tv replacement advice

[pattcook]

My old RCA front tv went out on my 03 35u suncruiser. I have 29" between the cabinets with the metal cage removed. About 28.5" with the cage. I see many have used a 32" flatscreen as a replacement. The width of the smallest 32" tv,s are over 30". Any suggestions on how to get a 32" set in there? thanks- John

[texnet]

I mounted my 32" in front of the cabinet...

[cbeierl]

Here's how I did mine: Front LCD TV install in 2005 Vectra (Long) . I needed to cut out some of the steel box and also route out a bit of the maple face frame to make everything fit.

[Wayne M]

John,
I had the same situation, but in the middle of the coach, fortunately. The tv installed by the manufacturer was 30", but filled at 35-3/4" opening. It weight 117 pounds. I wanted a bigger and lighter tv. I went out with my trusty pocket tape measure from store to store. it was kind of funny when the salesperson would come up and say, "You have to measure diagonally for size." Of course I would reply, "Not if you want to see if it fits in a hole-in-the-wall."

Anyhow, I found a Panasonic that was about 1/2 inch smaller than the opening in the wall. I had to modify the mount and I put in a full articulating arm. So, make some store trips and you may be able to get a 30" diagonal that fits in your square hole.

The problem with the tv's that have a very small border around them, like the one I purchased, is that the speakers are underneath the front border. So the articulating arm allows me to pull it out for the tv speakers to be heard easily. When moving, I just use a couple straps to hold in in the hole.

Also, the newer model televisions may not have RCA phono outputs for audio, like in the link from Chris having to solder wires to the speaker. I went a different route. I spent a couple (many) bucks and got a digital to audio converter. Now I have surround (imitated) sound through all the MH's speakers.

Good luck - happy measuring.

[ron55]

I installed a mount just inside the wood moulding and hung a 32" on it now about 4 years old

[Clay L]

You can see pictures of my 32 inch TV installation HERE.

You can remove the oak frame around the TV by prying out the wood plugs (6 of them I think) and taking the Phillips head screws out.The TV is held in place by a strap arrangement. There are two nuts that must be removed to disassemble the strap. Not much access room so it took a while to unscrew the nuts - one on each side.
The TV weighs about 55 pounds so it might be good to have two people to take it out but I did it alone.

Winnebago uses a steel cage in the cabin area made of rectangular steel tubing. The steel framework for the overhead cabinet is attached to it.

I made two sides, top, back and bottom out of 3/4 inch plywood.
Probably overkill but I wanted 3/4 on the right side where I installed the articulating arm for strength and I just wanted to buy one sheet of plywood.

The arm is held with two 1/4 inch bolts with fender washers under the nuts. The top one goes through the steel framework Winnebago uses around the cabinet.
I put the back piece of plywood in last so it could be easily removed to have access to the area behind the cabinet to run wires to the electronics in the cabinets on each side. (5 disc DVD/CD/Mp3 player, receiver amplifier, satellite receiver, Wilson cellphone amplifier, Wilson Trucker cellphone antenna downlead coax, and and Verizon aircard).

Before installing the plywood pieces I covered them with laminate flooring left over from my flooring project. I stole that idea from pace89. If you search for his user name he has a good post showing what he did.

I had to trim about 1/4 inch off the cabinet doors on each side of the TV. A little Light Oak stain and some polyurethane varnish and you can't tell they were trimmed.

A couple of the pictures show what I used for the travel hold downs. I put some weather stripping on the back to protect the TV face.They (the pictures) aren't real good but they make help you get started and know what is behind the existing TV.

[Steve N Sal]

Short of trimming the cabinet doors on either side I don't know how you could get it in there. I am assuming when you say "cabinets" on either side that is what you meant. We have cabinets on both sides in our situation as well be the doors are mounted far enough over not to interfere with a tv. I had a oak door that hinges from the top made to cover the opening where the tv used to be but have not decided to mount the tv back there yet. If I should decide to do that I will mount it right to the face of the door. For now the tv is on a stand and seems much more comfortable to watch being at eye level when your sitting down. At least for us.

[BBBEEBOP]

Here's a good site with descriptions and pictures of how other owners have accomplished the TV conversion. Good Luck!
Survey of CRT TV to LCD replacements

[dirko]

Hi Ho: We have the save coach as you do. I simply removed the plastic face on the surround, took out the old TV, mounted the 32 inch on a piece of plywood and fastened it to a 2x2 support on the top and use the metal support below. I started out to use a TV mount, but found there is no advantage because there is no better way to aim the TV than straight ahead.

