2018 Ford SuperDuty CB Radio Install

[@akbychoice]

That’s a very ambitious undertaking.

[@TheWallyjp]

First of all, looks great! I may have missed it, but where did you have the coax running into the truck?

[@dbonus100]

Running through the rear wall, along the kick panel trim to the front, under the carpet, and into the center console.

[@dbonus100]

@@TheWallyjp there is a vent. I did have to remove a small piece (it’s like a grate) but other than that, no significant modification.

[@TheWallyjp]

@dbonus100 awesome, thanks for your help. That's much better than on the chevys. No way to get wires through the cabs!

[@bretshivers8352]

seems like you get some reflection sent right back into the antenna mounting it that close to the rack

[@dbonus100]

Perhaps a bit. However, signal strength is beyond efficient.

[@raymondmurillo1897]

I was thinking of running dual antennas on my pickup too but, I was told that they would be too close to work properly

[@dbonus100]

Mine works great. Never had any issues.

[@raymondmurillo1897]

That's what I thought too so I went to ask at a cb shop and they said it would never work because it had to be at least nine feet in between. So what do you suggest?

[@dbonus100]

@@raymondmurillo1897 Mine are only as far apart as the bed is wide.

[@carter4627]

Optimally 9 feet would be best, so the only thing is you might not reach out as far as putting them 9 feet apart

[@MichiganSilverBack]

does that body not have ground straps to the frame like steel F150's had?

[@laneloley8061]

Can you post the links of everything you installed for the cb radio

[@frankzicari784]

Very nice and well thought out.

[@bryantelker9239]

Good video; thanks. What gauge wire did you use for your grounding wires? Also, you didn't have video of running the coax cable into the cab; you just summarized what you did. Was there some type of grommet or plug in the back wall of the cab which allowed for running the coax from outside to inside the cab?

[@dbonus100]

12gauge for grounding wires. On the new Ford SuperDuty trucks, there is a 4inX8in grid piece with a rubber covering that allows for an unrestricted pass through from the bed area.

[@nikostathopoulos4371]

Ive talk to a bunch of cb shops including the company and they all told me that you can not ground on this truck i put it exactly where you said and like that all the swr issues i was having went away i was able to get it to 1.5

[@dbonus100]

Nice!

[@Dingthedingbat]

Aluminum bodies, a hell of a lot of them are bulletproof too

[@bulletz0811]

I hope your still active on KZbin... I had a question about where you mounted your antennas. I have a single 4 foot firestick II antenna mounted to the driver side toolbox about as close to the cab as you have yours. My problem is a higher SWR Reading. About 1.9. I've tuned it so that channel 40 and channel 1 are almost exactly the same at 1.9 SWR. What I'm trying to ask is, what is your SWR reading when tuning your antennas. I'm curious as to if mounting close to the cab is messing with it. I'm also wondering what gauge wire you used to ground your mounts.

[@dbonus100]

The mounts are about 10” from the cab. Each mount is grounded separately with 12gauge, SWR is 1.1.

[@bulletz0811]

@@dbonus100 sounds similar to my mount. I have a switch panel mounted where the original cup holder used to be and I use the original cigarette lighter power and ground. I'm thinking I may have a ground loop. Plan on wiring directly to battery this after noon to see if it solves my high swr problem.

[@dbonus100]

@@bulletz0811 I am wired directly to my upfitter switches.

[@larryjanson4011]

should have run a dedicated power supply, directly off the battery. as not all of the factory wiring can handle much if any real juice. remember it goes through a computer chip. then is the supply even "clean" after going through the chip?

[@confitz6]

Did you have to drill wire holes for the antenna and power cable? From the radio.

[@dbonus100]

I did. I used a 1/2 inch bit in the bottom left corner, and used made adjustments as needed for the best fit. Ended up being about an inch.

[@liamriley5174]

How did you mount that extra speaker for the cb?

