how to wire my cb to my 87 ford ranger

[buftbll62]

i know it sounds stupid but i need a little help so i dont screw anything up so if you would plz help tell me how to wire my cb to my 87 ranger
jason

 

[99RangerKrazy]

I wired mine directly to the battery. This way there is absolutely not way it can fail to work (unless one of the wires melts, I guess). Just go through the firewall behind the driver's pedals and work your way around to the battery.

 

[Ranger97XL]

same here, one of the wires coming out of the cb should already have a fuse in it.

another thing you could do is sacrifice you cigarette litter if you don't smoke/use it

 

[Chris.S.]

Yup, all it takes is power to the battery (with a fuse of course) a good ground and your antenna...

 

[5speedin2.3]

Best way to wire it up would be to run a power wire from the battery with a fuse no less then 6" away from the battery. Then chassis mount the ground.

 

[Scrambler82]

buftbll62,
Most agree that the best way to wire a CB is directly to the battery; it is suppose to reduce some noise.

Run both the 16-ga red (+) and the Black (-) wires to the battery, I like to twist the wires together, approximately 10 turns per foot, this will take extra wire but it is suppose to reduce some noise too.
Get the wires through the firewall but steer clear of any moving parts that can cause chafing and in turn a short.
Mount a Fuse Holder as close to the battery as possible on the red power line, some have fuses on both the red and blk, and if the CB will be the only component on this line then the fuse holder at the CB can be eliminated or left in-line.

Using the cig lighter or the main fuse panel CAN but not always, generate extra noise on a CB so the best thing to do is avoid those points of power for communication equipment.

As all have said, wiring to the battery gives you power all of the time to the CB, you can turn it on when the truck is off and the CB draws so little current when receiving you can leave it on all of the time and if the vehicle is driven daily, it will not run the battery down.

Luck on the install