JL WRANGLER Homemade Tailgate CB Radio Antenna Mount & Wiring WRITE-UP

[wayoflife]

Ever since I came out with my CB BAR for the Jeep JL Wrangler, I've had a number of people ask me what did I do for a CB Radio antenna? What did I use, where did I mount it and how did I route the coax cable to the CB? Well, after seeing how Mopar included a spot for an antenna mount on their tailgate reinforcement kit, I decided that I could make something similar using a piece of angle iron and mount it to the same location but using the factory hinge. The following pics will show you what I came up with, how I routed the coax cable to my CB radio mounted on my CB BAR and how I wired everything up as well. I hope this helps you out.

What You Will Need

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WAYALIFE CB BAR
1/8" Thick 1-1/4" Angle Iron
Unibit
Drill
Cutoff Tool
FireStik K4R Antenna Stud Mount
Firestik SS-3H Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Antenna Spring
FireStik K-8R18 18 foot Fire-Flex coax cable with Fire-Ring
Firestik (FS-3BK) Black 3' 650W Tunable Tip CB Antenna
Universal 48" Inch Copper Ground Strap
Plastic Trim Pry Tool
(1) M10 x 1.5mm Nut
(2) M10 x 1.5mm x 50 mm Flange Bolts
(2) 16mm OD x 10mm Long Unthreaded Spacer for M10 Bolt
Torx T-25 Bit
10mm Socket
16mm Socket
Ratchet
Solder Iron
Utility Knife
Zip Ties

Instructions

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As you can see here, I made my CB radio antenna mount using a piece of 1/8" thick 1-1/4" angle iron that I got at Lowes Hardware and cut to 6" in length. Using a unibit, I drilled 7/16" holes for the hinge bolts and a 1/2" hole for the CB antenna stud mount. For testing purposes, I replaced the factory hinge bolts with M10 x 1.5mm x 50mm Long 8.8 bolts, stacked washers behind and then secured the mount in place.


To get the coax cable inside your JL Wrangler, you will need to remove the spare tire and pulled the rubber plug sitting next to the tire carrier.


Using a plastic trim pry tool, remove the plastic trim from the inside of your tailgate.


If you get a FireStik K-8R18 18 foot Fire-Flex coax cable with Fire-Ring, the threaded connector will not be installed and this will allow you to phish the cable into the tailgate.


The space inside the tailgate is tight and it can be tough to phish through to the other side but it can be done with a little effort.


Taking the rubber plug that you removed from the tailgate, drill a small hole through the center of it.


Using a utility knife, cut a slit from the hole to the outside edge of the rubber plug.


You can now reinstall the rubber plug onto the tailgate and with the coax cable passing through it.


After cleaning up the threads of paint on the lower tailgate hinge bolt, you can attach a Universal 48" Inch Copper Ground Strap to it and secure it in place using an M10 x 1.5mm nut. A 16mm socket will be needed for this.


The ground strap can then routed down the trim and into the cargo cubby.


After removing the scissor jack, you can pry open the drain plug.


Route the ground strap through the drain port and reinstall the plug.


The ground strap can now be bolted directly to the frame using one of the existing bolts. If you got the tow package with your JL Wrangler, you can connect it to the electrical hook up bolts as shown.


You can now clean up the wiring by securing everything to the existing factory harness using some zip ties.


You can now reinstall the tailgate trim panel.


If you are using my CB BAR to mount your CB Radio, you can route your coax cable up the body trim and to the roll bar.


Using a Torx T-25 bit, you can open up the roll bar trim enough for you to route the coax cable all the way up to the windshield header.




The coax cable connector can now be soldered on.


The coax cable and the wiring from your CB Radio can be routed in between the windshield header as shown.




Once again, if you got your JL Wrangler with the tow package and auxiliary switches, you should be able to locate power leads up against the firewall on the passenger side foot well. The red wire with the white stripe is goes directly to the battery and it'll be what you'll want to connect your power lead to.


Remove the kick panel on the passenger side foot well and you will find a stud where you can attach your ground. You will need a 10mm socket to remove and reinstall the nut.


To finish things up, I would highly recommend that you install a heavy duty spring on your antenna mount and use a Firestik II antenna. If your CB Radio doesn't come with one, I would also recommend that you have your antenna tuned using a SWR meter. With that said, here's what it should all look like when all is said and done.




Please let me know if you have any questions.

[Growlz]

Great write-up! Thanks for going through on how you routed all the wiring.

[WiscoHR]

Thanks for another great write up. It really helps to see the projects I’m planning laid out prior to doing them. I like how the coax is routed under the roll bar trim.


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[wayoflife]

Great write-up! Thanks for going through on how you routed all the wiring.

Thanks for another great write up. It really helps to see the projects I’m planning laid out prior to doing them. I like how the coax is routed under the roll bar trim.

Glad that I can help out by sharing the things that I've done.

[BBDOC]

Thanks for the great write up! If I hadn’t already purchased the cool tech cb mount I would have done that. Thanks for all the pictures and descriptions.

[ddays v2]

Nice write up. The ground strap really makes a difference.

[wayoflife]

Nice write up. The ground strap really makes a difference.

The ground strap is pretty much a must.

[JL_selena]

The ground strap is pretty much a must.

is that the cool tech antenna ? i purchased it already along with your cb mount bar

[doubletapdaddy]

is that the cool tech antenna ? i purchased it already along with your cb mount bar

No THIS is a Firestik II. The kit that you are referencing includes a Firestik FireFly.

[JP223/3USA]

Fantastic write up


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