anyone ever built an overhead console?

[predator]

i was thinking about building an overhead console for the explorer yesterday and i was wondering if anyone else had ever built their own and how they attached it to the roof.....just pondering

 

[krugford]

I built my own for my 2003 Supercab. There wasn't a lot to mount to on the roof. I epoxied and bolted a strip of 3/16 steel that I had drilled and tapped holes into to the roof support. I then bolted the console through the headliner. There was about a 2 inch gap between the roof and headliner on my truck, so I just tightened it until it was snug against the headliner. It feels tight and I haven't had any problems.

I have heard of people pulling roof consoles out of new Explorer's and using those. I think those have a temp sensor and a compass. I chose to build my own because I wanted room for a lot of switches. Hope this helps.

-krug

 

[predator]

thaks man, that does help, i want to build my own and have it run from one side to the other (maybe, nothing is for sure) the hard part is going to be making it stay up....

 

[predator]

so did you remove the headliner to install that strip of steel? what kind of epoxy did you use? would jb weld work or is there something stronger?

 

[krugford]

Yeah, I had to remove the headliner. That was probably the worst part. To pull the headliner, you've got to remove all the interior trim. I used 08115 (2 part epoxy) from 3M because I had a couple of tubes laying around that I had got for free. It's listed as a non-structural panel bonding adhesive. It's a little pricey, but when you use it once, you'll never use anything else again.

I don't know what kind of supports you have on your truck. You'll just have to see what's up there. Since mine's a supercab, I have a t-brace in the roof. I had a run a pretty long strip of steel (around 12-14 inches or so) because of that slot you see running on the brace. It was right in the way of putting a screw through it. The only reason for the epoxy was because I didn't want it to start to rattle if the sheet metal screws started to lose grip after awhile. I'm sure JB weld would work just as well. I also glued the t-brace to the roof while I was up there because why not....

 

[Buggyman]

Hey Krug, how did you fab up that switch box?

 

[krugford]

It's all 1/8" steel and according to my head, it's good and solid too. The screws thread into holes tapped into 1/8" plate so I didn't have to use nuts. I had a general plan of what I wanted, but I cheated and "built" it around the two switch plates so they would be a perfect fit. One a side note, even though I've got room for four more switches if I needed them, there's not enough room in the a-pillars to run any more wire. I'd have to go towards the rear and run it behind the rear trim panels. As it is, I'm only using three of the switches on there now.

 

[Buggyman]

So how did you bend it into the shape of the box? Did you paint it afterwords or was it already black?

 

[oleblue]

That looks pretty sweet Krugford. I got my overhead console out of an explorer, has the temp and a compass. Managed to get the self dimming mirror too, and the wiring harness for both. All for $10 guess they didnt know what they had.

 

[krugford]

So how did you bend it into the shape of the box? Did you paint it afterwords or was it already black?

No, there's only one bend on the hole console and that's the very front where is blends back into the headliner. The rest was cut out, welded, and finished. The black is good old rustoleum.

That looks pretty sweet Krugford. I got my overhead console out of an explorer, has the temp and a compass. Managed to get the self dimming mirror too, and the wiring harness for both. All for $10 guess they didnt know what they had.

Thanks! I thought about getting one from an explorer until one night I just got bored and said "f*ck it" and started building my own. More impatience on my part than anything else, lol.