MOUNTING QUESTION?

My installer says that mounting the Blinder M-40 behind the grill of my F150 is no problem because it is made of plastic. The grill is a new Ford billet style, made for the new FX2. I had it panted black and it has about half inch spaces between the bars. Blinders are to be mounted to the plastic shroud in front of the radiator. This is about six inches or so fron the back of grill. The shroud has some flex to it but he says when hood is closed it will stiffen up with hood pressing on it.

This seems to go against most of what I have read here. My impression is that it is best to mount heads forward of any obstructions. But there is not much option since the grills are attached to the hoods and raise up with the hood. there is one small brace behind the grill in the center, about three eights of an inch running horizonally. The grill also curves back on the right and left ends. I dont see cutting the grill bars even if there was something behind to mount to much of a option. I have three Blasters in the front and three in back, one over each plate. I have no chrome. The body color is two tone with dark gray lower and silver upper. Headlamps are dark gray.

They will be finnishing up tomorow so any help from you guys tonight would be great.

if i read that correctly, mounting that far back is going to hinder performance, probably to a great degree, if not make them useless.

i'm thinking his "plastic" remark is referring to radar maybe, but not laser.
if you block those heads they'll do you no good.

as for mounting on the grill since it lifts with the hood, it can be done.
they just need to route the wires up and find a way to tie them up as it runs over to where the lifts are. run the cords down that with a few zip ties, not too tight to allow for flex, and down.
it can be done, because i did that for my truck.

go with your instincts here. get them forward like you said.


also, make sure they don't follow the curve of the grill, since the heads need to be straight on.

good luck. maybe someone else with a similar truck has some other options.

Thank you for your responce. I have to admit Im a littel surprised and disappointed on how few responces I received from the members of this board.

The plastic grill is what I was speaking of in my question. The next morning before returning to the installers I down loaded the Blinder manual (since installer had mine) and read that any obstruction would be a problem. Since they had already installed them behind the grill several inches I requested they leave me enough cable to relocate them. I will fabricate a new mount and have them relocated.

After leaving the installers I had three hits on the way home, one just two blocks away from the instalation shop. I purchased a M40 & M20 and have three heads in front, one over licence a the other two located behind grill next to the headlamps. The rear is the same with heads between tail gate and bumper. I had the led's mounted above and below for the front and rear on the console, with a single switch to turn them both off. On all hits I received both leds and audio alerts went off. Is this normal or a instalation mistake. Would the common off switch be a problem?

To work the blinder heads need a clear view of the road. when I say clear I mean 100% unobstructed

sounds like an install error.
basically they crossed the wires and plugged one of the front wires into the rear box.
my front and rear Blinders are the same way, with a common power switch, and separate led's front and rear.

find the boxes and see if you can figure out front/rear.

if you're not sure, you can do the trial and error method, since the blinder has the 30 second test mode, plug one or more front ones in, have someone hit a remote and watch the alerts. hopefully there's a group coming from each end to make it easier.

also, definately mount them forward, like cVr said, 100% unobstructed.

good luck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimntex

After leaving the installers I had three hits on the way home, one just two blocks away from the instalation shop. I purchased a M40 & M20 and have three heads in front, one over licence a the other two located behind grill next to the headlamps. The rear is the same with heads between tail gate and bumper. I had the led's mounted above and below for the front and rear on the console, with a single switch to turn them both off. On all hits I received both leds and audio alerts went off. Is this normal or a instalation mistake. Would the common off switch be a problem?

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How did you have (want) them installed? Front heads on one controller and rear heads on the other? If that's the case, only the front LED should have lit if hit from the front. If both lit up, they must have got the wiring for the heads mixed up, so one or more heads in the front are wired to the "rear" Blinder controller.

If you know where the controllers were placed, you should be able to swap the connectors around to correct this. If the connectors aren't labeled, you may have to use trial and error to figure out which one is which. Disconnect all but one head, power up the Blinders and hit the heads with a remote control until you find the head that's connected. Label that wire, and repeat for each of the heads. Once you know which wires go where, plug the front heads into one controller and the rear heads into the other.

Thanks everone for your responces. Since the installer had already mounted the fronts to far behind the grill I will fabricate a bracket and relocate them. Racer X I think you may if hit the nail on the head as to why both are alerting. Everthing is located behind the dash console and I have no idea how to get back there. I have to return to the installers anyway due to a bad out of the box Pioneer AVIC-Z1. I think I will try and order another head from R.R. and have them mount on each side of licence plate as sugested in instructions.