2nd Gen Radio Installations

Please post your equipment, and a photo of your installation, from your SECOND Generation Explorer.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

 

[rizzjc]

Nice job on the scanner! Looks great.

 

[Nasty350LT1]

Please post your equipment, and a photo of your installation, from your SECOND Generation Explorer.

Here is my Yaesu FT-8900R installed in my 99 Ex.

No Fuss, no muss, No Holes Drilled.

The head unit, right there just under the heater controls.
The ext speaker to the left of the fuel gauge.
The body of the radio is held up
under the dash with a bungie cord.

73 de Dave/N2JBO "Just Being Obnoxious"

 

[rizzjc]

I finally picked up a Yaesu FT-1802M and installed it today, since I had the console taken apart anyway to replace my O2 sensors. It's not done, and I should take the photo from a different angle, but here is where I put it:

I am probably going to cut the storage bin to fit around it, and finish it off. Also, notice the Scanguage, which lost its home. The radio is only mounted temporarilly. I need to make a bracket to mount it nice and tight, and will probably lower is a bit so that the Scanguage can go back in his home above it. Then I'll have airflow for under the Yaesu, and still have a storage bin there, for my junk.

 

[MustangAndy]

Two Things:

1. I got most of this stuff for free from my grandfather
2. I got lazy on the installation
____________________

Free Equipment:
(1) Lafyette HB-640 (built Nov. 1976) -SPARE
(1) Lafyette HB-740 (built Nov. 1976) -INSTALLED
(1) 24" unknown mag mount antenna -SPARE
(1) 24" Valor Dial-A-Match mag mount antenna -INSTALLED W/O MAGNET

Bought Equipment:
(1) 102" SS Radio Shack CB whip $25
_____________________

Installation:

CB - Jammed in between my seat and the center console with a piece of 3M duallock velcro to hold it in place, that's the same stuff they use for EZ-Pass so you know it isn't gonna budge. (I'M LAZY)

Antenna - built a double ply SS bracket that bolts to my taillight assembly. Then depending on what I need I'll use the 24" stubby or the 102" whip.
Coax - Down the tailgate, small drip-loop, into the interior panel, exits the panel under my rear seat, goes under the rear seat makes a turn towards the front, over the carpet (Only visible spot) then under my center console till it hits the rear of the radio. The ground for the antenna is wrapped around the coax and attached to the body. It used to ground to the body through the mag mount which I no longer use.

Power - 12V Cig adapter - Out of the outlet by the passenger's foot, doubles back into the enter console to the rear of the radio.

 

[huntersteve61]

Nice instal Sounds exactly like what mine will be, I will post some pictures for everyone

 

[GPNyce]

heres mine...

-alpine dvd player
-directed electronics headrest monitor mounted in center console

 

[L4CX]

Here's my Antenna. I just wedge The Radio inbetween the seat and the counsel. There was also on person who put it on the lid for the center cousle. I'm gonna do that when I get a new radio.

Here's the thread.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187578

 

[Glen4X4]

1995 Explorer XLT Full Length Console CB Install

Wanted to post my installation pics, I had a hard time finding a place for my nice UNIDEN and didn't want to have a crappy lookin install so I went and bought a new Cobra 19 Ultra III so far seems to be a good cb for being small, but here is how I did it, I put the cb in the pocket as far as it'd go and moved it back and fourth creating a mark inside pocket then took my craftsman razorblade pocket knife heated the blade and made a slit on the inside so it'd show on the outside (unbolted the pockets from the bezel that holds it in the console) then got the hand torch out and had my fiance hold it and kept heating the blade til it was orange-golden hot through out cutting the right hole in the pocket (had to heat the blade several times between cutting) doing it with a hot blade helps ensure it don't look like a hack job like a jig saw may do and you can go at it slower to ensure a better fit and install, my cb fits in there snug and yet is not screwed in place in there. and since I already mutilated the nice black piece I went ahead and mounted the mic clip on the side for easy access. I spliced the power into the accessory power outlet thats on the side of the console so I can still use that outlet. Here are the pictures.

NOTE: Threeway Toggle Switch Is For BWM nothing else incase anyone's curious about that.

 

[Stic-o]

 

[Charlie]

^^^Same radio I've got

 

[Stic-o]

did the volume pop out nob spring brake on yours too!

 

[Charlie]

No, mine works fine still

 

[rich uk]

Uk install

Im guessing you guys in the US have something in this space but it seemed ideal place to put my new cb,
best of all you would never know it was there as the cover goes back on and the mic fits in the space below ,
well pleased so far.

 

[Lankhimself]

I opted for something different, as well as something I've never seen done before in an Explorer...I mounted mine from the ceiling. May not be everyone's first choice but this CB is huge and it was my only option. I actually like it being up there a lot, and it isn't really in the way as much as I expected it to. It's bolted to the overhead console via very long machine screws and a bunch of washers and a pair of nylon screw spacers. It's been like this for four months and no problems!. The radio is a "peaked and tuned" Cobra 29 LTD. The mic is a powered Cobra CA-75. I'm running a pair of 5 watt Uniden external speakers, one on each B-pillar above the seat belt adjusters, so basically it's one speaker for the driver and one for the passenger.





The antenna I'm running is a 102" stainless steel whip on a Radio Shack ball mount.



I've also got a 20watt PA speaker hiding behind the grille

 

[Charlie]

Mine's mounted under the ashtray. Sorry for the blurry pic..

 

[rizzjc]

Well, my first thought for my ham radio install wasn't working out the way I wanted, and I just didn't have the time (or probably skill) to do it "right", so today, being sick of my radio laying in the hole previously occupied by the storage bins, I decided to make an attempt to mock up something better, and decide if it would work. Here is what I ended up with:

It's just plywood, covered with vinyl which I had left over from recovering the armrest. Unfortunately the color isn't a direct match to the interior color, but the new console matches the armrest at least.

I liked the space that the third gens have, and got this idea from one of the latest install photos posted in that thread. The problem with my console is that NOTHING is square, so it makes it very difficult to make the cuts and have it fit, and look, nice. This certainly looks home-made, but it's better than what I had. The radio right now just slides in and holds in place just fine (better than it bounces around like it was before). I'd like to put some bins back in there big blank space on the bottom, but cutting and stapling that vinyl is more difficult than I thought.

Here are a few more shots:

I'd love something just like this, molded, in black, but it would just be too hard for me to make something (say out of fiberglass or something) that would end up looking nice.

 

[patman]

I mounted mine from the ceiling. May not be everyone's first choice but this CB is huge and it was my only option.

you have no idea how much you just ruined my hopes...that's the same cb i got and i was hoping there was another place...but oh well

 

[inh]

Here is my Galaxy 979 I just installed. It's not the final installation, I'm still waiting on a 2wd radio bezel since I dont have an electronic transfercase anymore

I had to move the antenna, power, external speaker, and PA speaker connections from the back to the side so the CB would fit in the dash without sticking out too far. Also had to dremel both the top and bottom, as well as a bit off the sides, of the inside of the radio bezel. Everything just fits.

I also have a Wilson 1000 mag mount on the roof, and using the Firestik AR1A antenna splitter, I can use my CB antenna for the car stereo and pull in radio stations MUCH better. CB performance was un-affected. My SWR is about 1.1 right now