[Ebag333]

I did a couple of searchs and didn't find anything on this, so apologies if I missed something.

This is about a tenth of a mod that takes less than 30 minutes (if you're moving slow).

The goal of this mod was to extend the range of the "factory" alarm. This applies to the RS3000 alarm.

Using my remote as a test unit (battery is fairly old, I'm about 4-5 feet away typically when it starts working) I was able to extend the range to well across the street, and even further as long as I had line of sight to the drivers side B pillar.

To reroute the antenna:

1. Find some wire that works. I used some speaker wire I had handy. If you had an actual antenna (it would need to be long, narrow, and fairly flat) that would probably work even better.
2. Pull the bolts on the seat (2 front, 2 rear).
3. Tip the seat back and disconnect the wires from the seat. I simply tipped it up on top of the center console to move it out of the way, but you could also move it onto the back seat.
4. On the single 4 pin plug (that has one grey wire in it), snip the grey wire a fair way back and connect your new wire via the method of your choice (solder or mechanical connector).
5. Slide the new wire under the carpet to the door step. I went along the ridge where the other wires were ran to make it easy.
6. Run the wire up the drivers side B pillar. I simply looped it over the top of the seat belt mount, and down a foot or so on the opposite side.

Initially (as you can see from my pictures) I ran a double wire and connected it back to the original antenna. This actually decreased the range to about that of stock.

I did several tests for range:

1. 4 pin completely unplugged (no antenna). About half the range of stock.
2. Stock antenna. About 4-5 feet range.
3. Double wire running up the B pillar and back down, terminating at the alarm. About the same as my final solution.
4. Double wire running up the B pillar and back down, attaching to the stock antenna. Same range as stock.
5. (Final solution) Single wire running up the B pillar towards the front, and hanging down about a foot on the back side.

Your range will be greatly increased no matter where you stand, but I found that the best range was with direct line of site to the inside of the drivers side B pillar.

Which makes sense as the only thing blocking the signal is glass and the soft cover over the seat belt mounts. Any other angle has metal blocking the signal.

Couple of crappy cell phone piccies below.

In the first pic, you can see the entire box. The 4 pin connector with a single grey wire is at the top.

Second pic has a zoomed in pic of the connectors. Note that in this pic I had the double wire hooked back into the factory antenna, which decreased the range. With the way I would recommend doing it (and how I'd do it in the 's rig) is to simply leave the grey wire loose, so you completely reroute it.


An alternate suggestion I found when searching for this was to find the end of the grey wire (ending somewhere around the steering column) and extend it up the A pillar. I found that getting to that area was far more difficult that getting under the seat, and would greatly increase the time to do the mod.

[lx450landcruiser]

just went out to my truck and did it. walked across the street and truck locked. never tried it before so i dunno but ill be able to test it when i drive some where in the next few days. if this works as well as i think it does this is a great mod. took all of 5 min

[calfj60]

Great info...this drives me crazy...gotta be within feet of the truck to lock or unlock...gonna do this really soon..

Thanks

[Clutchee]

New FAQ thread.......

Oh yea, thanks!

[Corbet]

Great mod.

This has been driving me nuts since I got the truck. Can't wait to give it a try.

[Beowulf]

Can you post a pic of the antenna at the B-pillar. It wasn't clear to me how you left that end of the wire.

Also, did you try using both the original antenna under the dash *plus* your B-pillar antenna mod?

-B-

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by Beowulf

Can you post a pic of the antenna at the B-pillar. It wasn't clear to me how you left that end of the wire.

Also, did you try using both the original antenna under the dash *plus* your B-pillar antenna mod?

-B-

there's really not much to show. I just tucked it under the cover, looped it over the bolt that holds the top of the seatbelt, and let it dangle (I had about a foot extra hanging down).

There's not really a good way of securing it, but as it's just the antenna and was super easy to do I can redo it if I have to.

Any setup that I tried that used the original antenna left me with close to stock range.

