F-350 CB Install
#1
F-350 CB Install
Been making lots of improvements to the F-350. The latest is installing a CB. I wanted to use my old President HR2510 and Texas Star DX667, but they have been sitting in a closet since I quit trucking in the mid-90's. The old skipshooter had a wee bit of dust on it so I figured a trip to the radio shop was in order. Luckily one of the best in the nation is right down the road in Weatherford, Tx. Clay's Radio Shop.
I bought the radio from Clay in the late 80's when his shop was way out on I-20 in Gorman, Tx. He's since downsized his operation and is right down the street from the Parker County Courthouse in Weatherford doing mostly mail order work now. He's also working on developing a new communication system for touring motorcycles. Sadly, he spends all his time behind the bench now and no longer does truck installations so I had doing that myself to look forward to.
As my luck runs, the old President was sick (bad processor) and they don't make replacement parts for that model anymore. I looked at his selection of 10 Meter and CB radios then decided on a Galaxy 939. Good solid radio albeit a tad more expensive than a Cobra or Uniden. He tuned and matched the radio and amp for me then I had Clay fix me up with a bed stakehole antenna mount, coax and some quick power disconnects. I'd already bought a Wilson 5000 antenna off eBay.
Next, a trip to Lowes for some 8ga wire and O'Reilly's for a 90amp fuselink and I'm ready to start installation.
I put the fuselink between the battery and power cord in case it developed a short anywhere along the way then routed the wire along the fender and thru a grommet near the passenger door and into the cab.
(After I took this pic I decided to wrap that section in some foam shipping wrap and electrical tape to prevent the metal from rubbing on the insulation.)
Sounds easy, doesn't it? My hands looked like I had been wrestling with a Honey Badger when I was done.
Now I was ready to mount the radio and amp, except I didn't have a mount. But I know a guy... Hellooo, Brother In-law! He had a small piece of aluminum diamond plate and a metal break. We quickly managed to come up with a pretty snazzy little mount in no time. The only thing left was bolting it to the floorboard. Here's where Ford's engineers screwed me. Instead of rubber insulation, they used fiber and it wound around the drillbit like spaghetti on a fork. I tried to cut a clear path with a box cutter and pushing the material out of the way with a screwdriver without destroying the carpet and after enough attempts managed to get all 4 holes drilled.
Getting the sheet metal bolts to thread up was a different story. The fiber would foul the threads and cause the bolt to pop out before it could get a firm bite. Again with the screwdriver pushing the matting out of the way then trying over and over again we managed finally to get them to bite and tighten up.
Setting the SWR's (tuning the antenna) took about 10 minutes and Voilą! I'm back on the air again and it looks (kinda) like a professional installation. You'll notice in the pic above I made sure to leave enough room to use the powerport and open the storage compartment/ashtray. More importantly, the radio is secure and not going anywhere in case of an accident. The last thing you want is 10 pounds of angry electronics flying around inside the cab after some idiot hits you.
Here you can see the quick disconnect on the power. I can remove/install the radio in under a minute if I have to spend the night at a motel. Nothing worse than waking up to a find a busted window. I still need to tidy up the wires. Thinking of finding a matching piece of carpet and some velcro.
I wasn't sure about using that stake mount, but it worked like a charm and it doesn't look bad.
I bought the radio from Clay in the late 80's when his shop was way out on I-20 in Gorman, Tx. He's since downsized his operation and is right down the street from the Parker County Courthouse in Weatherford doing mostly mail order work now. He's also working on developing a new communication system for touring motorcycles. Sadly, he spends all his time behind the bench now and no longer does truck installations so I had doing that myself to look forward to.
As my luck runs, the old President was sick (bad processor) and they don't make replacement parts for that model anymore. I looked at his selection of 10 Meter and CB radios then decided on a Galaxy 939. Good solid radio albeit a tad more expensive than a Cobra or Uniden. He tuned and matched the radio and amp for me then I had Clay fix me up with a bed stakehole antenna mount, coax and some quick power disconnects. I'd already bought a Wilson 5000 antenna off eBay.
Next, a trip to Lowes for some 8ga wire and O'Reilly's for a 90amp fuselink and I'm ready to start installation.
I put the fuselink between the battery and power cord in case it developed a short anywhere along the way then routed the wire along the fender and thru a grommet near the passenger door and into the cab.
(After I took this pic I decided to wrap that section in some foam shipping wrap and electrical tape to prevent the metal from rubbing on the insulation.)
Sounds easy, doesn't it? My hands looked like I had been wrestling with a Honey Badger when I was done.
Now I was ready to mount the radio and amp, except I didn't have a mount. But I know a guy... Hellooo, Brother In-law! He had a small piece of aluminum diamond plate and a metal break. We quickly managed to come up with a pretty snazzy little mount in no time. The only thing left was bolting it to the floorboard. Here's where Ford's engineers screwed me. Instead of rubber insulation, they used fiber and it wound around the drillbit like spaghetti on a fork. I tried to cut a clear path with a box cutter and pushing the material out of the way with a screwdriver without destroying the carpet and after enough attempts managed to get all 4 holes drilled.
Getting the sheet metal bolts to thread up was a different story. The fiber would foul the threads and cause the bolt to pop out before it could get a firm bite. Again with the screwdriver pushing the matting out of the way then trying over and over again we managed finally to get them to bite and tighten up.
Setting the SWR's (tuning the antenna) took about 10 minutes and Voilą! I'm back on the air again and it looks (kinda) like a professional installation. You'll notice in the pic above I made sure to leave enough room to use the powerport and open the storage compartment/ashtray. More importantly, the radio is secure and not going anywhere in case of an accident. The last thing you want is 10 pounds of angry electronics flying around inside the cab after some idiot hits you.
Here you can see the quick disconnect on the power. I can remove/install the radio in under a minute if I have to spend the night at a motel. Nothing worse than waking up to a find a busted window. I still need to tidy up the wires. Thinking of finding a matching piece of carpet and some velcro.
I wasn't sure about using that stake mount, but it worked like a charm and it doesn't look bad.
#3
#4
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
turbogus
1968-Present E-Series Van/Cutaway/Chassis
10
06-15-2019 01:03 AM
ILikeIke
1968-Present E-Series Van/Cutaway/Chassis
12
05-03-2014 01:04 PM
Octane
Audio & Video Systems, Navigation, Satellite Radio & Mobile Electronics
2
09-17-2007 02:48 PM