RAM Mount question for the new iPad3

[sae70]

I'm on the cusp of buying a RAM Mount system for the new iPad and will be using the RAM Mount TAB-TITE™ as the device holder. RAM seem to offer this holder with the 1" diameter ball mounting system and on paper this should be fine for securely holding the iPad in place as even with an Otter Defender Case fitted the whole lot weighs in just under 1000grams (1Kg) and the 1" system is capable of holding up to 2250grams (2.25Kg), so it should be fine I guess But it does play on my mind slightly that off road can be a tad bumpy on occasion and I may be better getting the 1.5" mounting system capable of holding up to 4500grams (4.5Kg) or would this be overkill There's always the 3.38" diameter ball mounting system to consider

What's your thoughts or experiences with the different sizes of the RAM mounting systems

http://www.ram-mount.co.uk/tabtite%C3%8 ... 0_673.html

 

[Gary Stockton]

You're probably ok with that size on the tablet - but go up if it helps the confidence. More important, I discovered, was the vertical mount - I went with the single leg mount and it's a pain - all over the place when on the move so I need to make up a brace for it to attach to the dash as well, and hope that stabilises it.

Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Is there such a thing as a solid Ram mount install? The ones I've seen seem to shake quite badly.

 

[Chas]

I've got a single arm Ram mount on my 80 it bolts under the passenger seat mounting point, and with a very heavy laptop, a Panasonic Toughbook, it doesn't wobble about at all, mind you that's only been used on tarmac so I don't know how it would cope off-road but I was pleasantly surprised at how solid it was

 

[AndyCook]

mine hasnt shaken too much with a 7" galaxy tab on it - even when offroad - doesnt hit the dash for example

 

[sae70]

OK made my mind up and plumped for the following items after much thinking and soul searching

Decided to go with the larger 1.5" components option over the recommended 1" ones


So, I've bought one of these;
1.5" BALL BASE WITH HEX NUT AND 0.25"-20 HOLE Part Number: RAM-337

I'm going to mount this on a home made bracket sticking out of a slot in the center console trim roughly where the yellow circle is in this photo.

Then coming from off of that I'm going to have one of these;
9" DOUBLE 1.5" BALL LONG SOCKET ARM Part Number: RAM-201-D

Then on the end of that one of these;
DIAMOND BASE WITH 1.5" BALL Part Number: RAM-238

And then fitted to that the device holder;
TAB-TITE™ HOLDER FOR THE NEW APPLE IPAD 3

 

[Julian Voelcker]

Is there such a thing as a solid Ram mount install? The ones I've seen seem to shake quite badly.

I've had success with mounting onto the gearbox tunnel for customers, but results in lots of arms in the way.

For myself I have mounted directly on the dash with a home grown sandwich mount which is steady enough for my CF-19......

 

[sae70]

What size balls do you have there Julian

 

[Julian Voelcker]

No idea, inch and a half I think.

The key with any dash board mounts is to use a metal plate inside and outside the dash to clamp it.

 

[sae70]

So, bits from RAM arrived Went for the 1.5" components in the end as thought better to be over the top than not

Made a bracket

Fitted it

Painted it

Re-fitted it

Routed sync & charge lead behind console & out through a little hole

Fitted RAM mount kit

Fitted iPad into TAB-TITE & Fired up Memory Map

Couple of concerns, but nothing major I'm not over the moon with the single bolt hole mounted 1.5" Ball on the dash and although I've fitted it with two anti shake washers either side of the mounting plate and thread lock on the bolt and tightened it as far as I dare plus a bit, but being cautious as it is only ally I'm not convinced it will remain tight for ever So I'm looking at getting a ball mounted on a base that I can shape to fit my bracket then drill through and mount with two or three bolts nice and tight Although there's no up and down movement in the whole set up there's some side to side movement I've not taken her for a spin with it all fitted as yet but I'm not sure that a little movement isn't such a bad thing If it's to much I already have a small bracket modification in mind that should significantly reduce most of the side to side movement if required. Otherwise I'm very

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Very tidy. Might the side to side movement be in the bracket you fabricated and the panel it's mounted to flexing? Looks like it's only fixed in one plane and it would only take slight flex there to give quite a bit of movement at the device end.

So where are you buying your RAM balls and bits from then I'll be sorting my 80 out with a screen on top of the centre of the dash soon and will probably have a flip up mount like I did in the 100 but it wouldn't hurt to look at what commercial solutions there are as well

EDIT: Just read the first post again

 

[sae70]

Very tidy

Thank you

Might the side to side movement be in the bracket you fabricated and the panel it's mounted to flexing? Looks like it's only fixed in one plane and it would only take slight flex there to give quite a bit of movement at the device

Yes you are bang on for sure To be fair the amount of movement is not offensive and far less than that in my mobile phone holder that you can see in the photos. I'm more concerned about the single fixing point on the lower ball than the side to side movement. I think that most of this movement can be lost with a couple of V' large self tappers through the front edge of the bracket into the main dash just behind where it turns at ninety degrees below the passenger air bag.

edit - They sat a photo says a thousand words

Like as demonstrated by the two white circles in this picture

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

That looks like it should work

 

[Red Oktober]

Like that, ... like that a lot

 

[sae70]

Up-date..............

I've been living with the mount for a couple of days now with the iPad mounted and running MM The side to side wobble seems far less with the weight of the iPad in it and is no issue at all in terms of being able to effectively use the and view the iPad. That said I'm still going to go ahead with the modification to the bracket that I discussed with Jon earlier on in this thread, that was to drill a couple of holes near to the front edge/return of the dashboard and pop a couple of large self tappers in. Just need to make a little 4mm spacer up out of a bit of flat bar as there's a gap between the bracket and the dash at this point.

I do however have a problem with length though When I ordered all of the components from RAM I went for the longer (longest) double ball arm on the basis that closer is better and when I'm driving between my house and any weekends adventure Robert my son could be playing Angry Birds (bloody Angry Birds ) or watching a film on it, so the longer arm would also put the iPad in a better position for him. BUT although it's nice and close and easy to reach and read, it is invading my personal space some what So I'm seriously considering buying the standard length double ball arm just to move it all a little further away from me JON what was that you were saying about replacing your standard arm for the short one

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I am going to wait until I've got my PC installed and have lived with it for a bit before I potentially get a short arm Steven, just in case the standard length arm turns out to be the best compromise between being able to reach the screen and having it close to the windscreen. I think I would want both to keep my options open anyway sorry

Has your truck got a passenger airbag ? Only asking in case it has and you haven't thought about what will happen if it goes off with an ipad in front of it ...

EDIT: You would be more than welcome to give my standard length arm a try at Lincomb if you want to try before you buy and can wait that long

 

[sae70]

Update

I spent this weekend doing some laning with my two boys while the girls were doing something PINK back at home

The iPad was awsome And used in conjunction with my Garmin Nuvi Sat-Nav at the end of each lane I had spoken directions to exactly the start of the next lane (I spent 30min the previous evening transferring way point co-ordinates from Memory-map on the iPad across to address locations on the Garmin with the same Pin names). Every thing was excellent except for the length of the arm as it really does put the iPad into my personal space. So I went out first thing this week and bought the shortest arm and its now the perfect install Very pleased I'm probably not even going to do the Vibration mod either as it was all fine even with the long arm and so not really required

Oh - I've also set my new iPhone up as a WiFi HotSpot so I had full internet access on the iPad as well

Long arm

Long arm

Short arm

 

[Gav Peter]

Vay good Ste - looks the mutts

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

That looks more useful

 

[sae70]

Thanks guys

You were bang on with regards the length of the arm and thus the position of the screen there Jon