Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
Thought I'd do a quick writeup of my Kenwood 2m mobile install. The TM-261A is a fairly old radio and this one I got off of Craigslist I think about 10 years ago for $25. The radio itself seems to work except for the keypad on the mike.
This is sort of a "training radio" for me. I'll likely replace it fairly soon (probably with a dual band) but I mainly wanted to be able to install a radio by myself and have it work. The nice thing about this install is that the once the difficult parts (running wire for power and antenna) are done, swapping this radio out with another one should take just a few minutes (because the power connection uses a standard "t-connector")
My first dilemma was: Where to put the radio. The TM-261 doesn't have a detachable face plate so I had to mount the radio someplace where (a) I could see it and use it and (b) it wasn't in the way. Fortunately, the new F-150's have a dashboard pocket that is removable, and there is a company called Builtright Industries that makes a metal bracket that can be screwed into the removable dash pocket, and this turns out to be a great place to put a radio. Even better, with the dash pocket removed, I can run wires behind the dashboard to keep the whole install looking neat and professional.
I had previously had my RAM ball on the dash bracket, and here's a photo of that:
For the radio I just unscrewed the RAM ball and bolted the radio C-bracket to the dash plate. I also removed the pocket so I could run wires in.
Running wires through the firewall was my most difficult chore. At first I thought I'd just push them through an existing large grommet. I even found a grommet that I wanted to use and ordered a special tool from Amazon for the purpose of running the wire through. Here is the grommet, first from the cab interior and then from the engine compartment:
However, when I tried to push the tool through the grommet, I discovered that this particular grommet is very thick and I got a lot of resistance. I also kept pushing the grommet completely out of the firewall! After a couple of hours of this I thought I might take a different approach. From my DC-DC install earlier in the year, I had a bunch of rubber grommets so I looked to see if I had one that was big enough to run two power wires through. Fortunately, I did, a half inch size. I also had a half inch drill bit so I drilled a small pilot hole in the dash just above the big grommet, then opened it up with the half inch bit.
By the way, getting to this point required me to remove the lower dash panel. It's not difficult but there are a few tricks. For anyone who's got an F-150 and wanting to know how to remove the lower dash panel, I can tell you how to do it.
Here's the view from the engine compartment. You can see how the big grommet has been pulled out of the firewall at this point. It was a royal PITA to get back in, but it's in.
After that I put the grommet in and ran the wires through (you can also see that the big grommet has been reinstalled):
It was then that I discovered the quick-disconnect cable I got at HRO to run to the battery was too short! So I had to cut the ends off and use butt connectors and some 14g wire to lengthen the cables so I could reach the battery. Unfortunately, the battery is on the passenger side and my cables run into the firewall on the drivers side (I would like to have gotten to the firewall on the passenger side, but it appears that the HVAC is in the way and I couldn't access the firewall from inside the cab.)
After splicing in more wire and a fuse holder with a 15A fuse on the positive power wire, I put ring terminals on the end and bolted it to the battery terminals. Then I wrapped the exposed wire in 3/8 wire loom and used zip ties to secure it to the interior:
As someone will no doubt say,
running a wire above the engine is not ideal. I agree, but the alternative is to run wires all the way up to the front of the hood, across the radiator and then back which will increase cable length by 3 - 4 ' at least, and that's something I'd rather not do. I also don't like the way the wires are currently secured above the engine (I poked holes in the rubber seal and ran zip ties through them.) Eventually I want to get proper wire stays and put them into the firewall to hold the wire. But for now, this will work.
The antenna presented its own challenges. While I could easily have run the co axial antenna cable through the same hole as the power wires, I could not run the NMO fitting through there. Since I don't have a way to remove and re-fit the NMO fitting, I had to run the co ax antenna cable through the door and up under the hood and then to the fender antenna mount. I just realized I didn't take pictures of the way the cable goes behind the dash and then comes out under the left edge of the dashboard to go out between the body and the door, but you can see the antenna cable (barely visible) in panel gap at the bottom of the windshield's A pillar. From there it goes under a rubber flap on the cowling and down into the engine compartment under the hood where it then comes back out under the hood lip to connect to the antenna base.
And once I had everything buttoned up, I powered it up and it worked fine! Antenna still needs to be tuned (I don't have an SWR meter) but it will activate local repeaters so I know I'm getting at least some signal out.
