What is this? Motorola Treasure ???

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gordista

Me and the Clan in 'Yota Landcruisers out there
SILVER Star
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Jan 7, 2023
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East Coast USA
Crawling around under dash and steering column trying to make sense of all sorts of wiring -that has me flabbergasted - and found a black box - zip tied - I think it’s a Motorola? I think it has a “household” type cord.
What is this??
Part of a CB Radio?

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Not CB but a communication radio, they ran the wire under the carpet just below the shifter. red/black wire is power and ground and the cable to antenna i can't tell what the other wire is.
 
For a CB radio?
Are wires coming out from shifter for a CB? I know there’s a metal fastener near glove box for a CB

I haven’t a clue about CBs

A speaker is just that; could have been used with anything with compatible impedance (8 ohms on these if I remember correctly). But like @vipergrhd said, Motorola made and sold a lot of FM 2-way radios for commercial applications. Could have had one of those in your truck, or more likely a previous owner just had the speaker and wanted a (better) external speaker for his ham or CB radio.
 
It's possible the previous owner (PO) was a volunteer firefighter or rescue squad. Motorola's were common radio brand and that coaxial terminal looks like would go to vhf/uhf radio.

Just pull all that stuff out of there. Make sure to not leave any hot wires ...follow them back to the battery or fuse box and disconnect.
 
Speaker for mobile phone. I had a phone mount that allowed you to take the phone with you - lower power on transmission when hand held, but a cradle mounted to right of shifter connected to booster and external speaker. Seems like that gave me 3 watts(?). This was when mine was brand new - early 90s.
 
A speaker is just that; could have been used with anything with compatible impedance (8 ohms on these if I remember correctly). But like @vipergrhd said, Motorola made and sold a lot of FM 2-way radios for commercial applications. Could have had one of those in your truck, or more likely a previous owner just had the speaker and wanted a (better) external speaker for his ham or CB radio.

FM 2 Way - okay thank you. Makes sense - I’m assuming this is for handheld radio device not a purse holder. 😆
A speaker is just that; could have been used with anything with compatible impedance (8 ohms on these if I remember correctly). But like @vipergrhd said, Motorola made and sold a lot of FM 2-way radios for commercial applications. Could have had one of those in your truck, or more likely a previous owner just had the speaker and wanted a (better) external speaker for his ham or CB radio.
A speaker is just that; could have been used with anything with compatible impedance (8 ohms on these if I remember correctly). But like @vipergrhd said, Motorola made and sold a lot of FM 2-way radios for commercial applications. Could have had one of those in your truck, or more likely a previous owner just had the speaker and wanted a (better) external speaker for his ham or CB radio.
nice! Thank you! Makes sense - so this clip must be for hand held device and not a purse holder 😂

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It's possible the previous owner (PO) was a volunteer firefighter or rescue squad. Motorola's were common radio brand and that coaxial terminal looks like would go to vhf/uhf radio.

Just pull all that stuff out of there. Make sure to not leave any hot wires ...follow them back to the battery or fuse box and disconnect.
g-man thank you. Guess I’d be dumb to feel totally safe when it comes to electrical.
Houses hard no- cars I’m a little more comfortable with but in this case…I am pretty sure that there have been a few added on “accessories” and mods I have NO clue what under/behind the dash “should” look like.

Any help I’d appreciate :)
Battery is disconnected (this weeks adventure began when I just gonna lube and inspecting crank regulator)

So there are currently 3 tapped fuses in box-
1 Red connector in “dome” 5amp fuse was for an aftermarket amp/sub (previous owner took those out & left wiring) power attached to battery & a ground at drivers seat floor bolt - I assume they’re still attached to back of after market head unit. (Can’t confirm yet - gonna wait till I’m more patient don’t want to damage dash panels)

2 others which aren’t attached to anything-

the grey hose has the Motorola speaker cord in it

What should the underneath of dash and wiring look like?

Ohhh also there are two fuses upside down in fuse box…I haven’t touched them - does orientation matter?
Thank you!

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welcome aboard this crazy train @gordista , the upside down fuses, only if it drives your OCD nuckin futs :hillbilly: as to the wires under the dash, if looks like it doesn't belong (to stock wiring) it probably doesn't. as has been said, carefully trace them through n remove, especially if there's no accessory attached n functioning.
 
I had those same speakers in my Caterpillar service truck. Back before cell phones we had Motorola radios in all the trucks and a base station at the dispatchers office. Our company had their own channel and there was a repeater up on the mountain.
 
