For those with radios/CBs: routing antenna cable to bed

For those out there with ham radios and/or CBs and have antennas mounted in the bed somewhere, how did you go about routing the cable back there? Did you drill through both the cab and the bed and add some grommets? Is there an existing wiring loom that you can sneak into?

 

Floor of the cab, by rocker, just behind driver's seat there is a grommet you can push through.

 

That gets it out of the cab, so did you just route it up the gap between the cab and bed so you didn't have to drill any holes?

 

Ran it down the frame and into the bed. I had bulk though so I didn't have a connector on it.

 

I unbolted my back seat panel compartment which revealed a rubber grommet thing as well just slid it though there and up in between bed and cab...not the best pic but only one I have right now

 

Oooo which antenna mounting bracket is that?

 

Mind sharing/linking how you did your hi-lift jack mount?

 

Yea bought them from another member super nice quality definitely recommend https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bed-corner-tie-downs.476843/page-5#post-15001069

 

Yea followed another members tutorial also with minor mods but basically the same.... https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-hi-lift-and-tool-mounts.260147/

 

Subbed to that thread, gotta get one out of the next batch! Thanks!

 

I used a uni-strut L bracket. Drilled a hole under the rail and ran the cable between the cab and bed.

 

No prob... I like the extra mounting points mine are just rattle can primered with bedliner which held up through my Death Valley abuse this past weekend

 

Multitude of ways you can accomplish this. Like has been said, there is a huge ass grommet on both passenger/driver side under the seats with an existing wire loom running out of it. There are numerous other grommets in the floor as well but the big one under the seat is easiest. There are also some smaller grommets out the rear of the cab behind the storage cubbies. They are solid grommets so you'd need to drill a decent size hole for that. Sort of hard with full size coax but the mini rg8x or whatever it's called would be easier to route.

Once you are at the bed you can do the noninvasive approach and either run right over the top and then under the bed rails to the tailgate or wherever you mount your antenna. Another option is run your cable all the way to the bed cubbies and run it up through the little vent holes inside the cubby, can then drill a hole in the cubby door and add a grommet and run coax through that.

Or you can drill a hole somewhere in the bed and do it that way. Really depends on how invasive/noninvasive-reversible you want to get.

If you run it from the grommet under the seats though, just run it with one of the cables going along the frame and zip tie it every few feet along the way.

Also, all of this is easier with a coax that has no connector installed on the end. I bought some real good cable and chopped an existing connector off to route my stuff without having to cut massive holes in everything.

 

any body got pictures of these grommets to run the cable.

 

Pic is from the internet but the one I used I drew an arrow to

 

I ran my antenna cable under and into the console, through the shift boot, to the frame and drilled a hole into the flat area inside the bed.
Using a 4' Firestick and get great reception with others on the trail.

 

I took off the driver side tail light and ran my wire through there along the frame/existing wire loom and up into the cab through the grommet under the driver's seat. No drilling or anything other than poking a hole in the grommet and putting some silicone around it to keep water out.