Tail light antenna mount install

Thought I would post these up for the benefit of the forum. This is how I installed an antenna mount I made last weekend. Pretty simple to make, mine is made from 12 gauge steel, 3/4 inch wide.

So, first off you'll need some supplies. The screws I got were a little long, but that's ok, there is plenty of room back there. You'll need 2. The washers aren't anything special, you'll need 4. Those square nuts are the nifty part, not sure exactly what they are called but they are enclosed in a metal cage that lets you insert them in to a panel. Get 2 of them. Lastly you see the ground wire setup. The wire is 10 gauge braided copper house wire. The ring terminals were selected so that the big one would fit on the CB antenna mount, and the small one would fit on one of the screws you just got.

 

[inh]

Step one is to insert the nuts in to the frame, where the old plastic inserts were. Next you assemble with the screw, one washer, the small ring terminal for the ground wire, the mount, the tail light housing, and one more washer. Screw that in to the nut. Do the same on the other side, minus the ring terminal of course.

Then you assemble your mount. Usually the lower part of the antenna mount will have a stud that goes through the hole in the mount that you made. Replace the metal washer that comes with the kit with the large ring terminal you just made. Then put on the white insulating washer, and the nut to tighten everything down.

 

[inh]

The last thing to do is test it. Get out your multimeter and set it to test for continuity. You want to make sure there is NO continuity between the top of the antenna mount and the bottom, as in the first picture. If you do have continuity, chances are that little ring lug shifted and is contacing the center conductor of the mount. You want to make sure that ring is absolutely centered.

After that is good, make sure the mount is grounded. Test using the bottom of the mount, and some metal piece on the vehicle. I used the screw I just installed, but that's not the best place. You could probably use a metal piece of your bumper, or somewhere under the truck were you can touch the probe to bare metal. You DO want continuity here.

That's it, your mount is now installed and properly grounded

 

[rizzjc]

Very nice install! And I like the mount too! Good job with the grounding, and good writeup.

 

[sport97]

ive been wanting to do this. Very good write up.
I have 2 questions: How did you bend the bracket piece, and is there any feedback caused from the fuel pump? I read that it could cause problems with reception and stactic.

 

[inh]

I've yet to hook up the antenna, I need to replace some bad COAX first, but when I had my roof mount antenna i had no or very little fuel pump noise. We'll see what happens with the tail light mount.

To make the mount itself, you just twist one end of the steel, to give yourself a level place to mount the antenna. Then you need to give it a SLIGHT bend to get around the hatch, and then you just drill the holes. It's pretty simple.

 

[sport97]

Have you hooked the antenna up and tested out how it works yet?
Im planning on running a 3 foot antenna(so i can still fit in my garage) on each side. Im not sure if im going to co-phase them or just hook up one and leave the other one for looks because ive read that they may be to close to each other to co-phase.

 

[Ilikemice]

Great writeup! I had a go at this recently and the hardest part I found was routing the coax through to the interior without getting trapped in the door.

I'm certainly going to use the grounding wire method like you did. I still need to buy a longer coax to test it but I'd feel better if there was a decent ground.

Here's mine

 

[RedneckRambo]

where can you get the fiber glass whip with the spring?

 

[mcgyver1467]

The install is great, but have you finished hooking it up? How does it work? I'm wondering if the antenna being so far down the side of the truck that it has any problems sending or receiving.

 

[rizzjc]

It way not be ideal, but it should work fine. You could squeak out better performance by mounting it top center of the roof, but for most, something like this will work fine.

 

[mcgyver1467]

It way not be ideal, but it should work fine. You could squeak out better performance by mounting it top center of the roof, but for most, something like this will work fine.

Thanks for the reply. I curently have a magneic mount, but have bought a
48" whip. I like the look of the tail light mount, so I was just curious.
When I can ever get the materials needed, I am planning on building a cargo carrier for the roof and may install it there later. That will probably be summer though.

 

[nmpfeiff]

I just made me a taillight mount on a 3rd generation out of an L bracket from Ace Hardware and a mirror mount and I wouldn't mind posting some pics but I don't know how. Where do I go?

 

[rizzjc]

You can host your photos somewhere else, and embed them in your posting, or you can host them here by becoming Elite!
http://www.explorer4x4.com/elite.html

 

[nmpfeiff]

Oh thanks. Do you know of a free site to host and upload pics?

 

[willindsay]

Oh thanks. Do you know of a free site to host and upload pics?

Flickr and Photobucket are both very good.

 

[nmpfeiff]

Flickr and Photobucket are both very good.

OK thanks I will check those out. I thought I would post some pics for the 3rd gen since there aren't many out there. This taillight mount used a preexisting bolt so no holes were drilled and it took about 5 min to make with a few parts from ACE hardware. It is pretty cheap since everything run me about $10.

 

[blueka]

when you made the mount, did you paint it before installing it?

What did you use for it?

Si

 

[sport97]

I used plain old black spray paint

 

[willindsay]

I painted mine with white rust prevention paint then about 4 coats of orange Krylon Fusion.