Just an old Motorola speaker. Made in USA. I have one of those in my 60. Prolly 50 years old, now. Still sounds great.
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welcome aboard this crazy train @gordista , the upside down fuses, only if it drives your OCD nuckin futs :hillbilly: as to the wires under the dash, if looks like it doesn't belong (to stock wiring) it probably doesn't. as has been said, carefully trace them through n remove, especially if there's no accessory attached n functioning.
Hahaha! I’m really trying to control my OCD with this project- as it just began. Omg !!! It’s already gone from - gee while I’m waiting for big fuel parts to arrive, I’ll just get familiar, talk to her, do lite easy interior maintenance (heavy cleaning, inspecting window regulators & replacing front speakers) to a wormhole abyss of infinite exploration and repair!

Husband was like ummmm what happened to the cabinets for your office you started building last month they were almost done ? and points to wood shopping tools all piled up on bench in corner of garage.

Me: Well the dogs really wanted to go for a ride with windows down plus I needed music - 🤣
 
Hahaha! I’m really trying to control my OCD with this project- as it just began. Omg !!! It’s already gone from - gee while I’m waiting for big fuel parts to arrive, I’ll just get familiar, talk to her, do lite easy interior maintenance (heavy cleaning, inspecting window regulators & replacing front speakers) to a wormhole abyss of infinite exploration and repair!

Husband was like ummmm what happened to the cabinets for your office you started building last month they were almost done ? and points to wood shopping tools all piled up on bench in corner of garage.

Me: Well the dogs really wanted to go for a ride with windows down plus I needed music - 🤣
that's how you learn, just get after it. oh, by the way, check out NeverGiveUpYota's build thread here in the 60 section, a single mom raising a kid n building a 60. inspirational!
ummm, why's hubby not got the cabinets built for ya? :hmm: :grinpimp:
 
that's how you learn, just get after it. oh, by the way, check out NeverGiveUpYota's build thread here in the 60 section, a single mom raising a kid n building a 60. inspirational!
ummm, why's hubby not got the cabinets built for ya? :hmm: :grinpimp:
Nice I will! Thank you. Yes only way I learn- hands on! I needed to learn the how a manual transmission worked in order to learn how to drive a stick when I was a kid.

He’s a commercial contractor and doesn’t have patience for fine detail work.
 
You might want to start off buying a 12v test light. They are cheap around $10-$20. Looks like a screwdriver with a light bulb in the handle. It will have a ground wire coming off it with an alligator clip. Clip that to a ground. Good grounds are 10mm machine screws under the lower metal dash at either side. You may see some white with black stripe (ground wires) going to these locations. Anyway, clip your 12v tester to that then touch the probe end to the red wire end terminal that is coming out from the shifter to see if it's hot.

Ok, let me back up. First here is what a 12 volt tester looks like. (I apologize if this is too obvious) :

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Before testing wires ...lets test the test light. connect the alligator clip to the negative on the 12v battery under the hood and touch the probe to the positive. Make sure the light comes on.
 
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Also FYI...the fuses are just little thin pieces of metal. They transmit hot from one side of the fuse to hot on the other side. They are on the positive side of any circuit. The fuse box has one large hot wire coming from the battery to the fuse box. From there, a bunch of small hot wires run to each of the fuse receptical and only to one side of the recepticle. The power goes thru the fuse and if the fuse is good (not blown) the current runs to the other side of the recepticle and on to whatever it is powering. A ground wire comes off what ever is being powered and goes to a ground connection that in one way or another gets back to the negative post on the battery. this negative current can run through the metal body of the truck just like the 10mm screws under the dash. Did you notice the heavy ground wire on the battery that is very short and connects to the side of the inner fender less than a foot away? That is carrying the negative current and completing the circuit. All ground wires are safe to touch. It's the hot side (positive) that isn't. Electrical engineers will argue about what is truly negative and positive but for our purposes the positive on the battery is HOT ..like ouchy hot. and all the wires that it feeds too.
 
You can simply pull that red wire out from the fuse box and see if the radio is no longer working. If it removes the power from the radio you may have to re-tune stations and set the time on it again once you re-establish power. Not a huge deal.
 
I'd get some side cutters like this:

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and remove the zip ties from the motorola speaker then follow the speaker wires and pull them. Anything that looks like a household lamp wire is NOT stock and may be some old speaker wire (not hot).
 

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