I have previously noted (Post #37) that the rear camera monitor fell down during a trip and I had to glue the windshield mount back on. The mount, which is for a much lighter rear view mirror, detached from the windshield and pulled a chunk of the glass with it. That caused a crack to spread from the damaged area downward. Since then, another crack has emerged spreading from the top of the windshield downward as seen in the picture below.
The monitor is fairly heavy and really puts a lot of stress on the mount. Looking at the reality of replacing the windshield, I was not going to repeat a faulty installation method. So I made a bracket to attach to the Transit's overhead shelf/headliner, on which to hold the monitor. I used materials I had on hand. The color for the bracket was not the best choice for the gray interior, but it doesn't show much.
I attached the bracket to the overhead unit using screws and epoxy glue, and then bolted the monitor mount to the bracket. While the attachment is solid, the whole plastic overhead unit does flex a bit, so the monitor jiggles a little while driving on rough roads. I couldn't position the monitor much further away from the windshield due to the length of the attached electrical cord.
Here is the driver's view. The monitor is now further up and more out of the view to the front. The original mount point is visible in the bottom center of the center solar grid. The arrows point to the cracks that have developed.
We had the same issue with our Orion and it was resolved (so far) by gluing a small metal plate to the windshield, then gluing the monitor to the metal plate. That distributes the stress on the windshield--so far, so good.
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