CB Radio & Antenna Installation - 97 4Runner

Closed Thread Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

01-02-2006, 11:00 AM

Bob_98SR5

Registered User

Thread Starter

Join Date: May 2002

Location: Los Angeles

Posts: 10,036

Likes: 0

Received 3 Likes on 2 Posts

CB Radio & Antenna Installation - 97 4Runner

CB and Antenna Install - 97 4Runner

By HBoss

For my CB / Antenna installation I had several goals:

-CB needed to be easily removed at any time, and not leave obvious marks due to mounting

-Antenna had to work well and be easily removed at any time

-Wiring had to be out of the way and clean-looking

I decided to go with the compact CB from Radio Shack, Model TRC-511. It has volume & squelch control, as well as all 40 channels which is all I wanted. I also went with a MaxRad MLB2700 antenna. The antenna costs more than the CB, but from what I've read/heard, the best CB radio with a cheap antenna will never out-perform the cheapest CB radio with a good and properly tuned antenna. Tools needed may vary depending on CB and antenna type.

CB Installation
My CB radio came with a mounting bracket and screws that I elected to use. It's mounted at the bottom of the glove compartment using self-tapping screws. Once the CB is removed, the bracket remains mostly out of the way of my passengers. If I take the bracket off, the screw holes are only visible if you duck your head down and look for them.

As I needed the CB radio to be easily removable, I purchased a 2-prong wiring harness and wire connectors. First I cut the power and ground wire from the CB and used that wiring to tap into power (windshield wiper fuse 20A). The CB only runs 4 watts, which is very small amperage, so I figured this would be great. I only want the CB to turn on when the key is in the "ON" position too.

Now that I have power and ground, I connect the ends of the wiring to one part of the wiring harness. When not in use, it tucks behind the center console, leaving no wires dangling.

Now for the other half of the wiring harness. As I'd already cut the CB radio wires, I simply connect those to the 2nd part of the harness, making sure power will connect to power on the other side, and ground to ground. =)

So now the wiring and mounting for the CB are complete as per the picture below. Don't turn on the CB radio without an antenna plugged in and grounded properly or you could ruin it. I had a magnetic-mounted antenna at the time so I plugged it in to test my CB radio, which worked fine.

Antenna Installation

After having the magnetic antenna mounted on my roof for 6 hours one day, I took a look at the roof when I removed it for the day and realized that in that short time, it had managed to leave 3 circular scratch marks! Nothing that couldn't be power-polished out, but it was not removable by rubbing it with your finger and I'd had enough of that.

I went shopping for a better solution. The antenna needed to have a permanent mount obviously, but I had to be able to remove the antenna easily, as it won't be on all the time. I found a great antenna, to be mounted on the driver side fender, as you'll see below.

After getting the pieces of the puzzle together, it was time to start work.

First, pop up the hood and sand down the area around the bolt for where my bracket/ground will sit. Next, undo the bolt with a 10mm socket wrench and mount the bracket. The bracket comes up between the driver-side fender and the hood and will certainly rattle metal against metal when I hit bumps and so forth, so I bought $4 felt/velvet-looking stick on stuff from Walmart. I put it on either side of the bracket so it doesn't scratch my paint when it moves and doesn't make a sound.

After bolting the bracket in place, I used two crescent wrenches to tighten the antenna base together and started to run the coax wiring.

This is what it looks like without the antenna on, when the hood is closed:

Now to get the wiring from the driver-side fender to the back of the CB radio, under the passenger-side of the dash board. First I sent the coax through the same hole in the rubber grommet as the hood release. This was easy because the coax is so rigid. I simply but it beside the hood release line and pushed it through, piece of cake. Here's a picture of the coax coming out into the interior of the vehicle, under the dash:

Now I wanted the wiring of the coax to be clean and out of the way. I took off the kick panels on both sides and the floor board and ran the wiring underneath. It comes out under the rear of the driver-seat across past the passenger seat, and under the passenger floor board and kick panel. Finally it ends up under the dash and in the back of the CB radio. It was 18' and was the exact length of wire needed to run it all the way around in this fashion. I made sure the coax had no sharp bends or parts where it was being pressed into or interfered with.

The only part of the coax that is really visible is visible from the rear seats, in front of the climate controls:

After running the coax around and behind the CB radio, it was time to put the coax end connector on and tune the antenna. Stripped the outer coax wiring, put on the connectors, dropped a bit of solder on the end of the center line and all done.

I hooked up the SWR meter and did the tuning. Had to cut the antenna shorter and ended up with the following readings:

Channel 1 Ratio - 1.6 : 1

Channel 20 Ratio - 1.2 : 1

Channel 40 Ratio - 1.2 : 1

Incidentally, the CB radio with the coax connected up in the back looks just like the CB picture at the top of this page. There are no wires dangling and everything is tucked cleanly away. I put the floor boards and kick panels back on, and tie-strapped the coax wherever necessary. Double-checked SWR again and it had not changed at all.

The final product: