Ham radio antenna mount 04 Tacoma

Ham Radio Antenna mounting for 2004 Tacoma
I wanted a clean no drill mount for my 2004 Tacoma for my ham radio antennas. I found what I was looking for at CBI Off road. Even though their install doc only shows up to 2002 a quick call assured me that that it would work on the 2004. This mount uses the 2 bolts that hold the hood hinge in place so no extra drilling needed and it makes a nice clean install.
Here is the CBI part description, T4R3 Ditch Light Brackets (1996 – 2002 Toyota 4Runner). They make both a left and right with a small discount for ordering both. I am planning on having two radios hooked up. Both will be Yaesu, an FT8900 and an Ft857d using the Atas 120 screwdriver antenna.
The first thing I did was look at CBI’s instructions and then I got started.
http://www.cbioffroadfab.com/wp-content/product-installs/t4r3-ditch-light-brackets.pdf
Here is a picture of the bracket, driver’s side shown. I have drilled it out to 5/8” diameter for my coax mount. You can see it is marked with a D and the passenger side is marked with a P so it is hard to get things mixed up. (#1)
Picture 1


First mark the wiper arms so you can get them back on in the right place and remove them. Pop the cover and remove the 12mm bolt. I found grabbing the arm near the pivot and lifting broke the taper loose easily.
Next remove the six screws and four push pins holding the cowling in place. One note on the pins the middle driver side has a retainer on it that keeps the rubber seal in place, so make sure to lift this one carefully. Remove the cowling and set it aside.
Next mark the hinge positions. This is necessary in order to make reassembly easier and to help keep the body lines in the factory positions. Important note, only work on one side at a time to help keep things in line it worked great for me. (#2)
Picture 2

Next remove the four 10mm bolts holding the top of the fender on. Three along the top and one behind the door. The door needs to stay open from now until you are ready to put things back together. Lift the top of the fender up about 1” and gently move it to the outside of the truck. This will give you room to work on the bolts holding the hood hinge. On the drivers side the fender stayed in place nicely but the passenger needed a small board wedged in place to keep it out of the way.(#3)
Next I wedged another board and my welding gloves to steady the hood once I remove the bolts. If you have a helper you might be able to skip this, but I was doing this alone so it was necessary.(#4)
Now after all that prep remove the two 10mm bolts holding the hinge down.

Picture 3
Picture 4

After removing the bolts place the correct bracket in place and start to reassemble the truck. Use the longer bolts and washers supplied and I made sure to use copper anti seize on all the bolts you take out. Copper anti seize is water resistant and up here in the rust belt we need all the help we can get to keep things from rusting solid. (#5)

Picture 5


I next did the the same procedure to the passenger side with the next picture showing how far the hinge displaced when I removed the bolts. (#6) Over here I had to use a screw driver to get the hinge alignment back.

Picture 6


Picture 7
The next step is to cut the cowling to fit with the mounts in place. I cut the majority of the marked part out with a tin snips and the finished it with a razor knife.(#7) Picture #8 shows it trimed to fit. Do this to both sides and reinstall. Picture #9 shows the antena mount and antenna in place.
. Picture 8 Picture 9
The last part is the install of the coax and mount. I used Surman part number SC-ECH purchased from Radio City Minnesota. This coax has the mount already affixed to the coax and has a removable connector. This allows you to push the coax though a much smaller hole(.475 dia) then if the connector was still on it. (#10)

Picture 10 Picture 11
Route the cable clear of obstructions and pinch points, zip tie as necessary to keep things in place. The last picture(#11) shows the cable end being pushed through the rubber boot on the drivers side fire wall. From there route it as needed to your radio.
Good luck
Chuck
KØORK

 

I should be ready for a similar install in a few more weeks. Good write up. Thanks for the effort.