So that's it for now. A few minor details to add but at least I have a functional 2m mobile now.
This is sort of a "training radio" for me. I'll likely replace it fairly soon (probably with a dual band) but I mainly wanted to be able to install a radio by myself and have it work. The nice thing about this install is that the once the difficult parts (running wire for power and antenna) are done, swapping this radio out with another one should take just a few minutes (because the power connection uses a standard "t-connector")
My first dilemma was: Where to put the radio. The TM-261 doesn't have a detachable face plate so I had to mount the radio someplace where (a) I could see it and use it and (b) it wasn't in the way. Fortunately, the new F-150's have a dashboard pocket that is removable, and there is a company called Builtright Industries that makes a metal bracket that can be screwed into the removable dash pocket, and this turns out to be a great place to put a radio. Even better, with the dash pocket removed, I can run wires behind the dashboard to keep the whole install looking neat and professional.
I had previously had my RAM ball on the dash bracket, and here's a photo of that:
For the radio I just unscrewed the RAM ball and bolted the radio C-bracket to the dash plate. I also removed the pocket so I could run wires in.
Running wires through the firewall was my most difficult chore. At first I thought I'd just push them through an existing large grommet. I even found a grommet that I wanted to use and ordered a special tool from Amazon for the purpose of running the wire through. Here is the grommet, first from the cab interior and then from the engine compartment:
However, when I tried to push the tool through the grommet, I discovered that this particular grommet is very thick and I got a lot of resistance. I also kept pushing the grommet completely out of the firewall! After a couple of hours of this I thought I might take a different approach. From my DC-DC install earlier in the year, I had a bunch of rubber grommets so I looked to see if I had one that was big enough to run two power wires through. Fortunately, I did, a half inch size. I also had a half inch drill bit so I drilled a small pilot hole in the dash just above the big grommet, then opened it up with the half inch bit.
By the way, getting to this point required me to remove the lower dash panel. It's not difficult but there are a few tricks. For anyone who's got an F-150 and wanting to know how to remove the lower dash panel, I can tell you how to do it.
Here's the view from the engine compartment. You can see how the big grommet has been pulled out of the firewall at this point. It was a royal PITA to get back in, but it's in.
After that I put the grommet in and ran the wires through (you can also see that the big grommet has been reinstalled):
It was then that I discovered the quick-disconnect cable I got at HRO to run to the battery was too short! So I had to cut the ends off and use butt connectors and some 14g wire to lengthen the cables so I could reach the battery. Unfortunately, the battery is on the passenger side and my cables run into the firewall on the drivers side (I would like to have gotten to the firewall on the passenger side, but it appears that the HVAC is in the way and I couldn't access the firewall from inside the cab.)
After splicing in more wire and a fuse holder with a 15A fuse on the positive power wire, I put ring terminals on the end and bolted it to the battery terminals. Then I wrapped the exposed wire in 3/8 wire loom and used zip ties to secure it to the interior:
As someone will no doubt say,
running a wire above the engine is not ideal. I agree, but the alternative is to run wires all the way up to the front of the hood, across the radiator and then back which will increase cable length by 3 - 4 ' at least, and that's something I'd rather not do. I also don't like the way the wires are currently secured above the engine (I poked holes in the rubber seal and ran zip ties through them.) Eventually I want to get proper wire stays and put them into the firewall to hold the wire. But for now, this will work. The antenna presented its own challenges. While I could easily have run the co axial antenna cable through the same hole as the power wires, I could not run the NMO fitting through there. Since I don't have a way to remove and re-fit the NMO fitting, I had to run the co ax antenna cable through the door and up under the hood and then to the fender antenna mount. I just realized I didn't take pictures of the way the cable goes behind the dash and then comes out under the left edge of the dashboard to go out between the body and the door, but you can see the antenna cable (barely visible) in panel gap at the bottom of the windshield's A pillar. From there it goes under a rubber flap on the cowling and down into the engine compartment under the hood where it then comes back out under the hood lip to connect to the antenna base.
And once I had everything buttoned up, I powered it up and it worked fine! Antenna still needs to be tuned (I don't have an SWR meter) but it will activate local repeaters so I know I'm getting at least some signal out.
So that's it for now. A few minor details to add but at least I have a functional 2m mobile now.