I have always carried a Maglite in my Dakota, just to know I have it if I were to ever
need it. Well, its always been just laying in my overhead console, and has on ocassion
rolled off and cracked me, so I decided to mount it. I own a red anodized 4-D cell Maglite, if that matters. Here is what I did:
I decided that I needed to mount the Maglite in a very accessible area of the cab, on that I could reach quickly and put back easily. I decided that somewhere on the transmission hump(I have an auto) right next to the 4WD lever. I ended up cutting a piece of 1/4"x 2" galvanized steel stock to a length of about 10 inches. From this steel stock, I drilled 4 holes
in it, so that I could mount this steel bar on the 4WD 'bezel'. I slid the steel stock onto the bezel lip and marked the holes, because the holes will be offset. My owner's manual calls this the bezel, its basically the grey(in my case) interior plastic housing that has a 1/2" lip on it that I used to mount the steel bar.
I know Maglite makes a plastic mounting kit for Maglites, but I just knew these would break off, plus thye are pricey. I went to Home Depot and found some great metal spring loaded clips that fit the size of the diameter of the Maglite perfect. These clips come in 3 sizes, I just measured the Maglite and found the clips that best fit it. These cost $2.27 for 4. I will use only 2. They also are high enough so that my Maglite will not sit flush when mounted, so I can grab it easier.
I went home and drilled 4 more holes in the steel stock, so that I could mount the clips to it. I used some self tapping sheet metal screws. Each clip, by the way, has 2 mounting points, one on each side of the spring loaded arm. I mounted the 2 clips on the metal bar so that one clip is down by the end of the flashlight, while the other is closer to the top.
I then drilled 4 starter holes in the 4WD bezel, using the steel bar as a marker where I predrilled the holes and using similar self tapping metal mechine screws, mounted the steel bar with the clips. I am extremely happy with this setup, very strong and very handy. I hope I didnt leave anything out, but let me know if you have any questions. For those of you who 4wheel, you might just need a flashlight one night, and by having this mount system, you will always have one handy.
Kyle
93 Dakota 4x4 V6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(__) ,---------. NOTE: The preceding message was sent via Jaek and
(oo) | :\/: _ _ \ Jon's WWW mail cow gateway. That is to say, the
/-------\/_/ : :: :: : ) person who sent this message could in fact be an
/ | MAIL|| \_ ' '`-'`-'/ anonymous prankster. Even though this message was
* ||"" || \__________/ mailed to you from the cs.fredonia.edu domain, it
^^ ^^ could have been generated by anyone in the world.
Please keep this in mind. Thank you! --Jaek (smit2204) and -Jon- (stei0302)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:12:07 EDT