I got 2 Off-Road Challenge cabs from my brother for free. Bad power supplies and bad monitors.
Debated the whole CRT vs Lcd for a couple of weeks. Finally broke down and bought 2 – 32″ Insignia Lcd’s. One showed up smashed so I only got one installed.
There is 28.5″ from left to right side in the cab. The Insignia 32″ is 29″. So I had to dremel off 1/4″ of the plastic bezel to get it to fit. Even then it was tight.
I used a Cga/Ega to Vga converter and put it in 4:3 aspect ratio. So no stretching. I put the original 25″ crt bezel back in and the screen is centered in it perfectly. Exactly 20″ x 15″
The picture quality is perfect. Overall I’m 100% happy.
I had a few people ask about how I did this so here’s a rough guide.
1st the mounting. You will need to use the original 25″ CRT corner brackets. They will be moved back to the back mounting holes. That means only using one bolt on the bottom brackets and two bolts on the top brackets. But it’s not a problem as the LCD is so much lighter than the crt.
Now we’ll be using some 1 3/8″ 4′ Slotted Flat Metal Bar. You’ll need 2 pieces.
Cut the 4′ pieces in half. 2 -24″ for the horizontal and I think it was around 22″ for the vertical pieces. I mounted them with a small bolt and locking nut.
Next, we will get the monitor ready. Some plastic needs to be removed from each side.
First, take the back off. It’s very easy, around 20 or so screws and the back pops off.
Now take out the 3 screws from each end.
I used a Dremel cut-off wheel for the next part.
This part looks difficult but it’s really not. On the top half of the LCD Dremel off the ends. 2 small cuts on each end and the side plastic pops off.
You can see on one end that there are ffc’s. I taped these back so they wouldn’t catch anything.
On the back plastic, you will need to trim the plastic about 1/4″ down the entire side. See the pic, you will trim right up to the edge of the screw holes on each side
Put the back of the TV back together and mount it in the Arcade cab.