Very simple answer to mounting CB, with no drilling holes in truck

In my 2011 Cascadia my Galaxy would not fit in hole for cb. Solution no hole drilling but go to hardware store and get skinny bolts with washers and nuts that will fit through the holes that are there for the speaker. No drilling required...

 

That maybe true if you get hit from the front or back...Turn upside down, or a side hit and all bets are off...

Unsecured items or poorly mounted things have always been a "pet-peeve" with me since my High School days back in the Mid 70's...I had this friend I went to school with that died in a crash when we were Seniors...

he had this 67 Impala with Cragar SS wheels, and a killer Stereo System...(and a CB...but everyone then had a CB)

The speakers he had were the box type that you set on the back dash and just bolt down so you don't have to cut big holes...His were just sitting on the back dash not bolted...Then one morning going to school it had been raining and he was going to fast and ran up the curb right into a telephone pole head-on!

The wreck itself wasn't all that bad, but he was killed by one of the speakers flying and hitting him in the back of the head...I was right behind him when it happened, so I was first on the cine and found him slumped over the steering wheel...Later it was determined it wasn't the crash that killed him, but the speaker...

Ever since, everything inside my vehicles that weighs more than a piece of paper gets secured to something that won't move...but that's just me... "cuz ya never know!"

 

So why not buy a radio that would fit the hole? That's what I did for my little Toyota Tacoma...




NO HOLES DRILLED! Not even on the antenna....No Holes in the roof, but the antenna is mounted so it tunes the same as if it were mounted on the roof...Even the external speaker I didn't have to drill any holes...I took out the ash tray, then used the two holes that held in the ash trays bracket, to mount the speaker...When it comes time to sell the truck all I have to do is remove the radio, put back in the little glove box thing and put the ash tray back, and you would never know there was a CB in there to start with.



My Suburban and work van are a different story tho...but they already had so many holes already, a few more wasn't going to mater!:smt003

 

So.. how do you get the antenna cable out with no holes? I'm facing that, plus no place to mount the antenna on an E150 Ford van. The body sheet metal in a new van is very thin. I can't do what jessejamesdallas has done. I need maybe a kit to replace the stock am/fm antenna with a CB antenna. Firestik makes a am/fm/cb coupler that is rated 50W so it should be fine, but I can't find a CB antenna to replace the Ford fenrer-mounted am/fm radio antenna with.

I did the same "mounting plate" thing in a non commercial truck (F550) with a piece of wood. It has the CB, GPS, and radar detector on it. Their mounts secure them to the 1/2" thick piece of wood. One power cable goes to the cigar lighter. It does not use attachments, it fits and sits nicely in the dashboard 'tray' area. I got rid of the truck due to repair costs (11K in 8 months what junk) so this is no longer used. I use a mag mount antenna, but I want to get away from that inconvenience.

I worried about the wood plate with the gear in an accident and didn't like that aspect of it and I only used it when traveling. I won't be doing it again though.

I have a 2012 E150 cargo van now and I want to mount the CB properly, and the other stuff. I am considering ways to hide the equipment when I am parked or just mount it in some way that no one will see it. . I guess that is what it comes to, if the thief can't see anything in there, he might go to another vehicle.

You professional truckers are lucky your cabs are high, a casual thief can's see so much at a glance. Hopefully truckers are not stealing from truckers.

 

Usually the are predrilled holes on the firewall that you can pass a coax thru. There's always a way without tearing stuff up.

 

Here's my Ford E 450 Van....The fender mount is home-made and can handle just about any antenna on the market...This picture is with a Predator 10K antenna with a 27" lower shaft....



This picture is with a Predator 30K which uses a aluminum rod instead of a stinger...



mount



Wires / coax ran threw the firewall using existing holes...

Now the radio is mounted to a pedestal that I made out of some scrap I had lying around the house, and self tapping screws hold it to the floor...(amp is not sitting there in the floor, that was just temporary...)