CB mounting - pics

[jkulbeth]

I wanted to get a CB but I was struggling with how I could mount it in my Unlimited. I took a stroll through the hardware store designing on-the-fly and ran across Thomas & Betts SuperStrut in the electrical section at Home Depot. I was looking for a way to mount the CB overhead without obstructing my view, and this looked like a good solution.

I bought a stick of it and cut it down to 48", then got a couple of 2-1/2" U-bolts and cut off one of the threads making it 'J'-bolt, cut the remaing thread down to about 2/3rd it's original length, put the strut over the front roll-bars, and cinched it down with the 'J' bolts, nuts, and washers. It's snuggly secure, removable if needed, out of the way, doesn't interfere with the visors or vision, and gives me a place to hang more equipment if desired (think 'ham radio'). The hardware doesn't interefere with the top or the operation of the SunRider.

Here are a couple of photos of the strut and mounted CB.




For the antenna mount, I got an aluminum Steel Horse YJ tire-stop, drilled it for the antenna mount, assembled the two and painted them black. Next I positioned the tire-stop on the tub, marked the holes, and drilled. I didn't want to put the mount right on the paint so I placed neoprene washers between the tub and the tire-stop -- the mounting bolts make the ground. By the way, the hinges stop the tail gate way before it hits the tire-stop. Because of that I elected to mount the tire-stop facing more rearward than off to the side like it normally is on YJ's.

For the coax, I ran it from the CB, behind the plastic trim around the winshield, behind the dash, under the inside door sill, under the carpet, and behind the passenger rearmost roll bar flange. I drilled a hole in the tub behind the flange, inserted a grommet and ran the coax through the grommet into the wheel well. It happens that 18 feet of coax is the perfect length on the Unlimited's if it's installed loosely -- it'll also leaves an additional 16 to 18 inches of slack to play with.

To get the coax outside the body, I removed the passenger tail light and then drilled a hole in the tail light next to the factory wiring, then inserted a grommet there. I drilled one more hole in the bottom of the tail light and inserted a grommet, then threaded the coax from inside the wheel-well through hole in the tub behind the tail light and through the grommetted hole next to the factory wiring, and then out the grommeted hole in the bottom of the tail light, leaving a little loop inside the tail light. My coax has transparent insulation, so on the outside on the Jeep I painted it black with some stuff called 'liquid eletrical tape' -- seems to work... needs another coat for complete coverage.

Photos:






I ran the CB power and ground leads behind the trim around the front windshield and into the dash, and tapped the cigarette lighter (switched) and power outlet (always on) for power. The CB fuses are exposed outside the front windshield trim next to the footman loop so I can disconnect the CB and remove the strut and CB, and leave the coax and wiring in place on the Jeep.

My next task is to make a chassis mounted mic jack so I can keep the mic wire from dangling in front of my mirror. I plan to put a jack down by the power outlet where the airbag cut-off switch would normally go. I might also see about sewing a padded cover for the strut so it looks a little more integrated.

The CB is a Cobra 18WXSTII and the antenna is a 4' fiberglass k40 whip. My SWR is nice and low around 1.5. Total cost for coax, CB, antenna, and antenna mount was $100 at a local truck wash. The hardware cost about $16 to $18, with the strut costing the most at $11 for 10 feet (much more than I needed, but I'll use it somewhere)

I've seen other mounting options on the forum before, but I hadn't seen one down with this type of strut. A couple of advantages to the Super Strut are all the mounting holes and various fastener hardware you can use to mount other stuff. It's a stable set-up and I've bounced down road with it with no problems.

[JeepinTJ99]

SWEET CB set-up. I really like how you routed the coax through the tail light, not to mention the ingenious overhead CB bar. Gave me some new ideas!! Thanks for the write-up, keep up the good work.

~J

[slimP]

That is a good write-up. Look's good.

[mat25542]

man that looks awesome, im getting ready to install a cb in my rig, and i love the way you did that. i havent even considered an option like that.....great work.....

[skates04]

Nice write up!!! And Nice work!!.... Talk about a QUALITY Post....
Props!
Lucas

[JeepinTJ99]

quesion: do the "J bolts" or rack get in the way of the door surrounds when you have the doors on?

EDIT:: haha nevermind...didn't realize the surrounds were on in that side pic! anyways, props for the writeup again


~J

[Jerry Bransford]

Another CB-related thread that is too good not to send it over to the Radios & Electrical forum for others needing CB information to learn from. Nice post jkulbeth.

[jkulbeth]

Thanks for all the compliments! The job turned out pretty good so I wanted to share my idea. I've learned a TON from this forum and I figured it was about time to give back something hopefully useful in return.