[lx450landcruiser]

Well im very pleased with the results, Wish i had done this yeas ago.

I used a antenna i had from a cheap remote starter kit, I get killer range now. Went to buy beer at the store and could unlock and lock my doors from in the store about 65 feet away

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by lx450landcruiser

Well im very pleased with the results, Wish i had done this yeas ago.

I used a antenna i had from a cheap remote starter kit, I get killer range now. Went to buy beer at the store and could unlock and lock my doors from in the store about 65 feet away

It looks like you went up the A pillar and attached it to the wiindow?

I might find a cheap antenna that's flat enough to fit behind the cover of the B pillar. But maybe not....do you REALLY need a 65 foot range?

I've already unlocked my rig when unlocking the 's rig, about 20 feet away, by accident. As the Mrs rig doesn't have the chirper, it's not always easy to tell when hers locks/unlocks from a distance.

[98 SNAKE EATER]

Originally Posted by Ebag333

I might find a cheap antenna that's flat enough to fit behind the cover of the B pillar. But maybe not....do you REALLY need a 65 foot range?

I do


YouTube - HORNBLASTING GONE WIRELESS!!

[george_tlc]

I just ran the new wire up the back of the drivers seat (with enough slack underneath to allow for full forward/rearward seat motion). Since I have SOR seat covers I just ran the wire up behind the seat under the SOR cover and ran it up to the headrest and secured it in that area.

Range is at least 30' and since the antenna is not running along the pillars etc the range seems reasonable consistent regardless of direction from the vehicle.

Something I've wanted to do forever - this thread finally gave me the kick in the @ss to go and spend a few minutes doing the mod.

cheers,
george.

[Doc]

Why do you guys need to unlock your truck from so far away? It's not like this is a remote start....

[george_tlc]

Originally Posted by Doc

Why do you guys need to unlock your truck from so far away? It's not like this is a remote start....

It's not as if it is that far... Before I did the quick mod yesterday, I was lucky sometimes if I could lock/unlock it from 5' away - especially from 'blindspots' to the original antenna location. Often I had to push the button several times and walk around the vehicle.

So, in my case it isn't so I can open/shut it from 30' but so I can open/shut it when at the vehicle.

ALSO, often our kids will be at the vehicle waiting to get in and I'm still in the garage putting on shoes etc. Only like 15' away, but the stupid thing won't unlock until I'm right next to the vehicle.

So, in summary like most things - if you find the operation of something irritating then it isn't operating the way 'you' need it to, i.e. horses for courses...

cheers,
george.

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by george_tlc

I just ran the new wire up the back of the drivers seat (with enough slack underneath to allow for full forward/rearward seat motion). Since I have SOR seat covers I just ran the wire up behind the seat under the SOR cover and ran it up to the headrest and secured it in that area.

That's an interesting way to go. I'd be concerned about it getting pinched, but I suppose if you routed it similar to the seat harness you shouldn't have any issues.

I think you can get a bit higher by going up the B pillar, but as you mentioned you'll have better LOS to the top of the seat.

[PabloVTA]

you da man!

this has been killing me for 10 years!
the new highlander can do it from another zip code, i practically have to be putting the key in the door to get mine to work.

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by Beowulf

Can you post a pic of the antenna at the B-pillar. It wasn't clear to me how you left that end of the wire.

Beowulf,

Did you ever try this? Or do you need more pics?

[Hog Head]

I did this quite some time ago. I found the stock wire running behind the dash and ran it up the drivers A-Pillar. The range is now 40-50 feet and no cutting or splicing was required. Also no need to remove the seat, just the trim around the steering wheel.

[Beowulf]

Originally Posted by Ebag333

I just tucked it under the cover, looped it over the bolt that holds the top of the seatbelt, and let it dangle (I had about a foot extra hanging down).

This description was clear. I'm not too keen on dangling wires so I will pass on this variant.

I am frequently under the DS seat messing around with my ham radio so I was thinking this might be a simple project next time I am in there. I will probably do as George did and run the antenna extension up to the headrest as I also have covers over the seat and an external speaker for the ham radio is mounted on the headrest.

