UHF install in 2003 Grande

[Justo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Justo]

Yeah I did read that, it surprised me.!! :evil: But I'm sure there's no hassle with UHF and accessories.! I've bought a few Icom UHF's and accessories through them at great prices.! 8)

[Mike Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mike]

I'm planning to install a GME TX3400 soon and would like some advice about attaching the bracket for the remote head under the ashtray. Is it an easy or fiddly job? Any hints appreciated.

Thanks for all the tips about mounting the main unit and mic.

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

It depends upon your definition of fiddly. Here's a few pics of last weekends cleanup - I was trying to get some of the sand out ... :?

You need to gently prise up the silver plastic trip from the passenger side of the console. Use something fairly soft - like the wife's favourite cuticle stick (that's one of those things she buys for doing her nails) starting from the back. Be a bit gentle as busted plastic bits don't go back together easily.


Use the same specialist tool to prise the left hand silver plastic strip from the side of the centre console. Start at the top and pull out. You will need to disconnect the electrical connector that plugs into the passenger side seatbelt light.


Prise the driver's side silver plastic strip from the side of the console. Start from the back.


Remove the right hand side silver plastic trim from the side of the console. You will also need to disconnect the electrical plug on this side.


The centre panel, with the ashtray and ciggie lighter will now pull straight out. Ignore the rest of the photo - I actually pulled the whole centre console out to get to the sand ops:

There are three electrical connectors here - power to the ciggie lighter, the ciggie lighter light and the ashtray light - the come apart easily - just remember to reconnect them later.

You can now take this whole assembly and fit the remote head bracket to the underside of the flat section - real easy with this piece out of the car.

You can also put a smal 10 - 12 mm hole towards the back of the flat section for your cables to pass through - making them invisible from inside the car.


Assembly is simply a reverse of the above sequence - making sure to reconnect the electrical connectors as you go. The vertical silver plastic sections go back in easily and use the air vent assembly to locate. The horizontal silver plastic sections lock the bottom edge of the vertical sections into place - so they go in last.

It comes up looking really neat.








Oh, and by the way, I managed to get all of the sand out. :lol:

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Chippy

[Mike Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mike]

Thanks Chippy for your detailed instructions. Fantastic. Next spare day I will be onto it - or maybe I could just book you up when you reach NSW!

Have you thought about doing a Chippy roadshow for PradoPointers during your east coast visit? You know, Prado modifications, computer advice, typing practice, jokes, giving out awards etc etc.

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

Nah Mike, just a NATIONWIDE meetup - to be held in the Blue Mountains.

Do a bit of a search - look for NATIONWIDE - and add yourself to the list attending. We've got participants from WA and NSW already. :lol:

Cheers
Chippy

[Mike Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mike]

Will do

[Mike Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mike]

My GME TX3420 UHF is now installed. All went smoothly . I followed Chippy's instructions on this thread to mount the remote head. My only extra suggestion is that a bamboo skewer or two are useful when removing the silver trim either side of the dash.

The radio body was mounted using the aluminium bracket as Chippy suggested. I made it up as shown below.



The bracket then attached to the kick panel and the radio bracket attached.



The radio then slots into it's bracket. Note that mounted it with the antenna and power socket at the top - 180 degrees to the way Chippy did. I then connected the radio up before slotting the kick panel back into place.



And the final result.





Thanks Chippy for your help.

[Mike Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mike]

Thanks Matt. As usual it was Chippy's idea that I used and it has worked really well.

Mike

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

Hi guys

Just picked myself up a 2nd hand GME TX3400 UHF and aerial from a local garage sale for $130 bucks :P

I figured for that price what could go wrong 8)

So stay tuned, Nathan and I are madly going through the installation manual, and reading this and other similar threads, and are psyching ourselves up to see if we can install it today :? :?

Stay tuned guys

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

WHAT A DAY:

My young mate Nathan (aka Stretch) (13 year old son) and I spent the day installing our 2nd hand GME TX 3400 UHF radio in the Prado :P :P

For someone who has never been mechanically or electrically minded I had a great day (albeit painfully slow at times) installing it.

We still have some fine-tuning to do tomorrow and may upgrade the battery connections and stuff but she works fine For $130 bucks I think Nathan and I had a terrific father-son bonding day.

Best of all, I'll have a "proper" base unit for next weekends trip along the Bridle Track :P :P

Thanks again to Chippy, and Mike for your great photographs and advice....

regards Simmo and Stretch

[samo Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close samo]

good to see ya got a uhf simmo. and $130 is a bloody good price, they a vital accesssory and seems like you a nathan hope fun doing it, next thing ya know you will be installing a winch :wink:

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

Thanks Samo.

I really enjoyed it actually. It has given me confidence to try a few more things. Mind you - I still have to get the console/facia back together tomorrow :roll: But she appears to be working fine.

Yep, she's all in now. Very happy.

[Justo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Justo]

I decided to actually install my Icom 400pro after all this time. Thanks to Tonytbts who had done this install before and after seeing his photo I finally got around to installing it on the weekend. Quality of the pic isn't great as it's taken on my mobile, and I just noticed I haven't put the trim back in place for the pic :shock:



And another better shot.

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

nice job Justo.

It's one of the "fiddly" jobs isn't it? but not actually too difficult.

[Justo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Justo]

You're not wrong there, I didn't take any notice of the time but I know I spent quite some time on the file..!! I'm happy with the outcome though, guess thats the main thing.. :lol: 8)