Overall it was a painless job, but time consuming so it didn't look hacked together. The hardest part was actually the power leads since I had to remove the center bezel on the dash. I prefer to solder my connections and splices instead of crimping and there's not a lot of room in there to hold a gun, but it can be done. The next hardest part was working up the bravery of drilling 4 holes on a rounded corner.

Something to note: to make the 'J'-bolts work best you'll need a backing nut and washer to tighten to top nut against -- you can just barely see it in the first photo. If you just use a single nut and washer on the top, the 'J'-bolt will try to rotate and the strut won't tighten down very well. Take up the slack by spinning a nut and washer down over the threads before you stick it up through a mounting hole, pull the strut down snug on the roll-bar and push the 'J'-bolt up, then spin the botton nut up to the strut and back it off a turn or so, then tighten the top nut. Doing this will keep the 'J'-bolt vertical and prevent it from rotating around the rollbar while you tighten the top nut. You'll have to play with the bottom nut until you can get the strut snug, as dirty-minded as that may sound.

Last thing, when you drill on the tail light, make a pilot hole with a smaller bit and then go to the bigger bit to keep the big bit from 'walking' around. Since it's plastic, go slow so you don't break something. My drill grabbed when it broke through and if I wasn't going slow I probably would have cracked the tail light housing.

If anyone has any questions or needs some extra photos, just PM me and I'll happily show you how I did the work.

Jeff

[Scrambler82]

How does the CB / mount handle rough road situations ?

Does it bounce or flip around some or is there a support in teh rear of the CB ?

The mount is great but I am curious about the width of the bar vs twisting ?

Job well done, nice work.

Later,

[04TJFan]

Nice work. I just have a question, did you put any type of protection on the nuts or threaded part of the u-blolts. They look like there pretty close to the top and I was wondering if that might cause them to rub on the inside of the top causing a hole? Looks good and gave me a few ideas
Scott

[jkulbeth]

NnF:
I've had no problems with it on rough roads. The strut width is about 1-5/8th" and about 3/4" deep. The CB is centered front to back on the strut so the weight is evenly distributed, and no support in the rear. The CB doesn't bounce or flip or twist at all -- it stays put. I used a universal mounting bracket because the unit didn't come with one... I bought it used. I've not taken it on a trail yet, but I've given it some abusive in-town and highway trips and had no problems. The roads in Oklahoma absolutely suck to the say the least. I figure if it can handle the roads, it'll have no trouble on the trails.

04TJFan:
There's about 1" to 1-1/2" of clearance between the nuts/exposed threads and the soft top -- more at the center than at the sides. This is why I cut the threads down on the J-bolts. I had about 1/4" clearance before shortening them, and that wasn't enough to keep me happy. I took it out in some pretty heavy winds the other day and I was nowhere close to rubbing the top with the hardware. Keep the threads to a minimum and you should have no problems. I had not considered plastic or rubber caps for the threads -- that's a great idea. As an option, if you're uncomfortable with the hardware near the top, you could move the strut below the roll-bars and hook the j-bolts over the bars. That'll lower the whole thing about 3 inches, and then you could mount the CB over the strut instead of under it.

[Scrambler82]

Originally Posted by jkulbeth

NnF:
I've had no problems with it on rough roads. The strut width is about 1-5/8th" and about 3/4" deep. The CB is centered front to back on the strut so the weight is evenly distributed, and no support in the rear. The CB doesn't bounce or flip or twist at all -- it stays put. I used a universal mounting bracket because the unit didn't come with one... I bought it used. I've not taken it on a trail yet, but I've given it some abusive in-town and highway trips and had no problems. The roads in Oklahoma absolutely suck to the say the least. I figure if it can handle the roads, it'll have no trouble on the trails.

Thanks for the reply.

Nice job.

Later,

[Frozen_TJ]

jkulbeth: Great mount.. I liked it so much I did it today. I used Angle Iron and painted it black. It worked great. Thanks for showing us your set-up.

I also got my antenna mount from Arizona RockyRoad. Great mount. Very easy install.

I will get some pics to post.

[Yeller'00sport]

looks great, I mounte mine close to my foot like in this post
Got a CB.

but I really like your set up a lot. Everyone is singing your praise and you deserve it, I'll let you know how mine turns out.

JJ

[MuddyAlaskaJeep]

im havin probs with my cb. everytime i hook it up for some reason i fry the 10 amp fuse that goes to the dome light or I fry the 15 amp fuse to the cd player. my only clue as why this is happening is because its all on the same circuit. does anyone have any advice for me on how to fix it?