Certain domains, such as agriculture, forestry, civil construction, and natural disaster scenarios, still pose challenges for perception-based systems, due to the presence of dust, smoke, debris, extreme vibrations, and temperature on critical robotic hardware. Scientists have adopted several strategies to deal with these challenges, mostly platform- or application-specific. This research work analyzes from a theoretical and practical point of view the sensor installation methods on a robotic platform built for harsh environments and their impact on performance and robustness. In addition, it also tests some passive solutions for sensors to better cope with vibrations, dust, and debris. The conclusions drawn and the solutions developed can be generalized to other vehicles and applications, forming data-supported guidelines for sensor installation in vehicles for harsh environments.