By Tony K
Finding a place to add one gauge is pretty easy in our wagons. But add more than that plus a few switches and it can get pretty frustrating. I had already installed the air pressure gauge for my compressor set up but I recently purchased a mechanical oil pressure gauge and decided I wanted to add a voltmeter that I already had on hand. This complicated things as there just wasn’t any extra room to be found. So time to do some more thinking inside the wagon for a solution.
So what exactly did I need, more surface to mount stuff. Solution, add some. Just a straight 3 gauge mount from the auto parts store wouldn’t fit where I wanted it to or allow for the switches I needed to add, the compressor on/off and a momentary switch for the voltmeter. The voltmeter is set up to read each battery seperately even while my rig is shut off, it’s more of a tool for camping to make sure I don’t kill my batteries while running the fridge. But it is also capable of checking how much charge each battery is getting if I hold the switch on while the rig is running.
I was messing around at work one day and digging through the scrap metal in the machine shop when I came across this piece of 3/16 aluminum. It was slightly longer than what I needed and it conveniently had a 90 degree bend in it that I needed for mounting to the bottom of the dash. After some layout and cutting it down to size, it just took a hole saw for the gauges, drill a hole for the momentary toggle on the left and a jigsaw with a woodcutting blade to make the square hole for the compressor switch. And you did read that right, the best way to cut aluminum is with woodcutting blades. Metal blades just pack up with the cuttings and stop working.
It’s held on with two small bolts with locknuts. Always been surprised by just how tough the steel is on the dash when it comes time to drill into it. Pulling part of the dash with the factory switches did make it much easier to tighten up the bolts during assembly.
While the picture makes it look like it interferes with my leg and skinny pedal, be assured that is not the case. It is a bit close but I haven’t hit it yet. If you wonder where it stops just reference the stock switches above it and that will tell you where it sits if you made one for your own rig. On the right side it clears the shifter by about an inch, which is more than enough
I sort of like the brushed aluminum look but it just may get painted. Haven’t made up my mind yet.
And there are some other places to put gauges, including the way Eric has his mounted in the heater vents. Hopefully I can get him to post up a pic of his so you can see what it looks like.