I used some red oak on the top and bottom and used kerf bends on the piece that goes around the plastic enclosure. The trick to matching the finish is to use the correct toner on the oak.

I can take some pictures and give you the details if you want and I get a few minutes.

Dirk

[pattcook]

Dirko- thanks for the reply- How wide was your tv. Was the opening wide enough. Pictures would help.- thanks John

[Robi.1014]

I chose one of the new very-thin TVs. In the case of my Vizio 32" LED/LCD "Razor" HDTV, the very left- and right- edge are only about half an inch in depth. As you probably know, as recently as 2 years ago, the "thinnest edge" HDTV was on the order of 2 inches.

So with a TV with "very thin edges", I dropped my concern that the TV would not fit inside the width of the existing cabinet. Boy!!!...did that make the install issue go away!!

[Stevegd007]

Originally Posted by cbeierl

Here's how I did mine: Front LCD TV install in 2005 Vectra (Long) . I needed to cut out some of the steel box and also route out a bit of the maple face frame to make everything fit.

cbeierl, what is a "wart"? and what is it need for? Do all replacement TV's installed like you did need to have the wart, or is this only for the Vizio? I have no clue what this is needed for. Thanks.

[cbeierl]

Originally Posted by Stevegd007

cbeierl, what is a "wart"? and what is it need for? Do all replacement TV's installed like you did need to have the wart, or is this only for the Vizio? I have no clue what this is needed for. Thanks.

The 'wart' was on the original Sony TV, added by Winnebago to provide volume-controlled sound output to connect into the sound system. It was just soldered to the TV speaker terminals and it terminates in a couple of female RCA jacks. I don't know what's in the black 'wart', but I imagine that it provides some filtering or something. Since my new Vizio didn't have adjustable audio output via RCA jacks either I just transferred the 'wart' to the new TV.

[dirko]

Hi Ho: Robi has it right. The 32 inch Visio LCD will fit just fine between the cabinets with about 1/2 inch to the cabinet doors on both sides. Costco had them on sale a couple of months ago. You really only need a filler on top and bottom and the hard part is the piece that is horizontal and wraps the plastic enclosure.

The advantage to a LCD TV (besides being very thin) is that it uses only about 1/2 the power of a plasma set. The LED lighting works fine for us. The only potential problem is that LCD displays can be destroyed by very cold temperatures. So far it has not been a problem here in Utah (down to about 10 deg. F.). Maybe this is not a problem for you as I didn't look for your location.

Dirk

[pace89]

Replaced original CRT with 32" LCD. 2004 Winnebago 35N.
Photos of that & other projects at: Picasa Web Albums - Maurice Therrien

[pattcook]

Well after considering everything I finally started this project. Pulled out the old tv and steel cage. I bought a 32" toshiba led. It fits perfectly over the hole covering the edge of the cabinet by half an inch on each side. It was the only tv I could find that had an analog audio out . I am in the process of mounting it now. Using some 3/4 plywood and hangers. Not really too hard of a project once you can get it pictured in your mind what is going on. Thanks to all.- John

[CaptBill]

Originally Posted by pattcook

Well after considering everything I finally started this project. Pulled out the old tv and steel cage. I bought a 32" toshiba led. It fits perfectly over the hole covering the edge of the cabinet by half an inch on each side. It was the only tv I could find that had an analog audio out . I am in the process of mounting it now. Using some 3/4 plywood and hangers. Not really too hard of a project once you can get it pictured in your mind what is going on. Thanks to all.- John

John, please post pictures of your work in progress, for the rest of us to see. I am in the process right now, of replacing the bedroom TV with a 26" flatscreen. In fact, UPS delivered the wall-mount just this afternoon. The front TV will be next. I'm interested to see how you go about it, as I am sure, are others.

[tderonne]

I did what John describes. I posted it it here: CRT replacement thread in posts 146 and 153. Just one quick picture there though. Getting the metal frame out did require cutting some metal, but it was actually quite eye opening to see how poorly the whole setup was installed. It's a wonder the old TV didn't take itself down.

[Snomas1]

Has anyone found a 32" led that is only 29" wide. I have the same problem w/ only 29 1/4" between cabinet doors.

[pattcook]

Its far easier to get a set thats 30"- 31" and let it overlap 1/2" or so on each side. Does away with any type of molding to cover any gap and looks far better. -John