Installing a mobile radio

Tomorrow I'm planning on installing a mobile ham radio in my truck. My plan is to mount it to the floor under the drivers seat. I feel pretty confident about everything except mounting the radio bracket to the floor. I'm what I can tell mounting to the floor will mean drilling through the floor of the cab so I can run bolts through. So my questions are: 1. is drilling through the correct way to mount the radio to the floor? 2. is it a problem to drill through the floor of the cab? I'm just trying to make sure I don't screw up my new truck. Thanks.

 

I wouldn't drill through the floor. When you do that, you end up exposing the sheet metal to the elements where it was drilled.

Your better option would be to mount it to the seat rails.

 

+1^^^^ Make a little bracket to span between the rails if you are dead set on mounting it there. I have a yaesu ft1900, which has no separation kit. I had to mount the full deck in my view, so I mounted mine under the steering wheel. I don't have a picture of it, but it looks like it gets in the way, but I never hit it will my legs and I'm 6'4". Easy access and in close reach.

 

Did you drill thru the floor for the install?

 

Hmm, I might have to take a look at that option.

I haven't. Things came up and I haven't gotten it installed yet.

 

Drilling into the floor isn't a big deal, as long as you check under the carpet and under the vehicle to make sure you're not drilling into anything other than the floor board. If your worried about rust, just clean the area around the screws exit hole and spray it with undercoating or spray paint.

 

Here is where I mounted mine, finally took a pic of it.

 

Not a bad spot to mount...for the off road driving we do, I would want to shore up the mounting area with something substantial, maybe a metal bracket behind the plastic to sandwich between the screws?

Road and off road vibration might wreak havoc and eventually fatigue and break down the plastic dash...just a thought.

 

Good point. I haven't had any issues with it. I have pretty big washers on the back and loctite'd the threads. Its been on there for well over a year and never had any issues with it and my truck sees a lot of dirt and crappy roads.

 

Just a quick update. I'm guessing you already mounted your radio, but I bought a new ft-8800r with a separation kit. Mounted the unit under my seat, but to the seat and it took zero modifications to mount it. And the interface for it is mounted below my FM radio.