Enthusiast III
Kenwood D710GA Mounting Solutions
- Thread starter Joel S
- Start date
Influencer II
Steward II
Explorer I
My D700 main body is under the driver seat and the display side is up above the driver's sun visor near the V1 and garage door opener - easy for me to glance up at since I am already trained to watch the V1. My JKU has a threaded bolt popping up from the carpet under the seat so I used that to secure the radio, there are a couple other devices down there as well.
I don't use a Ram mount for this radio but I do for the iPad and have used their products for years. I keep going back to them :)
Kind of bad picture but an excellent time. Wife camped and drove the JKU for the first time offroad this weekend, got this shot of the cockpit that shows the orange D700 display.
I don't use a Ram mount for this radio but I do for the iPad and have used their products for years. I keep going back to them :)
Kind of bad picture but an excellent time. Wife camped and drove the JKU for the first time offroad this weekend, got this shot of the cockpit that shows the orange D700 display.
Influencer III
- 4,312
- First Name
- Rex
- Last Name
- Drake
- Member #
19540
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KI5GH
- Service Branch
- Air Force
I faced a similar challenge with an Icom 2730. I repurposed some sheet metal to make a bracket for the display. Is overhead, where the previous owner had mounted controls for lights and sirens. The main unit was mounted to my drawer unit. The bracket was one I still had for a Kenwood 2530 from a few weeks ago.
Contributor I
I also mounted my radio under the seat (JKU). I’m using an Icom 4100a. The head is mounted using a Ram mount on a Vector JKE dock. Super solid. I just replaced my Comet SSB-5 antenna (5/8 wave) with a Tram 1/4 wave. It came perfectly tuned for 2m. I have a comet hood lip mount and on .520 I had a SWR of 1. With the SSB I was at 1.2. Not bad but I didn’t like the super tall antenna. Really happy with my rig.
Enthusiast III
Personally I don't like things sticking out from the dash, so I mounted the face in a cubby behind the cupholders on my Tacoma. The plug in the picture is an extension for the mic.
The body for the Kenwood (and my CB) are both under the drivers seat. I just installed an external speaker for the Kenwood but don't have a picture of it yet.
The body for the Kenwood (and my CB) are both under the drivers seat. I just installed an external speaker for the Kenwood but don't have a picture of it yet.
Stormcrow
Rank IV
Traveler III
Ok, your signature says you have a 2018 4Runner. Take a look at the Toyota 4 Runner 5th Gen Powered Accessory Mount with Wiring Cover mount by Expedition Essentials. You can either use a ram mount to hold the head unit or (like I did) bolt the cradle directly to the mount.
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
That’s a nice clean looking instal... do you have a picture that shows a little more of the dash and center console?
Stormcrow
Rank IV
Traveler III
Ok, this may be more than you were looking for, but here goes (Please excuse the dust and dirt, detailing hasn't been a top priority for me lately):
The mic & radio on the right is a Uniden Pro510XL CB. The mic on the left is for the ham and is installed as follows:
The main unit for the ham is mounted under the front passenger seat. My previous install with this radio (a Kenwood D710GA in a 2014 Jeep Wranlger JKU) had the main body under the driver's seat with the mic mounted on the side of the center console down by my knee. That worked for me, but having the mic mounted there kept my wife (who's 5' 1") from being able to pull the driver's seat forward enough to drive comfortably. She would have to take the mic out of the cradle and put it in one of the cup holders. When I planned out this installation, I wanted to be able to mount the mic higher up on the dash to avoid that problem, but the mic cable will only stretch so far. I read a couple different articles about making an extension for just the mic out of Cat 6 ethernet cable but most of the articles complained that the lack of shield in the standard cat 6 cable causes a clicking sound on the radio. Kenwood, however, sells a cable extension kit () that includes a shielded mic cable (which, unfortunately you can't buy just by itself). I wasn't entirely sure where I was going to mount the main body, so I went ahead and bought the extension kit (I was thinking about mounting the body in the back cargo area) but we wound up only using the mic extension. That cable runs from the body under the passenger seat, up along and then back behind the center console to a Cat 6 pass-through coupling () mounted in the side panel of the center sole.
I originally tried using some Ram mount components to mount the head unit to the T4RPAM mount, but it wasn't very clean and I didn't like the way it looked / worked. The cradle that the head unit clips into already has a couple of holes on the bottom to mount it to a dash or desk or wherever, so I simply drilled those hole out enough to get the the bolts for the T4RPAM bolts through and then I just mounted the cradle straight to the mount. The head unit still clips into / out of the cradle, so if I need to tuck it out of sight I just need to disconnect the cable from the side and then unclip the head unit. I had to use socket cap screws to bolt the cradle down because the heads on the regular phillips-head bolts used elsewhere on the mount were just tall enough to stick up above the foam and keep the head unit from clipping in. The heads on the socket cap screws were about 1/16" shorter, which lets the head unit fully clip into the cradle and sit on the foam padding.
The mic cradles that came with both radios didn't match up with the mounting holes for the T4RPAM, but Expedition Essentials also sells mic cradles designed for the mount (Expedition Essentials CB Mic and Handheld Radio Holder). Two of those on either side of the T4RPAM lets me mount the mics up there without having the cables block the main radio head unit's touch screen. The Ram ball mounts on either side of the console aren't standard for the T4RPAM - I got the idea from the Trail4Runner.com blog post (5th Gen 4Runner iPhone/ Droid Phone Mount - 4Runner Phone Mount). All I really needed to do was just drill out a single hole on each side bracket and then replace the two screws that came with mount for those holes with ball mounts and 1/4" bolts.
Then it was just a matter of getting a couple cable clips with 3M backing to hold the connection cables (my wife was always stealing the cable I used in my Jeep to connect to the radio unit so now I have one that just stays plugged in for her). I thought about running at least my connection cable up inside the console, but I've had enough of those cables go bad on me that I didn't want to have to take apart my dash just to replace a lightning cable.
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
@Stormcrow, you can purchase shielded CAT6 Cable by itself... in most standard lengths up to 100’. You can also buy it in the roll and get bulk connectors as well.
Cat 8 Ethernet Cable 6 ft Shielded 2 Pack, 26AWG Solid 40Gbps 2000Mhz SFTP Patch Cord, Heavy Duty High Speed Cat8 LAN Network RJ45 Cable- in Wall, Outdoor, Weatherproof Rated for Router, Modem, Gaming
Nice looking install, very well thought out. Gives me some ideas to look at when I get closer to putting the radio in @KRose 4Runner. Although I have to do a stealth install because she doesn’t want radio gear in her car:
Cat 8 Ethernet Cable 6 ft Shielded 2 Pack, 26AWG Solid 40Gbps 2000Mhz SFTP Patch Cord, Heavy Duty High Speed Cat8 LAN Network RJ45 Cable- in Wall, Outdoor, Weatherproof Rated for Router, Modem, Gaming
Nice looking install, very well thought out. Gives me some ideas to look at when I get closer to putting the radio in @KRose 4Runner. Although I have to do a stealth install because she doesn’t want radio gear in her car:
Influencer III
- 4,312
- First Name
- Rex
- Last Name
- Drake
- Member #
19540
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KI5GH
- Service Branch
- Air Force
That’s what I did to remote mount the main unit for my Icom 2730.
Attachments
Enthusiast III
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
Advocate III
I am assuming you used screws of some sort and size to attached that mount you made to the back of the 710GA radio head?
Any details on this?
Any idea what those holes are actually intended for?