[@pedrotovar1845]

What the name of the camera thinking of adding one on my sd

[@mattphillips1910]

Thank you for an excellent video. I did something similar with a previous truck. About to do it again on my newer truck. My question: You pointed to the spot where you brought the coax into the back of the cab, but I didn't hear you say what/where it was, other than behind that sound equipment. Did you bring it in through the air flapper vent thingy, or some other spot? Thank you.

[@dbonus100]

I brought it in through the air flapper vent thingy. I had to cut out one of the straight plastic pieces in order to squeeze the coax through.

[@mattphillips1910]

@@dbonus100 Thank you very much!

[@stroxyrox]

What type of external speaker did you use?

[@dbonus100]

Cobra brand external speaker

[@stroxyrox]

@@dbonus100 OkThanks! Great setup 👍

[@loganpeterson125]

So what do you use the cb radio for

[@smoberdeen]

I'm hesitant on doing something like this because the cab has to come off of the truck to do some of the engine work. I know from experience after an engine replacement. Thanks to the technician at Schenectady Ford I had to redo the wiring for my Viair air compressor. He didn't even look for the connector I installed next to the battery. He must also have a nice collection of hardware he forgot to reinstall. FAIL!

[@jeremy76501]

I recently grounded my antenna to the frame close to where you grounded yours. But I feel like I may be having ground issues. Did you find the spot that you grounded was better than the frame?

[@dbonus100]

I used a ground tester to find the best spot.

[@jeff4357]

Hi, I just found your video! I’ll be adding a CB to my truck ( 2019 Superduty ) pretty soon I would like to ask, where did you get the mat that fits the back floor with the storage box ?

[@dbonus100]

The rear floor mat is made by Weathertech.

[@akbychoice]

@@dbonus100 that looks more flexible than my front WeatherTech mats.

[@jeff4357]

10-4 I have weather tech for front I didn’t get the back one for some odd reason Dealership got it I am guessing

[@gmeister03]

Them antennas are too close. I think cb needs to be 9ft apart. But damn. Sweet install

[@dbonus100]

Never had any issue with them.

[@jeff8933]

Where did you ground the radio?

[@dbonus100]

The radio itself is grounded to another ground wire in the engine compartment

[@jeff8933]

Awesome…appreciate it

[@dbonus100]

You are welcome.

[@Lineman450]

Do you have any issues with heat since its contained inside your console?

[@dbonus100]

Not to date. I no longer have this truck, but I went through the same installation process in my current truck. I run the radio anywhere from 4-12 hours a day, straight. No issues.

[@EasyLiving8]

EXCELLENT JOB!!! Thank You so much for doing and sharing this video.

[@whitetiger8652]

Nice job!

[@marshallgreene843]

what pa do you have

[@dbonus100]

There’s a PA feature on the radio itself, and I use a Whelen 100watt speaker.

[@robhackemeyer8525]

@@dbonus100 Getting ready to install this setup in my 2022 F-250 (that I am still waiting on from the factory) do you happen to have a model number for the Whelen PA speaker? Have always had the convention "bullhorn" type, and I want something with a little more volume this time, assuming that unit is loud

[@dbonus100]

@@robhackemeyer8525 I do not have the specific model number for that speaker. However, that speaker was just a gray/black wire connection. Should be standard across the board.

[@robhackemeyer8525]

@@dbonus100 THANKS!

[@anonymous_friend]

@@robhackemeyer8525 Did you do the install? I would like to see it. Looking for ideas for my 22. Thanks

[@Texas12valve]

Super clean

[@reaperct3454]

Them antennas are junk

[@dbonus100]

Not according to the continuous reception and exceptional range.

[@932goldengates]

you never want to bunch the coax like that. It will mess with swr and other issues.

[@grimdavis58]

I hear that alot but when I had my cb in my peterbuilt I rapped all the extra and zip tied it to the back of the cb, my swr never went above 1.5