Bryan and I are picking some CB's tonight. We're planning on the Cobra 19DX IV. Our first endeavor is to get these radios installed in the truck. We're looking to mount it to the lower dash, above the parking brake. We're looking for some advice, instructions, or good old stories of what not to do...and maybe how to take this panel off. We appreciate your help. We'll take pictures.

Here's what we're shooting for:



antennas are on the way

 

Yeah if anybody has any advice or any helpful pointers please feel free to chime in. Thanks

 

blah

 

wow I like that position a lot. I think Ill try that on my new truck. I have the same CB, make sure to get the PA haha...Alon did my install, just soldered it into the 12V cig outlet so it has constant power...

 

That right behind that panel is a steel plate. to get the plastic panel off you unbolt the 4 bolts that are on the bottom, one left one right, and 2 are through the hood release and the panel. Pop them off then pry the top straight out towards the drivers seat. Pull from the top not the bottom.

YOU MUST remove the bolts first or you will break the connectors on top off...I found out the hard way.

 

Im not sure how your mounting to the panle but like "malydeen" said theres a steel kick plate back there molded to that panle I had to cut to fit my switches the first time i installed them wich brings me to my next point . I dont know how tall you are but I had to remove my switches because I kept hitting my knee on them might look into that b4 you get to far into it other than that its a real hand location.

 

I like how that looks a lot but do you think it would get in the way if you have a 5 speed

 

great picture Justin. Thanks for the pointers guys. We were able to do both our trucks tonight. We kept it up a little higher than in Justin's picture (closer to the picture I posted). This'll keep it out of the way of our chicken legs. We didn't really need to pop off the whole panel, though we did it to take a look on Bryan's truck. We drilled some starter holes and the screws were self-drilling things. It actually looks pretty good. The antennas are on their way in. Once we do the full installation, I'll post up some pictures of our setup. It was a pretty fun night. We'll keep you posted!

 

probably would...my GF snapped my bracket off a few times just setting the ebrake....

 

Ok I just got home from Dusty's garage. We installed CB's in both of our trucks. I pulled off part of that panel and decided that the screws that were provided were short enough that we didn't have to cut any metal from behind. My truck went first because his is newer. I just put the bracket up as high as we could but so it still sat level. Punched some pilot holes drilled small pilot holes and mounted it up. Fits nicely and it can easily be adjusted (ie: volume, rf gain, squelch etc.) without runinng off the road or being much of a distaction. We took pics of the 2nd install on Dusty's 08 since we knew exactly what we were doing. We'll post it up when we're finished with everything. Our antennas should be here in about 10 days or so then we'll get that ran wiht the coax cable and we'll be in business. Thanks for hte replies and any more advice is still more than welcome!

EDIT: Dusty beat me on the report, I type too slow.

 

I like the spot where that cb is at but with a 5 speed i gotta come up with somethin different.

 

Top of dash, headliner where the OHC would be, also seen on the passenger side of the cupholder, i think i saw someone take out their middle A/C vents and put it there...

 

take out AC vents?? lol, here that would be grounds for killing. This will not be good for a 5 speed at all. If you can get it somewhere in the console, as justin suggested, it could look really good!

 

yea here as well...but he is up in CO so not sure how hot it gets there...

but its only the two in the middle you still have the side ones...

 

but where would the air go? You would have to reroute it all throught he side vents? The A/C is a closed system, I would think that this could be hard on the system....admittedly I'm far from any kind of expert, so I could be wrong. It just seems like a lot of air to stuff through those vents. Create some strong weather patterns in the cab! yeeehaw!

 

Weather patterns in the cab

 

I'm pretty sure it was on here that i saw one under the arm rest in the middle...don't know if you're looking for quick access....but it was neatly tucked away in there...see if i can come up with a picture....

 

my only concern with that one was without an external speaker how well you would be able to hear it...

 

I have seen that too...but getting to it will be a problem. You aren't adjusting it all the time, but when you need to, I dont' want to stop so I can wiggle the dials.

The external speaker isn't much, I wouldn't want to cover it more than it has to. Although we're waiting for the antennas, so I honestly have not heard it at this point -- it could leave us impressed

 

i mounted my cobra 25 under the armrest on my console. looks nice and clean too. i have the cb upside down so the speaker is up and all i have to do to see the face of the radio is raise the armrest up. ill try and get a pic of it this weekend.

 

that'd be great. We were looking at the C25, but it's too big for where we wanted to mount it.

 

i dont think this is the one i was thinking of....but its the same idea:

 

i like the ide on the console, ide definately hit my knee on the e brake one

 

I did this on mine. Its only a temp job. Used double sided tape. I might move it down where everyone else is putting theres, just haven't had the time.

 

Soccerjohn I really like where you have yours it is for sure easy to access and see there. plus it looks good.