Kevin M Rowland

kevin@wagongear.com

Installed mount

Yup, that’s it, not much to look at, but that is kind of the point, an unobtrusive dual purpose antenna mount.

Mock Up

The mount looks like this assembled on the bench.

You can see the “Fire RIng” cord in place.

Rubber Washer

Once the grommet is on, slide the supplied rubber washer over the rod.

Installation

Actual installation is fairly simple.

The window washer tank is removed by taking out the top bolt and just loosening the bottom two bolts.

Once that is out of the way you have easy access to the antenna.

Stainless Hardware

All the metal parts pictured here are part of the mount. The plastic parts pictured are the Fire-Ring base.

This photo shows the order of assembly, it is very important to get the parts oriented the correct way.


You can see that the plastic parts have a lip, this lip needs to seat into the hole on the mount bracket or your antenna will have a short.

Installation

There is a single bolt that holds the OE antenna in place (mine is long-gone, so no image of that) and once the stock antenna is removed, this new mount bolts in it’s place.

(This photo shows a completed installation, there are a few steps still to come...)

Ground

Supplied with the mount is a crimp on ring terminal for the mount ground, the OE mount will already have the ground wire routed to one of the wiper motor bolts, simply cut the end, crimp on this new terminal and install it with the new mount bolt.

Grommet

The mount should be loosely assembled and then bolted into place, there is room to drop the assembly into the fender and run the rod out through the antenna hole, no need to risk loosing washers inside your fender.

And yes, I know my truck is rusty, thats not the worst of it.

But it’s also why all the parts of this mount are stainless steel.

You can see here that the silicone cap is right near the top of the rod, that is important...

Grommet

...Since it provides a bumper for the rod inside the OE grommet.

The black part pictured here is the only OE part to be retained and is critical for this kit to work.

Instructions

The Fire Ring cord comes with an illustration that explains proper assembly as well.

Splitter (unreliable)

The other part of the puzzle is this splitter that allows the single antenna to be used for both FM and CB functions.

The diagram below, included with the splitter, shows the typical routing.

Stainless Washer

Then the stainless one.

(see, most of that rust is covered up)

Stainless Washer

Then check that there is about 9/16s of an inch of thread protruding from the top of the assembly.

This can be adjusted by loosening and tightening the two nuts that locate the rod on the lower mount.

You want 9/16s” so that the spring mount compresses the grommet an appropriate amount and then bottoms out on the rod for a snug fit.

Spring

Once the rod is locked in place with the lower nuts, then thread the spring base into place.

Antenna

Then thread the antenna on top of that and you have an assembled mount.

Now, you’re on your own for the radio.

I’m a fan of the Cobra 75WXST though.

Other Necessary Parts:

I’ve put the leg work into this application so you don’t have to.

All the other parts can be sourced from Walcott CB, good prices, good service and a great selection.


The other parts needed are:


The antenna itself-

pn- FL4B

(4’ antenna, recommended)

Or pn- FL3B

(3’ antenna)


Spring base-

pn- SS3H

DO NOT RUN WITHOUT A SPRING BASE.

PERIOD.


“Fire Ring” mount cord-

pn- K48R18



Note: this particular product has proven unreliable.

And if you are going to use the antenna for both FM & CB you will need the splitter-

pn- AR1A



Don’t have an SWR meter?

you NEED one to set this up, the antenna and the splitter will require tuning.

Borrow one from a friend if you can, but if you want your own, I like this little guy-

pn- SWR138X


Parts List:

My mount.


The OE Grommet.


Walcott Parts:

    AR1A -Splitter (unreliable)

    FL4B -Antenna

    K48R9 -Fire RIng

    SS3M -Spring Base


    SWR Meter? - SWR138X


And don’t forget, a CB radio.



And a link to my friend Johnny Casale’s antenna thread on ih8mud for more pictures: