I know you guys hate how i do my wiring (splice and twist) so i figured i'd ask all you guru's BEFORE i do work this time.

I'm going to put my CB in the thing that holds the sun visors. There's a part in the middle that'll fit my CB perfect because i dont have sunroof switches. So what i'll do is run the wire along that roof map pocket thingy, sneak in behind the headliner where the sun visors fish their power cords and run the power down the a pillar. After that i'm liable to bugger it. So before i just go on tapping into ANY old power source near the cluster, what should i use? My CB has an in line fuse that im hoping will fit through all of the holes because i dont want to have to remove it.
Also, where should i run the antenna wire to and whats the best place to mount it?

Thanks in advance guys

Turf
(btw got new (to me) tires on today and they are SOOO much quieter than the old ones)

 

i apologize in advance for the HUGE pictures - these were the ones i sent right to Right Channel Radios (where i bought the CB and the firestick kit, HIGHLY recommend them, great prices and customer service).


ANYWAY

i pulled my cb wiring from the overhead light power and ground - this allowed me to power the cb even with the key off. personal preference, but you can do what you like there... simple matter of testing for power/ground at that dome light connector and tapping into the wire a few inches behind it. i get 0 interference in the radio signal with the truck running or the light on.

cb is mounted to the flat center portion of the overhead pocket thing. theres a removable panel (the one that has the truck height sticker on it) - im assuming because i dont have sunroofs - that i popped out of that overhead pocket structure and drilled a ~1.25" hole in and fished the fuse and wires into. then once the little panel piece is popped back in the hole is hidden behind the CB and the wires are tucked away. cb is then mounted with two allen bolts and some big washers on the topside of the overhead pockets. plenty sturdy and hasnt shaken off of there yet

as for the wires, i ran my antenna wire (more on this in a second) and did the power wiring with the headliner out. i would imagine running the antenna wire without dropping the headliner would be a pain...

anyway here are a couple installed shots



the antenna is mounted with firestick's 90degree fender mounting bracket thing that came in the kit i got. its mounted right to the rear tire carrier, as close to the body as i could so the antenna wouldnt interfere with the tire. i ran a dedicated ground from the antenna base to inside the truck and grounded where the rear pass side tail light grounds - theres a ground cluster there, cant miss it.
all the wires for the antenna (main co-ax and the small 22g ground) are run through the factory wiring grommet for the rear door.

i did some testing and not running the dedicated ground into the truck yielded sub-par resistance on the mounting base ground. now i have ~.5 ohm from the antenna mount to the battery. before it was somewhere around 20-30ohms and would vary because it was only grounding through the door hinges, which if theyre greased properly wont ground well



as mentioned i had my headliner out for repair and roof paint so i ran the wire the rest of the way up the truck along the harness that goes below the alpine windows and along the roof... you may need to dream up some other way to do this if you dont drop the headliner.

 

Never wire into anything in the fuse block, always run a heavy wire out and into the engine compartment fuse block for less noise and so you won't wire into a system that will be effected by the additional draw of the CB.

 

the cb draws less than 2amps out of the box, i wouldnt be too worried about it overpowering a dome light circuit. and it certainly doesnt require anything more than 20-22g wire if that wire has proper gxl/txl insulation

 

would that be the insulation that the wires came with? This was designed to be plugged into a cig lighter but i was planning on hard wiring it. Its just a cheapo radio shack unit

 

yeah its essentually just the wire type...

i still dont think id worry about it. cbs dont draw hardly anything, and in my opinion dont require pulling a separate wire from the battery for.


but for the love of god dont just twist the wires together!

 

the firestik kits from right channel radio, do they come with everything i'd need? And how long of a co ax wire do they ship the antenna with? Finally, this grommet in the rear door you're talking about, where is it? I'm looking and i dont see where your wires are (which i like) i just can't think where they would tuck into

 

yeah the firestick stuff came with enough to run the antenna wire from where i had mine mounted in the rear, along the rear most pillar of the truck and along the roof line, up to the center of the windsheild and still had about 3ft left over!
the only thing i had to make/add - as mentioned in my post - was the additional dedicated ground wire from the antenna bracket to the rear pass side tail light ground cluster. otherwise they have everything else youll need.


for routing the wires, i drill a small hole in the rear gate behind the tire carrier to pull the wires into the truck, then ran them along the wiring for the rear wiper - just follow that and it goes into that flexible boot that connects the truck to the rear door. you can pop that boot loose from both the truck and the rear door and snake your antenna and ground wire in through there.

once finished itll be completely hidden.

 

Nice, thanks. I can't decide if i'l order the firestik soon, but when i finally do i'll probably do it the same way you did. Thanks

 

Noise is always a consideration even with a less expensive radio