I wanted to get a CB radio for communicating with people on the trails and Highway, and also to receive weather alerts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I also wanted a CB that would not take up a lot of room in Rockaholic. The Cobra 75 WX ST fit my needs perfectly. To go with the Cobra, I got a 4' Firestik II tuneable antennae
The first thing I needed to do was figure out where exactly to mount the Radio and remote box.
I decided to mount the hand unit on the dash just above the wiper controls.
I decided to mount the remote box in the molding just below the stereo. There is a little box which I find useless, so I decided to remove the box and mount the remote there. The other upside is that I could easily tap into a power source and ground the remote without having to drill any holes. Before reoving the molding, I disconnected my battery for safety.
To remove the molding, I had to take off 2 bolts located on either side the the molding towards the engine (see pics above). After removing those bolts, I just had to pull the molding forward for it to come off. (Note, automatic transmissions are designed differently, so this may be a more difficult place to install the remote box than in another spot).
I decided to remove the box first, and all I need to do was unscrew 2 bolts. I will be cutting the box to fabricate a facade to hide the remote box later.
Below you can see what it looked like before and after I removed the box.
Then I had to remove the wires connected to the 12-volt socket ( a constant live connection). I had to use pliers to remove the quick conect the first time, as it was really pressed onto the outlet.
After I removed the power, I put the remote box in the postions I wanted to mount it, marked off the holes I needed to drill, drilled the holes, and then used the supplied screws to secure the remote box.
Then I needed to suplly power to, and ground, the remote box anc CB. I decided to split into the power wire from the 12-volt outlet, so I carefully cut back the plastic wrapping around the wires, and stripped a small section of the insulation to make a contact point. I grounded the CB to the body through the bolt located below the astray behind the molding. |
