My installation is similar to many others on here but I though I would do a quick write up as you can never have too much information or photos when it comes time for your own install.
First thing I did was install the Bandi Mount and 3' Firestik Antenna with tunable tip. I used the HS818TNKT 18' E-Z Install Coax. It has a nice low profile 90 degree connector that fits very nicely inside the Bandi mount. I don't have the spring on yet and the 3' antenna already sticks several inches above the stock roof rack. Driving into my garage with the antenna attached will not be possible. I may pick up the 2' Firestik and see if I get acceptable range as it would sit just below the top of the roof rack and allow me to leave the antenna on the truck all the time.
I routed the coax through the bottom of the hinge (If you watch the hinge as you open and close the rear door it is apparent) and down the inside of the door. There is a wiring harness that passes through to the Jack compartment with a rubber boot. If you reach through the jack compartment you can pinch the plastic connector at the end of the rubber boot and it will pop out of the sheet metal. You don't have to remove it but it was easier to work on with it removed and it takes 2 seconds to pop it out. The rubber boot is very stretchy. I made a roughly 1mm cut in the rubber with a utility knife. I was able to stretch the opening enough to fit the head of the Coax cable through. (The full-size head of the EZ install cable screws off leaving you with a connector not much large in diameter than the Coax cable) The boot makes a nice snug connection around the cable.
I pulled the rest of the slack through the rubber boot into the jack compartment and snapped the plastic connector back in place. I then pulled the cable through the front of the jack compartment to the opening near the pivot point of the rear driver's side seat-back. I used a wire coat-hanger with some tape around the tip to protect the vehicle from scratches. I inserted the coat hanger at the front and pushed it back, taped the cable to the end of it and pulled it back through. It is much easier doing it this way as you are starting with a small hole and pushing the coat hanger back into a large space vs. fishing the coat hanger through the compartment and trying to find a tiny hole on the other side that you can't see from the rear hatch.
Here you can see how I routed the cable. The rubber floor liner pulls up easily and you can push the cable through. I did not need to use the coat hanger for this, I could just lift up the floor liner and slide the cable underneath. The start of the red line in the upper right corner is where there is an opening in the liner and it was here that I inserted the coat hanger to fish the cable from the jack compartment to the front.
Here is where the cable exits underneath the center console. I ended up routing the cable to the left side of that metal support bracket to get it away from my ground. I don't know much about CB's but I assume cross-talk and EMI is a potential concern.
I decided to install two 12v accessory outlets so I had to make another trip back to Checker. If you install an outlet on the passenger side and have an automatic transmission be aware that your cup-holder will be in the way. I re-installed the upper portion of the console and positioned my outlet as high up as I could while still clearing to bottom of the cup-holder. I also drilled a small hole in the center of the console for the antenna cable. You will see why I chose this spot later.
The 12v outlets I bought came with garbage wiring that was only about 10" long. I intend to tap into the existing cigarette plug positive so I need about 18" to reach to the front of the console. Out came the box of connectors and the soldering iron. I strip the wire, loop it through the end of the connector twice, crimp it down, solder the crap out of it and then heat-shrink it. I am very anal about my electronics, I HATE loose connections.
Here is the wiring harness I created for the negative terminals. You can see my ground location in Photo #5. I made a second one that looks just like this one for the positive terminals. The lead is about 18" long. At the front of the console there are two wires that plug into the back of the stock 12v outlet. The white and black wire is the negative. The brown and red wire is the positive. I did not use a vampire clip to tap the positive. I removed about 2mm of the insulation, wrapped my new wire around the exposed positive wire and soldered it in place. Make sure your solder soaks through to the stock wire and you have a rock solid contact. You don't want to tear your console apart later to fix a loose connection. After I was satisfied I wrapped it in electrical tape and re-installed the front section of the center console.
I connected the negative and positive harnesses to the 12v outlets and routed the antenna cable through the hole in the bottom. I then plugged a little LED light into each outlet to make sure I was getting power. I also tested the stock outlet to make sure I didn't disconnect it during the process.
The next thing I did was use a pair of snips to cut a couple notches in the bottom of the rubber console divider. I did this so the antenna cable and connector can sit under the rubber divider when the CB is not in use, which will be most of the time for me.
Here is the rubber divider installed. The crude drawing in red shows the orientation of the cable and connector under the divider. The space at the center is plenty big enough to cover the connector so everything sits nice and snug against the bottom, you would never know anything was under there.
And here's the finished product with the CB connected. The antenna cable just routes out the edge of the divider until I am done using the radio and then it gets tucked back underneath and the radio gets tossed in the glovebox.
One thing to take into consideration is where you tap your power. I will be using the CB Radio and a couple cell phone and camera chargers in the others. My load will be minimal even with all 3 outlets in use. If you plan to hook up multiple high draw devices you should create a new fused circuit for your additional outlets. There are multiple open slots in the fuse panel under the steering column (Some are always on, some come on with the key) you can tap into or you can run a line up to the battery, whichever you choose make sure you have a fuse inline. I am tapping into a fused circuit so I did not add another one.
Down the road I plan to add two 12v outlets to rear cargo area right above the 110v outlet. When I do this I will tap one blank spot in the fuse panel and make a second run to the battery. These outlets will be used for high-draw devices so they will each be dedicated 20amp circuits and one will be always-on so I can use it to charge phones and cameras overnight without having to leave the key in the ignition.
