Alright. So a couple of weeks ago, I installed a Cobra 29LX CB in my truck. Wired it to the battery, got a 4' Firestik antenna that's mounted to the little hump toward the front of the driver's side bedrail (Don't worry, I'll be posting pictures tomorrow.). I ran the coax under the cab, along the frame, and up through the firewall through the hole where the main wiring harness used to come through that the DSII swap left vacant. Probably not the best place to run it, exposes the coax to all kinds of engine heat, but I'll get it figured out. Anyway, on to the main topic of this thread. To those of you that have CB's in your trucks, where did you mount them? Currently, I have mine mounted to the bottom of the dash, just above the gas pedal. I'm not having any problems with it there, but I want it to look more clean, and be a little more out of the way. My truck's a 4 speed, 4x4, so a floor mount is out of the question. I wanted to widen the cubby hole that's just to the right of the steering column, as the radio is just the right width (7.25") to fit in the space between the steering column and the passenger side edge of that cubby hole. So when I went and pulled the dash apart today to start cutting, I ran into a problem. There's metal brackets behind where I was wanting to cut, that I'm not so sure I should cut out. There's the mounting bracket for the EEC-IV computer that's easily removed, but the biggest problem is that there is a bracket/bolts on the steering column that's in the way. So I think that idea is out. I've considered mounting it above my Kenwood head unit, or moving the head unit up and mounting it below that. I've considered mounting it in the center of the dash, but it's not really all that appealing to me. So far, aside from my cubby hole idea, this is what I've found that I like the most. A little fab work, but it looks really clean in my opinion. Not sure I want to do that kinda work though until I upgrade to the Galaxy 979, but again, it looks really good and it seems very functional.

1983 Ford Bronco My Bronco picture | SuperMotors.net

But, the more I think about it, the more I think that I've gotta be missing something, there has to be another way to do this that keeps the radio out of the way, but easily visible and accessible. So guys, if you've got CB's, how did you mount them? Post pics if you can.

Thanks!

Jake.

 

hey
have the same cb (wally world ) and was in the same boat as you finally put to the left of the ashtray.like you said its hard to see but dint find any other reasonable location.im not cutting up my truck for a cb.

 

in my 88 i mounted it to the front of the console, but i guess thats really not an option for you though...

my buddy mounted one in his 89, in the same place you did, seems to be the norm.

that bronco's doesn't look too bad. but alot of the overheads can look really tacky really quick.

 

Mine is under the dash, just like yours, but I have to have it out in the open, it has cooling fins and an internal fan. Another issue is the 4ga. power wire. In my old 4x4 Toyota I made a bracket that bolted to a seat bolt, you could make something similar that bolts to the floor.

 

you could always look for one of the headliners that have a place for it. they also have extra speakers in them.

 

I have seen those advertised before and have considered them myself, has anybody seen one installed?

9wires suggestion, if i understand it right, doesn't sound bad. you could mount it in alot of places.

 

I had mine to the left of the ash tray as well. I found that I NEVER use it anymore with my buddies. We use the Motorola hand held hunting radios. Works great and my interior looks better with the CB gone.

 

My CB is screwed to the roof, but for my new cab, it's gonna be at the same place, but held in place by a strong magnet.




And antennas on the mirror

 

Here's my radio I have in the truck, I have a 102" whip mounted dead center behind the cab. Best antenna money can buy.

Older pic of my little section of the basement...

 

My 84 I have it mounted to the front of the counsole, my reg cab 87 I have it mounted to brackets right in front of the seat in the center between the seat and shifter.

 

Is that a Texas Star linear I see? Which one is it, and how do you like it?

 

TS500, I used to have one in my Toyota 4x4, I had to buy a kit to run a GM 100 amp alt in it, they draw 45 amps. No longer have the Toyota. Took this last night...Please no hurtful jealous comments because MY truck isn't all cluttered up and overly complicated by factory A/C...

 

How many watts are you pushing with that thing? I've been looking at getting a TNT 350HD to go in my truck with the Galaxy DX 979. Any experience with XForce amps?

And that's how mine is set up right now. It works, but I wanna try and make it a little more out of the way. I was going to try and cut out the cubbyhole just above where yours is mounted, and put it in there, but there's too much crap behind there for it to work.

 

I like the Texas Star amps because they're real clean for SSB, which is mostly what I do. X Force makes a decent amp.
Don't get confused by all the BS out there, the truth is, the biggest step in power is from legal to 100 watts, the next step to make any real difference on the receiving end is 600. 600+ watts is going to need a lot of amperage, and good quality coax, antenna, SWR set just so, etc. You can run a smaller amp like the X Force and get out real good and be happy with it. Don't get caught up in the numbers.
The radio does about 200 watts.

 

Oh, no. I don't need to be pushing 1,000 watts or anything. I just want to have enough power to be able to talk to whoever I hear, without sounding like over-modulated, over-driven, garbled trash.