# Digital Temperature Gauge on Brute? Is this a bad idea?



## BruteForceParts (Jul 30, 2011)

I saw this digital temperature gauge on EBay and I was thinking about buying it and tapping directly into my thermostat housing to gather the coolant temperature info. What do you guys think? I haven’t seen anyone use a digital gauge yet. Why is that? 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/52mm...ccessories&hash=item519b2c5a4d#ht_3729wt_1253


----------



## rmax (Nov 21, 2009)

only problem i see more electronics to put into an enviorment ,thats hard on electrical equipment, as for tapping houseing ,just add a tee close to the thermostat houseing outlet, i have looked at a brute houseing did not realy see a place i would trust to tap , other than were the orginal sensor goes but thought it would be to thin after drilling an tapping for a manual probe


----------



## NMKawierider (Apr 11, 2009)

I wish there was a tap in the water jacket at one of the heads or cylinder....but Nnnooooo.. That should be the hottest point and where I would like to take a reading.


----------



## 2010Bruterider (Jun 20, 2010)

My son n law put a set of digital gauges on his Brute. He put the gauges in his snorkles. They work well and look pretty cool too. We just put a tee in the radiator hose for the sending unit.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk


----------



## BruteForceParts (Jul 30, 2011)

I don’t go in water like some of you guys do so I think I’m going to go for it. The only reason I was planning to tap the thermostat housing is because I read an article from VForceJohn about is and he said that it would be cheaper than and just as effective as running a “T”. Plus I have an extra housing that I can play around with and try to tap and if it doesn’t work I won’t be totally hosed.


----------



## brute574 (Aug 10, 2011)

I put mine in the housing, Work GREAT. Drill and tap were the Fac one should have been, watch out you don't hit the Thermastat with the drill


----------



## BruteForceParts (Jul 30, 2011)

Ya, John mentioned taking the thermostat out as to avoid hitting it with the drill bit. I learned that from a friend a long time ago who tried to drill a couple of holes in his front rack to install an audio tube. He ended up with two holes through his plastics after the drill but jumped through the rack and through the plastics. He was pissed. 

I still don’t understand why these things don’t have temp gauges from the factory. I’m sure dealerships could have saved themselves thousands of dollars of warranty engine rebuilds by spending the $50 and installing a temp gauge themselves when they are assembling the bike from the crate. I’m sure there’s some policy against it though. It just doesn’t make any sense.


----------



## mcpyro3 (Feb 23, 2011)

I put a digital temp guage on mine and havent had a prob yet been on 3 rides so far. I put it in my belt intake snorkel with a t and put a bead of silcone around the edge to hold it in and ran the wires out the back and sealed the hole back up with silcone also as for the sensor i just made a t like in the how to section and put it the hose just before the thermostat the hottest i've been was 210 but it was 98 out and we had alot of dry sandy trials were riding normally mine runs about 180-190


----------



## brutemike (Mar 23, 2010)

mcpyro3 said:


> I put a digital temp guage on mine and havent had a prob yet been on 3 rides so far. I put it in my belt intake snorkel with a t and put a bead of silcone around the edge to hold it in and ran the wires out the back and sealed the hole back up with silcone also as for the sensor i just made a t like in the how to section and put it the hose just before the thermostat the hottest i've been was 210 but it was 98 out and we had alot of dry sandy trials were riding normally mine runs about 180-190


 Just a heads up you might want to face those two vent tubes on your rad bracket downward so no water or dirt can just fall rite in.


----------



## wyo58 (May 13, 2011)

BruteForceParts, are you going to put that sensor below (engine side) the thermostat? That would be the ideal place as above the thermostat would only give you readings when it's open.


----------



## roadstarjohn1978 (Jul 14, 2011)

My only concern with the digital gauge was would I be able to see it in the sunlight? Thats why I went with a regular gauge.


----------



## mcpyro3 (Feb 23, 2011)

brutemike said:


> Just a heads up you might want to face those two vent tubes on your rad bracket downward so no water or dirt can just fall rite in.


 
ya i didnt think about that when i ran them up but when i get a chance before our next ride i will re run them..thanks for the heads up


and as far as seeing mine i dont have any problems sunlight or not when u take pics u get the glare on the camera but actually sitting on the brute it's fine and it looks really sweet at night lol


----------



## Holykaw (Aug 1, 2010)

http://www.jtatv.com/ATV_and_Snowmobile_Water_Heat_Temperature_Gauge_p/di-100.htm

Water proof. Comes with everything needed.


----------



## tmfisher57 (Aug 8, 2011)

$120.00 seems a bit stiff to me.  Gonna do mine a bit cheaper than that, very convenient though.


----------



## wcs61 (Jun 7, 2011)

BruteForceParts said:


> Ya, John mentioned taking the thermostat out as to avoid hitting it with the drill bit.
> 
> .


i don't understand why anyone would not remove the cover and thermostat when drilling a hole. Seems you'd want to keep the metal shavings from the drill out of the system.


----------



## mcpyro3 (Feb 23, 2011)

tmfisher57 said:


> $120.00 seems a bit stiff to me.  Gonna do mine a bit cheaper than that, very convenient though.


 

i agree thats a bit too much i payed $64 for my guage on jegs and a couple of bucks for some silcone to seal it up


----------



## brute574 (Aug 10, 2011)

wcs61 said:


> i don't understand why anyone would not remove the cover and thermostat when drilling a hole. Seems you'd want to keep the metal shavings from the drill out of the system.


Grease on the Drill bit will keep the shavings from Getting inside.


----------