-B-

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by Beowulf

This description was clear. I'm not too keen on dangling wires so I will pass on this variant.

I am frequently under the DS seat messing around with my ham radio so I was thinking this might be a simple project next time I am in there. I will probably do as George did and run the antenna extension up to the headrest as I also have covers over the seat and an external speaker for the ham radio is mounted on the headrest.

-B-

I understand the dangling wire concern.

It would be extremely easy to attach the top of the wire to the top mount for the seatbelt. I chose not to as I didn't want to pull the whole assembly apart, but could easily slide the wire in place without trouble.

Going with George's method is probably the best for a variety of reasons, though I don't know how well you could mount an antenna there if you chose to.

If you pulled off the cover for the seatbelt assembly, there is lots of room to figure out a mount, either for the wire by itself or an antenna.

[KurtKuhn]

Replacing my remote battery got me from 5' to 20'.

Good enough for my general purposes.

-KK

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by KurtKuhn

Replacing my remote battery got me from 5' to 20'.

Good enough for my general purposes.

-KK

With my nearly dead battery I easily have 20'-30' range.

I'll be curious to see what a fresh battery gets me, but now I'm in no rush to get one.

[Ebag333]

Update on this mod.

Drove the rig last weekend (for 4 days) as we were going up to her sister's wedding, and I was playing taxi. She does not have the extended antenna (yet).

With my remote (which probably does need a new battery) I had to practially stand at the drivers side door to un/lock. I had trouble un/locking while standing at the tailgate (very irritating).

After coming home and getting to drive mine, I'm very happy with being able to trigger the alarm from 10+ feet away (easily, I can still hit longer ranges with LoS).

So this mod will actually save a bit of money and headache as:

1) I won't have to replace batteries as often because a "weak" battery can still trigger the alarm from a reasonable range.

2) I won't have to hit the button 10 times trying to it to un/lock. First or second try nearly every time.



Additionally we blew the fusible link in the back of the cigarette plug, and while "fixing" (*cough*bypassing*cough*) it I noticed that the grey wire was terminated on the wiring harness directly behind the alarm LED light. Mine was not terminated there, but my guess is that it was a shorter wire and is probably still terminated on the bundle, just somewhere under/around the steering wheel.

So if you simply want to extend it up instead of bypassing, it might be worth while to pull that and see if yours is terminated there. It would still be more time consuming to run it back up the A pillar as you'd have to double back or extend past the glove compartment, as opposed to running it up the B pillar or up the seat.


HTH

[hkimsoft]

Awesome. Now I can lock/unlock10+ feet. Took 30mins as described though B pillar...

[RavenTai]

The grey wire runs up to the LED on my 80,

I have always been annoyed with the poor range of the alarm/keyless, some time ago I tried adding an extension to the existing wire, little improvement, I even took apart the transmitter thinking maybe I could add to the antenna there no such luck, It sounds like the key is bypassing the factory antenna,

Gonna give that a try, thanks

[calfj60]

went to do this today and found I don't havethe grey wire or the four pin plug?? maybe my truck is too old...oh well did discover the seat bolts were really loose..

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by calfj60

went to do this today and found I don't havethe grey wire or the four pin plug?? maybe my truck is too old...oh well did discover the seat bolts were really loose..

Do you have the alarm box under your seat?

You may have one of the other types of alarms or an aftermarket alarm.

And loose seat bolts = bad.

[RavenTai]

Originally Posted by calfj60

went to do this today and found I don't havethe grey wire or the four pin plug?? maybe my truck is too old...oh well did discover the seat bolts were really loose..

there are a couple of different "factory" alarm/keyless systems, most were actually port installed , the RS300 is the most common and has the grey wire.

[Ebag333]

RT, did you ever get around to trying this?

[RavenTai]

no not yet,

[calfj60]

I have the alarm box under my seat but with just one big connector...