[greywolf]

I won a PW shelf at the Rapid City rally. Since I had it anyway, I thought I'd see how the Zumo could be mounted. I had a custom mount built already because Ram mounts bounce so much. The PW shelf mount was even bouncier than the Ram mount. I gave up on it for a few weeks but still felt the need to fix it since the shelf was already drilled and a mount made.

After taking stuff off to the point of reaching the area where the MP windshield brackets connected to the fairing brace, I found more tapped holes than I remembered being there. Some 2" x 1/8" aluminum bar would work fine as a cross brace. I would have to drill the MP brackets to use the second holes from the top. A Madstad should work fine too. It turned out to be the toughest part of the job. The brackets are heat treated and I burned through a couple of drill bits. A reamer was the best tool to get the holes to the right size. The brackets were much kinder to the reamer than the drill bits.

A sandwich of two bars super glued together looked like it would be the best bet for stiffness. The inner one had to be cut out to clear the fairing plastic at that. With the doubled bar screwed in place. I put a piece of 1/2" x 1" aluminum bar under the shelf and marked where it met the doubled bar so I could mark the doubled bar for a notch to be cut out. Once the notch was created, I could clamp the thick bar to the shelf and cut one end at an angle to match the double bar. With those pieces clamped and screwed in place, I JB-Welded a small piece of aluminum to the small bar and the thick bar and held it in place with a pop rivet until the epoxy set.

Being a belt and suspenders type guy, I super glued small pieces of aluminum angle to reinforce the joint. Clamping the pieces together and letting capillary action draw the glue into the joint works nicely. Then more pop rivets in front and a large crosswise screw through the angles and large bar provided mechanical fasteners to augment the glue. Finally, a large screw tapped into the front of the thick bar and another tapped into the GPS mount/shelf/bar connection finished things off.

Things are very solid and the steel Pat Walsh shelf against the cradle magnet provides a nice magnetic attraction for the cradle contact cover when the GPS unit is installed.

 

[Heavy-H]

Good idea GW.... My GPS also bounces like crazy....

 

[10guy]

An idea to keep in mind for future reference. Thanks for the tip.

 

[greywolf]

I'm going to need to think of other things I can put on the shelf. Right now, the only thing it's doing is hiding the sloppy finish on the stiffener.

 

[frogpirate]

Nice Pat. I just got one of the P.W. shelf's, as I'm going to have two GPS's and a MixIt 2 mounted there. I had them mounted on a RAM Ball/Custom mount (that braced against the dash and windscreen).

Ken's GPS Mount Build

I've since added a MadStad bracket, and moved the RAM ball to a simple flat alluminium plate. It seems to work OK, but since I want to add a second GPS.... I'll post my bracing when it's done, but you've given me some food for thought.

 

[frogpirate]

Mostly done..

OK, mine is mostly done, so I'll post what I've done.

Step one, I added a 1/2" square aluminum bar the width of the shelf + about 3/4" on each side. I drilled and tapped the bar to accept screws through the PW shelf, and to accept screws that will mount brackets for GPS's etc.

Drilling....

Tapping.

I made 2 straps out of 1" x 1/8" steel strap, 11" long. They are bent at 5" from the top to match the angle of the windscreen mounting surface. At the ends of the 1/2" aluminum bar, I made small pieces that match the angle of the ends of the PW dash, and bent them down to more-or-less match the angle of the cowl. The pieces rest on the 'points' of the cowl, and help support the front of the dash.

In this picture, the bars are at full-lock. You can see the added "ear" as a shiny aluminum triangle piece.

You can see the added "ears" a little better in this photo. They butt against the 45 degree edge of the PW plate (actually, it 40-ish degrees). You can also see two bolts at the front of the plate holding the MixIt2 in place; these will be changed a little.

Finally, I made small plates that screw to the 1/2" aluminum bar that hold the GPS's, and a piece of 3" aluminum channel was re-purposed to hold the Legal Speeding radar box.

