No Drill Off-Road Ram Ball Mount Testers Wanted

Would this hold a Surface Pro?

 

The ipad mini mount in the photo won't expand far enough. However, if you already have a ram mount for your tablet, the vent mounting point should hold it just fine as long as you don't use too long an arm (less than 4" is okay.)

 

Excellent! I can give you some feedback using my truck as an office with the Surface Pro.

 

There is a company that makes this kind of bracket for 2nd gens. I found it in the forums somewhere.

I want one for a 3rd gen so I can mount a detachable face radio with the rear view mirror.

 

damn if it was for 2nd gen I'm planning on take a trip this weekend

 

@wileydavis

Great ingenuity. Not exactly a location I would want to use personally though.

I am hoping that someone develops a left and right bracket that attaches to the radio mounting screws giving you the ability to place ram ball mounts right above the bezel/dash area.

Something giving options like in the below thread.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/experiments-related-to-using-ram-mounts-above-the-radio.418903/

 

It's not much different than right above the bezel in terms of positioning. The nice thing about the vent location is that the plastic is more rigid there due to the molded curvature than on top like that, so you get almost no flex. This position lets me mount the ipad so that the top edge doesn't obscure the view out the window or the dash screen. I'm going to be running two, one in each center vent.

 

I am talking about pulling the bezel off and mounting to the radio bolts under it. Maybe trimming a bit of the bezel to clear the bracket.

 

@NavyGator - That's probably the way to go for anything heavy or where you want to mount it extended away from the dash. Downside is you'd have to cut the plastic to clear the protrusion.

 

Any thought of doing a 2nd Gen mount?

 

Thoughts? yes. I don't have a 2nd gen, but I'm sure a quick facebook post will locate someone in Bozeman I kind of know who has one I can measure

 

really awesome design. How much weight can this hold? I'll be wanting to use a laptop that can detach and be used as a tablet so I think weight will be an issue for me

 

A laptop would most likely be too heavy. For that it might be best to come up from the seat mount bolt near the transmission tunnel.

 

well I was looking at something like an Acer convertible laptop (10.1" screen), with the bottom it's about 1260 grams or 2.78 lbs. I'd imagine without the keyboard it'd be a lot lighter. Alternatively a Surface pro 3 (10.8" screen) is about 1.4 lbs.

 

1.4lbs might work but 2.78 would be pushing it. A lot too would depend on how you mount it off the ball. A short arm tucked in close, no problem. A long arm sticking straight out from the dash... not a chance. The ipad mini is about 0.7lbs and I'd have no worries about it taxing the dash plastic. If the battery is in the screen portion, the keyboard might not take away that much weight.

There are lots of variables to this, and while heavier objects might work just fine, I designed it to be trouble free for payloads under a pound and rough off-road driving.

 

Exactly what I was hopping to find when I logged in.

Fingers crossed the testing goes well.

 

Id be in for a 2nd gen model too

 

@MTopp

 

I may also be interested in a 2nd gen model possibility and may have some ideas for some additional mounting options so I could mount my ultragauge and a phone. Can one ram ball have two separate arms?

 

@uhplifted @stvstoy