| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
Just wondering if any of the tinkerers out there had disassembled a Garmin Quest II gps before. I love my Q2 so far, it's doing everything I want it to...but it just sticks out like a sore thumb on the Uly. I'm thinking about taking the cases off the unit and painting them matte black, to better blend with the Uly handlebars. The titanium color it's painted from Garmin is a pretty close match for the engine cases...but they're way down on the bottom of the bike, lol. My main concern is, the unit is advertised as "waterproof" - is that from o-rings that, if I'm careful, can be reused? Or is it from one-time-only sealer? Also, while I have it apart...anyone have a DOA with the "Buell" joystick button? Just noticed last night they have backlighting in there, it'd be neat to have the Buell logo light up at night (I know, I'm a dork)  | ||
| Chadr81 |
The closest I've had mine disassembled was when it fell out of the cradle in St Louis, during a trip from Appleton, Wisconsin to St Louis Missouri - to see a Marine Corps friend. It was fine when it hit the road, but didn't favor well when the truck ran it over.... Now I'm almost 500 miles from home without my GPS. I pulled over and went back to pick it up... it was still working!! Smashed beyond all belief and no longer waterproof, I stopped at a local Best Buy down there and picked up an external antenna connection. Stuck it all in a plastic bag and then in the clear map pocket on my tankbag. Made it the entire way back. Best part was, I called Garmin and told them it fell out of the mount and they sent me a replacement Quest II and a cradle. Good service. Now on to your question... When looking at it all fallen apart, I don't recall if it had rubber or foam gaskets. I would just start out by taking out the 6 small screws on the back and see it it comes apart without forcing it. I'm guessing that's how they take them apart to do any type of warranty work, so I'd start there. Hope you can get a little chuckle out of this and it helps you a little bit.  | ||
| Reepicheep |
They will come apart and go together fine, its a big rubber oring like gasket. There is a little spring to tension the antenna, don't let it go rocketing across the shop. I think parts are glued into the case though... so I don't think you will want to paint it that way. Probably better off leaving it sealed and masking carefully. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well, that's good. As long as the external seal(s) is/are reusable, I'm not worried about the componentry inside. I used to do component level repair work on computerized concert lighting systems... I'll pull the covers off slowly and see what I find inside. My main concern is the screen - my masking "skills" will guarantee that either I a) miss part of the side of the screen, b) mask the whole screen and a portion of the case that I'm trying to paint, or c) cut into the screen as I'm cutting my masking tape. I've seen me work. Murphy's law follows me around like a raincloud, lol. Thanks for the info, though. I'll keep everyone posted, progress or no | ||
| Froggy |
Took my Q1 apart to attempt to troubleshoot the antenna, and somehow made it worse.  If you want to swap the buttons, mine has the Buell button on it. Thats where the $500 markup went  | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well, I got mine apart and the Q2, once you open it, is still wired together. And the battery/power connections are epoxied into the backside, and I think the frontside stuff was also expoxied. So I buttoned it up and spent 30 minutes or so with a razor blade and some packing tape, masking it off. Since it's 10 degrees here, I sprayed it in the kitchen (wife LOVED that, lol) with rustoleum textured plastic "direct to plastic" black paint. Missed a couple spots where the masking hung over the sides of the buttons (damn things are tiny) so I touched them up with HD Texture Black touchup paint and it looks OK. You can see where touchup was used...but it's black now, and should blend a lot better with the handlebars. First insertion/removal will determine how well the "direct to plastic" paint holds up. And the texture might cause issues too - the antenna flips MUCH more stiffly with the paint in there, not nearly as much clearance as before. <shrug> Worst case, paint wears off. Patina makes it less likely to get swiped, lol. | ||
| Reepicheep |
That antenna hinge is actually a snap on bayonet like connector. It's like a super mini version of the normal antennae MCX connector. So you can easily get that off as well (remove the bracket at the far right as you face the back of the case, and pull / pry to apply pressure directly along the rotation axis of the hinge). In other words, pry to the right. | ||
| Reepicheep |
And I am with you on the patina thing... I bought a parts Quest on ebay that was broken and had (apparently) been driven over. I got it working, so it's the "dedicated bike GPS" now, and the big hack across the front of the case and on the screen never actually bothers me when I am navigating, but makes it look much less tempting to a casual thief. |
