Ok, i am about to embark on a 1500 mile trip while towing a trailer in a few weeks and i want to get a few guages so i can moniter my new to me 4runner.

My question is this:

What guages should i get and why? Tranny temp is a given as i will be towing and it is texas most of the way. but i think i will have room for 3 guages and i don't know what other 2 i should get.

Then once i have them i was woundring where others have mounted there guages? Ihave seen gadgets write up on putting them above the radio but i can't seem to find a good install write up. So is that the best place? I can't fork out the $100 for a pillar pod right now so it needs to be cheap and look good.

And lastly what guages have ya'll got? How much did you pay?

 

Please don't take me as rude. However, I feel that if your budget can't handle $100 for a pillar pod, your budget wouldn't be able to handle decent gauges. I know that there are cheap gauges out there. But, if you cut corners on gauges, you are sacrificing accuracy and possibly reliability.

That's just my two cents. I hope you have a trouble free trip.

 

You do have a point but i intend to get good guages, not top of the line nessesarly but good. I just bought the truck and had the timing belt/water pump done. so i am a little dry in the wallet right now lol.

Plus i want to save the pillar pod guages for the boost ect... gauges when i get the SC.

 

I only had spots for two gauges. I used Oil and Trans temperature gauges. Oil pressure is important, but I use an alarm rather than a gauge for that function.

I don?t know which gen of 4R you have but there are pros and cons to pillar pods on the 01 tacoma.

Have a good trip.

 

Where did you mount yours?

And i have a 3rd gen 2000 4runner limited. I need to get a sig...

 

Here's what I've done on my 3rd gen>



Oil Pressure, Tranny Temp, Volts

Here's a shot at Night>



*I Molded my A-Pillar Pod from one for a 94 Integra*

 

That looks good, so the intagra will fit 3rd gens?

Did it fit fine or did you have to do a lot of modding? It looks good!

 

depending on the size of the gauges you want to use, you can fit either two or three in the DIN slot by the radio. If you have a double-DIN deck or are using the space for something else like a CB radio, you can also mount at least one on top of the steering column on the flat area w/o blocking too much of your instrument cluster.

besides the trans temp, you might want to consider oil temp, oil pressure, or voltmeter for monitoring.

 

x2....Don't cheap on gauges, you're are gonna spend at least $150 for 3 good gauges, and about $60 on a pillar if you choose to mount them that way.

 

That is exactly why i am asking, so what is a good brand of guages?

I know i deal with paintball gun a LOT and the pressure guages on them are all the same wether you spend $50 or $5.

And i don't have a clue what a good brand guage is.

 

Stick with autometer gauges. You don't have to get the top of the lines ones, but you'll spend a good $50 on just one.

 

You'll have to cut a section off the the top and bottom, then use a heat gun to flatten out the winshield side of the pod. took me about an 1.5 hr to make it fit well!!



I second that AutoMeters are a good buy, depending on what look your going for, they will have a gauge for you! for ex. Black face, White Face, LED, Indiglo (I'm use'n the Lunar Series Gauges)

 

What other Pillar mounts are available out there?

I never seem to have much luck finding stuff like this from my local truck shop.

 

I used the LoTec pillar pod.

BTW, I used VDO gauges. I've had good luck with Steward Warner gauges too.

 

Order from lotek online....they will paint to match and have good customer service and quick shipping.

 

you can check online stores.. or perhaps ebay.. good luck hope you find one. anyways, my brother got these autometer installed to his ride.

 

I recently got Autometer oil press/water temp 2" gauges, they were $45. O'Reilly's does price-matching so the counter guy called all over and found the cheapest price for similar gauges and beat that price for me (the guys up there are great). Mine happened to bolt it just perfect where the ashtray goes, looks like they were made to go there. I never used the ashtray anyway.
I'm going to get more gauges & 4Crawler's page has a link to 2 & 3 A-Pillar pods at http://www.well.com/user/mosk/gaugepillars.htm. Not sure of the year of your truck but that link is for 84-95's in the $60-$70 range, includes postage.
Mitzi

 

just bolt em to the top of the dash