Well, I discovered the stud mount I have is for the Firestik fire ring coax. It looks very similar to the lug connector, but is missing a shoulder washer and metal washer. Anyone know of any other differences? Can I just add the washers to use with the lug coax? Anyone successfully snaked a fire ring coax through the tail gate? Ground issues with the fire ring?

 

If you can find another shoulder washer it will work. Just be careful that the bolt can't migrate in the mount and short itself out.

I can't remember the tailgate but I think the hardest part about running the coax would be getting inside the tailgate behind the plastic moulding. I know getting out the back (exterior) of the tailgate is easy. Routing inside the cab is also not an issue.

 

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I installed this mount last night with the firestik antenna but did not ground it using the wiring o-ring at the bottom of the mount based on advise from my buddy. He thinks the antenna should not have a direct ground to the vehicle. Any advise would help?????? Thanks

 

The wiring though the tailgate is very easy. There is even room for the coax cable in the wiring mesh wrap at the hinge. Just take off all the plastic panels on the tailgate.

 

The bold is the basis for my response. The cable alone is very easy to run through. From behind the plastic panel I do not know if the hole is large enough to fit this connector.

 

So where does the ground wire go? Do you need it if the mount is well grounded?

 

No you do not. "Well grounded" being the important part of that statement.

 

I installed my antenna mount and coax today. Everything went well. I used the Teraflex spare tire mount. That thing is super beefy. I don't know why they used such thick steel, but it sure won't ever fail or bend. I went with the lug wire stud mount. I didn't want any ground problems. I figured it wouldn't ground properly it would be easier to run a ground wire from the ground lug mount than with another method.

I carefully removed the wire panel and vent from the tail gate and fed the coax through gate. I used the grommet that the third brake light wire goes through and cut a slot in it. It worked real nice as the wire fed right through.

I then threaded the insulated wire lug onto the stud mount. I attached the ground lug onto the bracket mount bolt. I hope this right as I couldn't find any directions online to help.

I found it super easy to run the coax under the carpet and up and under the passenger seat.

The good news is that it worked. I used my SWR meter to check it and both Ch. 1 and 40 were under 3. I was a little off as 1 was higher than 40. I adjusted my thumb screw on the Firestik Firely and got both under 2. Now I just need to hit the trails and make sure it works well.