Mounting a dash cam legally

There are several things to keep in mind when mounting anything in your cab, especially near or on the windshield. In addition to the suction cup being illegal in some states you also have to look for the A1S line on the top of your windshield, nothing can be mounted below this line, even if it does not interfere with the wiper sweep, nor can anything be mounted more than 4 inches from the bottom of your windshield. The perimeter is also off limits (I see so many gps devices mounted eye level on the left side of the window). Some brands of driver camera have a FMCSA exemption that allows mounting on the windshield outside of these parameters but these are usually only the ones the big fleets use such as DriveCam.

I mounted the camera in my Volvo from the passenger sunvisor, it hangs down and just as close to the windshield as if I used the suction cup, is not below the A1S line, and is not mounted to the windshield so even if it did come below the line most states couldn't say anything about it. In another of our trucks, the KW, the camera along with the gps is mounted on top of the cb radio on the factory installed cb dash bracket (DOT can't say anything about obstructed view if using a factory installed bracket), and in our 2 little GMC trucks the camera is mounted to the back of an automotive style rear view mirror in the center of the windshield, just like they factory does on modern cars.

 

When I start putting my W9 back together, I'm mounting my camera permanently to the roof beside the cd player.

 

I get often a different truck. So, I made my own holders for the cameras. I make my own brackets also. I glue the braket to the windshield and hang in the camera. I made the holders and the brakets so that they fit into the trucks and my cars also. So for me it is eay to change it.

 

That's what I would do. Get heavy-duty adhesive-backed hook-and-loop (made of plastic) and attach a piece of lexan underneath the CB to attach your suction cup to. Then run an external speaker.

 

Good one CAV21. I'm gonna use that one.