Stealthy, clean in-dash CB install
04-20-2013, 03:11 PM
#23
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Sure - I'm working on a writeup - I processed about 61 photos tonight, and will now start writing the text to go with them. In the meantime, here's a pic of the CB mounted under the seat. On my '13 Rubi with the heated leather seats, there's a bracket / "lip" that sticks out, and I drilled two holes in it to attach the CB's factory bracket. I assume (hope) that on non-Rubi leather seat models, the same bracket exists, but I have no way to tell. Full writeup to follow in a day or two...
This photo is a little deceiving - you may be thrown off by the fact that bright light comes out from under the seat - but keep in mind I had the seat removed (what a pain in the arse, those bolts are TIGHT!) and it's laid down on its side. Anyway, what you're looking at here is as if you are in the back seat, crouched down below seat level, looking towards the front end of the Jeep. That is, in the photo, the bottom of the frame is actually down, up is up, the CB's face (on left) is pointed at the driver's door, etc...
This configuration does three important things: 1) keeps the CB off the floor where water could pool; 2) keeps CB out of view except the face is visible when driver's door is open - easily solved by draping it with a black cloth; and 3) it's a rigid mount. I don't think you want it just sitting there. Must not rattle or move, as that would be annoying and also put undue stress on all the wires of the control/display cables. Especially when a Jeep is doing what a Jeep loves to do - off-roading. I put lock washers on the bolts holding the bracket to the seat tab, so the nuts wouldn't come undone with vibrations etc.
This is not the ideal location for the speaker. CB audio, especially being AM mode, is ridiculously hard to copy. Having this audio come from under the seat makes it even worse. I disabled the internal speaker and just run a male-make cable from the CB "external speaker" output to the Jeep factory radio's "aux in" and it works great, except that now you have two audio controls to balance. I just set the factory radio at the same audio level as I'd normally listen to on AM/FM/CD/sat, and then set the CB's audio control afterwards. All further adjustments to volume are done with the Jeep's radio control (familiar location, easy to get to, intuitive)
This photo is a little deceiving - you may be thrown off by the fact that bright light comes out from under the seat - but keep in mind I had the seat removed (what a pain in the arse, those bolts are TIGHT!) and it's laid down on its side. Anyway, what you're looking at here is as if you are in the back seat, crouched down below seat level, looking towards the front end of the Jeep. That is, in the photo, the bottom of the frame is actually down, up is up, the CB's face (on left) is pointed at the driver's door, etc...
This configuration does three important things: 1) keeps the CB off the floor where water could pool; 2) keeps CB out of view except the face is visible when driver's door is open - easily solved by draping it with a black cloth; and 3) it's a rigid mount. I don't think you want it just sitting there. Must not rattle or move, as that would be annoying and also put undue stress on all the wires of the control/display cables. Especially when a Jeep is doing what a Jeep loves to do - off-roading. I put lock washers on the bolts holding the bracket to the seat tab, so the nuts wouldn't come undone with vibrations etc.
This is not the ideal location for the speaker. CB audio, especially being AM mode, is ridiculously hard to copy. Having this audio come from under the seat makes it even worse. I disabled the internal speaker and just run a male-make cable from the CB "external speaker" output to the Jeep factory radio's "aux in" and it works great, except that now you have two audio controls to balance. I just set the factory radio at the same audio level as I'd normally listen to on AM/FM/CD/sat, and then set the CB's audio control afterwards. All further adjustments to volume are done with the Jeep's radio control (familiar location, easy to get to, intuitive)
Last edited by mostlystock; 04-19-2014 at 04:44 AM.
04-20-2013, 03:19 PM
#24
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Sure - I'm working on a writeup - I processed about 61 photos tonight, and will now start writing the text to go with them. In the meantime, here's a pic of the CB mounted under the seat. On my '13 Rubi with the heated leather seats, there's a bracket / "lip" that sticks out, and I drilled two holes in it to attach the CB's factory bracket. I assume (hope) that on non-Rubi leather seat models, the same bracket exists, but I have no way to tell. Full writeup to follow in a day or two...
This photo is a little deceiving - you may be thrown off by the fact that bright light comes out from under the seat - but keep in mind I had the seat removed (what a pain in the arse, those bolts are TIGHT!) and it's laid down on its side. Anyway, what you're looking at here is as if you are in the back seat, crouched down below seat level, looking towards the front end of the Jeep. That is, in the photo, the bottom of the frame is actually down, up is up, the CB's face (on left) is pointed at the driver's door, etc...
This configuration does three important things: 1) keeps the CB off the floor where water could pool; 2) keeps CB out of view except the face is visible when driver's door is open - easily solved by draping it with a black cloth; and 3) it's a rigid mount. I don't think you want it just sitting there. Must not rattle or move, as that would be annoying and also put undue stress on all the wires of the control/display cables. Especially when a Jeep is doing what a Jeep loves to do - off-roading. I put lock washers on the bolts holding the bracket to the seat tab, so the nuts wouldn't come undone with vibrations etc.
This photo is a little deceiving - you may be thrown off by the fact that bright light comes out from under the seat - but keep in mind I had the seat removed (what a pain in the arse, those bolts are TIGHT!) and it's laid down on its side. Anyway, what you're looking at here is as if you are in the back seat, crouched down below seat level, looking towards the front end of the Jeep. That is, in the photo, the bottom of the frame is actually down, up is up, the CB's face (on left) is pointed at the driver's door, etc...
This configuration does three important things: 1) keeps the CB off the floor where water could pool; 2) keeps CB out of view except the face is visible when driver's door is open - easily solved by draping it with a black cloth; and 3) it's a rigid mount. I don't think you want it just sitting there. Must not rattle or move, as that would be annoying and also put undue stress on all the wires of the control/display cables. Especially when a Jeep is doing what a Jeep loves to do - off-roading. I put lock washers on the bolts holding the bracket to the seat tab, so the nuts wouldn't come undone with vibrations etc.
04-30-2013, 02:52 AM
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04-30-2013, 06:40 AM
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05-12-2013, 05:57 PM
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The side panel comes off easily - it is retained by only a few spring clips. The "OFF ROAD" pod is trickier though - while it is retained by only four metal spring clips, a couple of them are hard to reach. I inserted a screwdriver through where the side panel was removed, and compressed the spring while gently pulling the pod out of the dash.