With everything in place, I can still turn the bars lock-to-lock. I can adjust the MadStad over it's full range up/down, but am some restricted as to how much angle I can put it down (it hits the 2610 bracket if UP, and eventually the screen hits the GPS's if DOWN.) I actually have more clearance when I have the Cee Baily 23" screen on, but I need to drill a couple more holes in the straps so I can move the MadStad down a little, as I don't like that windscreen with the bracket all the way up.

There are a few more pictures, and you can see all the pictures a little bigger on my Picassa album.

I'll post a few more after it's all painted and such.

 

[greywolf]

That sure looks solid. I replaced the bent aluminum piece on top that receives the Zumo mount with some angle stock to make the transition to vertical and added a cigarette lighter plug on the front along with a ram ball on the left. Now I can put a camera or alternate GPS unit on the RAM ball if the Zumo dies.

 

[greywolf]

I replaced the bent aluminum piece on top that receives the Zumo mount with some angle stock to make the transition to vertical and added a cigarette lighter plug on the front along with a ram ball on the left. Now I can put a camera or alternate GPS unit on the RAM ball if the Zumo dies.

I finally took s couple of pics.

 

[DarrenVS]

why do you need 2 gps units:jawdrop:

 

[greywolf]

why do you need 2 gps units

The second one is my PDA. If the Zumo fails, I can use it as a backup. I am GPS dependent. After years of use, I don't navigate decently without one.

 

[kiwi_outdoors]

I won a PW shelf at the Rapid City rally. Since I had it anyway, I thought I'd see how the Zumo could be mounted. I had a custom mount built already because Ram mounts bounce so much. The PW shelf mount was even bouncier than the Ram mount. I gave up on it for a few weeks but still felt the need to fix it since the shelf was already drilled and a mount made.

After taking stuff off to the point of reaching the area where the MP windshield brackets connected to the fairing brace, I found more tapped holes than I remembered being there. Some 2" x 1/8" aluminum bar would work fine as a cross brace. I would have to drill the MP brackets to use the second holes from the top. A Madstad should work fine too. It turned out to be the toughest part of the job. The brackets are heat treated and I burned through a couple of drill bits. A reamer was the best tool to get the holes to the right size. The brackets were much kinder to the reamer than the drill bits.

A sandwich of two bars super glued together looked like it would be the best bet for stiffness. The inner one had to be cut out to clear the fairing plastic at that. With the doubled bar screwed in place. I put a piece of 1/2" x 1" aluminum bar under the shelf and marked where it met the doubled bar so I could mark the doubled bar for a notch to be cut out. Once the notch was created, I could clamp the thick bar to the shelf and cut one end at an angle to match the double bar. With those pieces clamped and screwed in place, I JB-Welded a small piece of aluminum to the small bar and the thick bar and held it in place with a pop rivet until the epoxy set.

Being a belt and suspenders type guy, I super glued small pieces of aluminum angle to reinforce the joint. Clamping the pieces together and letting capillary action draw the glue into the joint works nicely. Then more pop rivets in front and a large crosswise screw through the angles and large bar provided mechanical fasteners to augment the glue. Finally, a large screw tapped into the front of the thick bar and another tapped into the GPS mount/shelf/bar connection finished things off.

Things are very solid and the steel Pat Walsh shelf against the cradle magnet provides a nice magnetic attraction for the cradle contact cover when the GPS unit is installed.

so it seems like the used pat walsh shelf that I bought from a fellow strummer is useless without all this extra work - so now I need to buy a MIG/TIG? welding unit (for my new 220V garage outlet) in order to construct the stiffening out of aluminum!

 

[greywolf]

I used pop rivets, screws and J-B Weld on mine.

 

[kiwi_outdoors]

Poop rivets, Shrews, and Jaybe PB?

I used pop rivets, screws and J-B Weld on mine.

Well, don't tell my wife!

 

[notacop]

I made a PW look alike shelf from a plate of amlunamum and some odd bits in the parts cans in the garage. I did use a piece of alunamum right angle stock, about 1/2 inch on a side to stiffen the unit it runs across the middle of the plate from side to side.. Mine is only bolted to the dash mounting screws so it still vibrates a bit but so does the whole dash assy.
Pop rivets and JB weld are a shade tree mechanics friend!