as shown on the left below. Then I laid the piece of scrap 1" that I keep for the jack in there and put the hand-tool box on top of that - and it can no longer slide into the compressor. Then I loaded up the hydraulic jack, 4-way, paper towels, and air hose.