fenrisx

Alright.. I've already got my antenna mount and antenna installed on the rear hatch using a door jamb mount.

I was just wondering where you guys routed the coax cable?

I don't want to just run the coax into the rear area.. I was hoping that maybe I could pop the plastic part of the bumper off and run it there somewhere..and find a plug in the body to run it through... if this makes sense.

In my 04 double cab there was a drain plug(I guess that's what it's called?) behind the back seat that I ran the coax through...

I just don't want to go pulling on that plastic part of the bumper and it not go back on.


Just any help would be appreciated.




As you see in the pic it just runs over into the cargo area and then behind the plastic.

surf4runner

the plastic pops off the bumper, not sure where to run it inside once your back in front...engine bay?

MillerPKA

where's your cb mounted?

fenrisx

Ah, it's all good now guys.

There was a rubber grommet behind the tail light. So I ran it inside that, and then behind all the interior panels up to the front where my CB is mounted.

I'll post up some pictures... although as I made progress it got dark.. and that meant ty pictures! I won't post every single picture.. since some of it is just various part the coax being ran.. but here are a few resized pictures:

CB Antenna mount and coax:


Coax ran behind tail light and through the grommet:


Grommet on interior side with coax pulled through:


Pulled the driver side panel in the cargo area and ran coax under the edge of the carpet:


As you make it to where the back seat is you can pull a piece of carpet up and run coax through this metal piece:


Then you can insert the carpet tab back underneath the metal piece:


Now just continue running the coax along the door sills under the plastic pieces until you make it to the front.. Once I made it that far I just ran the coax under the carpet across to the center backside of the dash where I had the Cobra 75 control box tucked.

I grounded the box, and ran the power wire to the fuse box inside the 4runner... didn't have a 12v fuse in there so I didn't actually hook that up yet. Also.. I grounded the CB to a screw that went through a metal plate on the inside of the 4runner... not sure if I should redo that and ground it to the body of the 4runner itself or not.. I'm hoping it'll be fine where it is.

But since I don't know those detail yet, and don't have pictures of it.. I'm not going to turn this into a right up as of now.. just what I have posted above.

But anways.. here's some more..

I took out the center piece of the dash and put the mounting bracket on it to mark for the holes I will have to drill for the quick connect bracket:


Here's a picture of the brack with rubber grommet already on it:


I don't have any pictures of the holes drilled out.. the main hole didn't look so clean anyways because I didn't have a drill bit big enough.. so I had to drill lots of small holes / punch it out / and sand. I didn't take the time to sand it and make it a perfect circle.. but just sanded it enough so I could push the quick connect through it.

Here's the finished product:

As you can see that's mounted to the right of the 2 12v sockets, and below the cig lighter. I thought that was the perfect spot to keep it unseen when the CB isn't hooked up to it.

Here you can see the coax(goldish in color) and the power wire(red) almost hidden..but not quite.. It's hidden unless you're in the floorboard.


And then that wire ran to the fuse box, and hooked it up using a spare 15a fuse in a previously unused slot..


Everything works so it seems.. I haven't done a radio check yet, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get anything anyways. I didn't hear any activity while I was out there and I live right next to the highway.


I'm pretty sure the Cobra 75 wx st, mated with my cheap coax and 4ft Wilson silver load Flex antenna isn't going to pick up that well anyways...

I don't have an SWR meter to adjust the antenna .. and there's not much you can do to the radio for better range and reception. When I had it installed in my Tacoma double cab it was pretty useless except when you're right up on someone.. which is fine since it was for trail use anyways.

I'm going to be installing (more than likely) a Magnum 257 in the glove box later on. I'll also replace this coax with some good quality double shielded coax.

I might switch over to a Wilson 1000 or 5000 on the roof at some point, but I like having the Wilson mounted where it is... so I'm not 100% on that yet.