Installation in Ford F150

Hello, this is my 1st post. Looking forward to talking about a grand old hobby in CB Radio. I guess you could say I am trying to relive my childhood and the 1970s but that's a good thing.

My question is...…..Anybody have any idea how I can get a CB Radio installed in my 2013 Ford F150 truck?

Mike

Wibler said:

My question is...…..Anybody have any idea how I can get a CB Radio installed in my 2013 Ford F150 truck?

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Welcome, Mike.

I had a 2011 F150 up until a few months ago. I had a VHF mobile and an 800MHz mobile in it. About two years ago I was making a trip from California to Denver and back as well as one from California to San Antonio and back. I pulled the 800MHz radio out (had to put it in one of my work trucks) and put a CB in it's place.

The good part is that these full size American pickups are really easy to install radios in.

Due to all my radios being a remote head type with the control head under the dash and the RF deck behind the back seat, it was pretty easy. When I put the CB in, I went with a Uniden CMX560, which is a remote head radio.

Depending on what type of CB you want to install, it'll dictate how and where you mount it. Your cab and seat type will impact things, too.

What I can tell you is what applies to all radio installations:
Don't cut corners on the installation. In other words, going cheap and easy usually gets you a poor performing set up. If you are serious about having the radio work well, you'll need to get beyond mag mount CB antennas and cigarette lighter plugs.
Clean power is important. Do not tap into existing vehicle wiring for the radio power. Always run your radio power feed directly. Put the positive lead on the positive terminal of the battery with a fuse close by to protect the rest of the wire. Connect your negative lead to the vehicle chassis as close as you can reasonably get it to the CB.
And never skimp on the antenna. There are a lot of cheap and crappy CB antennas out there. If you purchase a CB antenna based on looks alone, chances are you will be disappointed. Understanding that CB's need a big antenna mounted in the center of the cab roof is a good thing to wrap your mind around before you get started.

I used a Larsen NMO-27 antenna mounted on a permanent NMO mount on the center of the cab roof.
Putting the antenna in the center of the roof gets you the best possible ground plane around the base of the antenna. That's important for a number of reasons. Most of all, it gets you a nice clean radiation pattern, which means you are getting equal amounts of signal out in all directions.
The Larsen antennas are very durable. I've had the same one for going on 25 years now, and I pretty much exclusively use their antennas for work. You won't find them at Wal*Mart or your local truck stop. They are a commercial antenna designed for commercial use.
The antenna mount is important, too. Installing a good NMO style mount gives you a great starting point. While it can be hard for newcomers to understand the importance of doing a permanent installation, I've never had one let me down.

I can probably dig up a few photos of my install if you'd like.
If you can share some info about what your expectations are about range, performance, etc. as well as what your skill level and budget is, that would help us help you.

mmckenna I have a 2017 F150 and man it is hard to find a place to mount a radio. Can you please offer me some suggestions. Thanks
Bobby

BloodandRoses said:

mmckenna I have a 2017 F150 and man it is hard to find a place to mount a radio. Can you please offer me some suggestions. Thanks
Bobby

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Mine was a 2011 F150 Crew cab. I just recently replaced it with a 2018 F350 crew cab. I've got an F350 regular cab at work. All have (had) radios in them.

Since all my radios have been remote head types, including the CB (Uniden CMX560), all the radio "guts" go behind the seats.
On the crew cabs, the mounting of the RF decks consists of a length of Unistrut laid across between two of the seat mounting bolts and bolted down to that using metric nuts and washers (I don't recall what size it is…).
From there, I used brackets attached to the Unistrut to hold the radios.
Cable from the RF decks were run up under the door sills to the dash board where I only had to worry about mounting the control heads.

To do that, I fabricated a piece of heavy gauge aluminum to bolt into the small cubby hole on the bottom of the dash board above the transmission hump. Control heads were mounted to that, and the cables routed through a hole in the back of the cubby hole.

I also added external speakers to improve audio. Makes a big difference.

Being able to fabricate your own mounting solutions really helps open up the possibilities. There usually isn't enough real estate to just mount the radio bracket and be done. A bit of creativity is required.

The 2018 F350 has a VHF CDM-1550:


The 2017 work F350 has a Kenwood NX-700 VHF and an NX-900 800MHz:


Radios are mounted behind the rear seat like this:

I am in the same boat here. There is nothing but plastic or hard rubber in my 2013 F150 so there is no place to mount the bracket that would hold the CB Radio.

I have little to no experience with installing this. But if there was a way to get the bracket mounted that would secure the radio my Ford dealer says their electric/wiring guy can do the rest of the install.

I am looking at one of those Cobra 29 40 channel classic radios. I like the looks of them.

My main concern is how to get the CB mounted securely.

r/Mike

I noticed in my F150 last night that there seems to be a spot that is somewhat harder than most of the rubber and its right down below the main console. I wonder if a CB Radio bracket could be mounted there? I wonder if a couple of screws could be drilled into that area?

r/Mike

Wibler said:

I noticed in my F150 last night that there seems to be a spot that is somewhat harder than most of the rubber and its right down below the main console. I wonder if a CB Radio bracket could be mounted there? I wonder if a couple of screws could be drilled into that area?

r/Mike

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I dunno. Never pulled the carpet up on mine to see.
If you do, be really cautious, look for wire harnesses first.

Well, I meant underneath the bottom of the console area. Not actually in the carpet.

Who Does Installations In My Area?

I live in SW Indiana. Anybody know of any place within driving distance (a few hours) that could actually install a CB Radio in my F150 truck?

r/Mike

Hello out there?

Any responses???

Is your center section a passthrough with a jump seat or is it a center console? If it's the passthrough with the jump seat, you have a couple of options. First though, the plastic at the bottom of the dash is a bit thicker than the rest. However, I don't think there is depth to mount a 29 in that location. With the depth of that radio including the larger PL259 antenna connector you would have to put it at a very steep angle to clear the floor duct cover. I don't know that the plastic trim would support that much weight at that steep of an angle. However, you do have two more options. You can purchase an adjustable mount that utilizes the bolt from the seat frame (kind of like a RAM mount) or you can 86 the head rest on the fold down center seat section, pull out the cup holder drawer beneath the seat bottom cushion (its just 4 screws that hold it in place. Once you remove the plastic tray insert, it's an easy process) and use the frame of the center seat to attach your radio bracket to. You may need to get creative on how you attach it, but you have lots of options once you remove the cupholder drawer.

I just made amount out of 3 inch pvc pipe. with a cover for the radio bracket to bolt to It works great in the cup holder..

Did you do a Google search for cb installations in SW Indiana? I found what may be several companies that do it.
And it may have been better to ask that question in the Indiana forums.....

https://forums.radioreference.com/indiana-radio-discussion-forum/

I searched and didn't find anything. If you could send me some links to what you found it would be most appreciated.

r/Mike