First thing I did was install the Bandi Mount and 3' Firestik Antenna with tunable tip. I used the HS818TNKT 18' E-Z Install Coax. It has a nice low profile 90 degree connector that fits very nicely inside the Bandi mount. I don't have the spring on yet and the 3' antenna already sticks several inches above the stock roof rack. Driving into my garage with the antenna attached will not be possible. I may pick up the 2' Firestik and see if I get acceptable range as it would sit just below the top of the roof rack and allow me to leave the antenna on the truck all the time.
I routed the coax through the bottom of the hinge (If you watch the hinge as you open and close the rear door it is apparent) and down the inside of the door. There is a wiring harness that passes through to the Jack compartment with a rubber boot. If you reach through the jack compartment you can pinch the plastic connector at the end of the rubber boot and it will pop out of the sheet metal. You don't have to remove it but it was easier to work on with it removed and it takes 2 seconds to pop it out. The rubber boot is very stretchy. I made a roughly 1mm cut in the rubber with a utility knife. I was able to stretch the opening enough to fit the head of the Coax cable through. (The full-size head of the EZ install cable screws off leaving you with a connector not much large in diameter than the Coax cable) The boot makes a nice snug connection around the cable.
I pulled the rest of the slack through the rubber boot into the jack compartment and snapped the plastic connector back in place. I then pulled the cable through the front of the jack compartment to the opening near the pivot point of the rear driver's side seat-back. I used a wire coat-hanger with some tape around the tip to protect the vehicle from scratches. I inserted the coat hanger at the front and pushed it back, taped the cable to the end of it and pulled it back through. It is much easier doing it this way as you are starting with a small hole and pushing the coat hanger back into a large space vs. fishing the coat hanger through the compartment and trying to find a tiny hole on the other side that you can't see from the rear hatch.
Here you can see how I routed the cable. The rubber floor liner pulls up easily and you can push the cable through. I did not need to use the coat hanger for this, I could just lift up the floor liner and slide the cable underneath. The start of the red line in the upper right corner is where there is an opening in the liner and it was here that I inserted the coat hanger to fish the cable from the jack compartment to the front.
Here is where the cable exits underneath the center console. I ended up routing the cable to the left side of that metal support bracket to get it away from my ground. I don't know much about CB's but I assume cross-talk and EMI is a potential concern.
I decided to install two 12v accessory outlets so I had to make another trip back to Checker. If you install an outlet on the passenger side and have an automatic transmission be aware that your cup-holder will be in the way. I re-installed the upper portion of the console and positioned my outlet as high up as I could while still clearing to bottom of the cup-holder. I also drilled a small hole in the center of the console for the antenna cable. You will see why I chose this spot later.
The 12v outlets I bought came with garbage wiring that was only about 10" long. I intend to tap into the existing cigarette plug positive so I need about 18" to reach to the front of the console. Out came the box of connectors and the soldering iron. I strip the wire, loop it through the end of the connector twice, crimp it down, solder the crap out of it and then heat-shrink it. I am very anal about my electronics, I HATE loose connections.
Here is the wiring harness I created for the negative terminals. You can see my ground location in Photo #5. I made a second one that looks just like this one for the positive terminals. The lead is about 18" long. At the front of the console there are two wires that plug into the back of the stock 12v outlet. The white and black wire is the negative. The brown and red wire is the positive. I did not use a vampire clip to tap the positive. I removed about 2mm of the insulation, wrapped my new wire around the exposed positive wire and soldered it in place. Make sure your solder soaks through to the stock wire and you have a rock solid contact. You don't want to tear your console apart later to fix a loose connection. After I was satisfied I wrapped it in electrical tape and re-installed the front section of the center console.
I connected the negative and positive harnesses to the 12v outlets and routed the antenna cable through the hole in the bottom. I then plugged a little LED light into each outlet to make sure I was getting power. I also tested the stock outlet to make sure I didn't disconnect it during the process.
The next thing I did was use a pair of snips to cut a couple notches in the bottom of the rubber console divider. I did this so the antenna cable and connector can sit under the rubber divider when the CB is not in use, which will be most of the time for me.
Here is the rubber divider installed. The crude drawing in red shows the orientation of the cable and connector under the divider. The space at the center is plenty big enough to cover the connector so everything sits nice and snug against the bottom, you would never know anything was under there.
And here's the finished product with the CB connected. The antenna cable just routes out the edge of the divider until I am done using the radio and then it gets tucked back underneath and the radio gets tossed in the glovebox.
One thing to take into consideration is where you tap your power. I will be using the CB Radio and a couple cell phone and camera chargers in the others. My load will be minimal even with all 3 outlets in use. If you plan to hook up multiple high draw devices you should create a new fused circuit for your additional outlets. There are multiple open slots in the fuse panel under the steering column (Some are always on, some come on with the key) you can tap into or you can run a line up to the battery, whichever you choose make sure you have a fuse inline. I am tapping into a fused circuit so I did not add another one.
Down the road I plan to add two 12v outlets to rear cargo area right above the 110v outlet. When I do this I will tap one blank spot in the fuse panel and make a second run to the battery. These outlets will be used for high-draw devices so they will each be dedicated 20amp circuits and one will be always-on so I can use it to charge phones and cameras overnight without having to leave the key in the ignition.
Especially on a Bandi mount. As has been said, there is not much ground plane back there and a lot of antennas (5/8-wave and 1/4-wave) won't tune up at all at that location. Congratulations and enjoy your radio.
