Got the Ham and CB radios mounted, DC outlet for GPS next

[bbolander]

Got the Ham and CB radios mounted today. Used longer canvas top strip bolts. Felt a little wobbly at first but then put a large fender washer on the underside before the nut and they're rock solid. Used extra nuts for spacers. Ham is upside down so the speaker is down, the remote head will be taken off and mounted in front in the cab. CB will be lowered a bit so the overhead light doesn't interfere with hanging the mic. Will be getting 90 degree ells for the cable connections so the cables don't have to bend in a tight space. Extra cable stuffs nicely above the passenger head guard, and the wiring will come down over the drivers head guard. I'll be mounting the DC outlet next, then it's on to wiring everything up.

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[TechMOGogy]

Looks great

[bbolander]

Did a little tweaking. Put the ham right side up since I only need to use the remote head when programming at home. Reversed the CB mount for the mic to clear the light. Keeping it simple, no interference with headroom at all. Using the CB mic mount for both the CB and Ham mics. Got the DC outlet in also.

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[TechMOGogy]

Did you remove the wire divider between the driver and rear passenger compartment?

[bbolander]

Did you remove the wire divider between the driver and rear passenger compartment?

I just took them all out to make it easier to work. They'll go back in when I'm done. Saw posts about hanging a fire extinguisher from them, might do that too.

[bbolander]

Got the Ham and CB wiring to the fuse box done. And the driver's side mesh divider back in.

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[audiocontr]

my head would make contact with those electronics. =)

[TechMOGogy]

Looks like a great job - would the 4 wires not fit in 1 split loom vs running 2?
My head would hit too but clearly yours does not!
Well planned and laid out install

[bbolander]

Looks like a great job - would the 4 wires not fit in 1 split loom vs running 2?
My head would hit too but clearly yours does not!
Well planned and laid out install

I started running them in two looms because the CB wiring has butt-joint connectors that you see in the lower picture that prevented both from sliding in the loom to fish them over the head guard. Now that those connectors are exposed anyway, I could go back and use one loom from the radios to that point. That's an easy change to make later. If I do I'd like to find some vinyl loom like the OEM Pinz loom to use. I thought I saw it on Del City but the last time I looked it was a vinyl wrap around loom. I really don't like the split plastic loom but it was easy to get at the hardware store.

I'm 6 ft tall and have plenty of headroom clearance from the radios. They provide more clearance than the head guards do. I noticed that some have removed the head guards to get the headroom they need.

[bbolander]

Got the hard part of the DC outlet wiring done. And the RAM mount on the grab bar for the GPS, boy is it heavy duty!

Ran the wiring behind the fan and heater ducts, down along the OEM wiring loom.

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Ran the wiring along the OEM loom in the engine bay.

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Drilled a couple of holes, added tight fitting grommets.

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Wiring will be routed along the bulkhead along with power wiring from the radio plug.

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The RAM mount for the GPS is on the round grab bar.

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[bbolander]

Any recommendations on grounding the 24V-12V DC converter and the 12V fuse box?

The radio plug where the power is coming from has a very short ground wire to the plug box mounting screw which grounds to the bulkhead. I could run that ground wire several feet over to the DC converter. But, there are already two machined holes in the bulkhead vertical support that I could ground to that are very close. Seems like the closer ground is better but I recall to keep the 24V and 12V grounds separate. I could also take the 24V converter ground to the battery switch body ground side. Not sure any of these are better?

The radio plug on the far left, nearby machined holes on the right vertical bar of the bulkhead.

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Close-up of the two machined holes on the bulkhead, one with my screw in it.

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Radio plug short ground to the bulkhead

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[TechMOGogy]

Mine is grounded to the 5 bar which is grounded to the body
I like your cup holders

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[bbolander]

Mine is grounded to the 5 bar which is grounded to the body
I like your cup holders

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Thanks, I'll ground both to the bulkhead body panel. Makes no sense to run a long ground wire to the radio plug when the same ground is close by.

The cup holders are a pretty cool solution. They came with the Pinz so I don' t know anything more about them, other than the driver uses the one on the passenger side and the passenger uses the one on the drivers side - that was my instruction from the previous owner!

[4x4Pinz]

I found and used those cup holders on Ebay some years ago. Don't know if the seller still has them. We had trouble after some time with them breaking so quit using them. The heat here would make the very brittle and even the smallest bump in the road would cause them to break dropping the contents all over everything. When they were new they worked great and stow out of the way when not in use.

[Jimm391730]

When using a 24-12V converter (where the 12V output stops when the 24V is shut off with the battery key) the 12V and 24V can share the same ground (chassis ground). I've done this with all my converters.

On the other hand, if you are using the 12V mid-point tap between the two batteries then it is generally best to NOT use chassis ground (create a separate ground point that is not the same as the chassis for the 12V devices; this can be difficult as many 12V devices expect that the mounting point is the same as ground). With chassis as the 12V grounds, too, opening the battery key can put 12V reverse polarity to the devices if any 24V loads are attempted to be energized (lights, starter, etc.). Of course it is highly recommended to NEVER use the battery mid-point as a source for 12V power; the above is just one problem with doing so.