The Road Ranger. 1997 SEMI

[Rick W]

Who’s stupid idea was this?

I got all the wires run from the toolbox forward. There are still a few to run to the rear end when I pull the trailer off.

I didn’t have enough different color wires so I had to run two browns to the front and two browns to the back. Of course, when I started to wire it together, I had to guess which was which. Typical of my luck both were backwards, but it was an easy fix.

After I got all the wires where they belong, I got as far as hanging that gizmo, and hanging the CB off the bottom of it. I’ll be damned if the antenna wire doesn’t get in the way of the mirror mount, so I modified it 10 times so I could still adjust my mirror, and I’m still going to have to remount it an inch lower.

one step forward…..

….and then this on the other end of the same door:

Acetone trick seems to have worked on the other end, so we’ll start with that tomorrow.

 

[Rick W]

That's really odd; it looks like the blue is doing OK.

Blue is solid as a rock. You don’t think it could be the cheap pinstripe I buy from China do you? But that still doesn’t explain why it only does it on that one spot, that one door.

 

[Rick W]

Tah dah!

I was really starting to think I was never going to see it. And no, it’s not done yet, but it’s very functional.

I measured everything and I mapped out everything in more detail than I’ve probably ever done before, so I only had to take it in and out about 10 times and re-figure the wiring five or six times. Actually in the final step, it all kind of came together easily. It was little things that kept throwing me off track.

The bracket glued on the windshield works perfectly. The overhead slide-in bracket, still left the whole thing with too much bounce, so I made two little L brackets that I screwed underneath the clips for the visors, and mounted them to the unit with the screws that hold the CB. I still have to pull it down once or twice more, so the plan is to run those two little brackets above the headliner and behind the vinyl side covers.

Yes I did the vinyl face, and yes, I did the vinyl sides. I will concede it looks 1000% better. I had to redo that left vinyl side probably a dozen times so my pull chain airhorn switch wouldn’t hang up. Each side panel was a quarter inch thick, which gave me another issue. When I flipped down the visor, it would trigger that switch. Although it all fit between the visors, the visors rubbed, there was zero extra space. So I trimmed about a half inch off the driver side visor, and right now I have that edge covered with a piece of wire loom. It’s working pretty well and doesn’t look bad. On the passenger side, you have to unhook the microphone to pull the visor down. No biggie.

I mounted a new mirror a clip about an inch and a half under the existing mirror clip with the intention of removing the old mirror clip. The new mirror position really blocked the line of sight. Then I had the vision (get it? Yuk Yuk) that I could modify the shaft between the clip and the mirror to get more bend-down out of the mirror so I could still adjust it below the CB. I cut up one of my spares to find out what was in that little shaft. Then I notched it a little bit on the ball socket on both ends, and it worked perfect after a couple tries. From the clip to the back of the mirror, the shaft is almost vertical.

I used one of those tiny diamond wheels on my Dremel, like a micro cut off wheel. At first I did it just centered in the front and centered on the bottom, but that wouldn’t let me angle the mirror enough, so then I had to take a corner off the mirror end. I haven’t put my seats back in, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to work fine.

A tiny goof is that the CB is wired directly to the battery. If I forget to turn it off, it could drain the truck. I mentioned before that, since I can disconnect the second battery from the drive battery, I could wire everything hot as opposed to some things hot and some things on with ignition. Amazingly, I ran extra wires, but I ended up using them all. I haven’t put the driver side trim back in yet, so I’m going to pull an ignition wire, and a couple extras, and drop that unit one more time to put the CB on the ignition. I figure it’s now or never.

I tucked up and zip tied all the wiring everywhere, and I made the two leads that have to go to the back of the truck and the trailer easily accessible. I still have to install the rear hi bright strobes, and the rear lo bright strobes on the truck, and connect to the lo bright strobes on the trailer. That’s peanuts compared to what I’ve been doing.

And although all the wiring is now in, I have to mount the double compressors for the air horns, and I have to mount the little high pressure compressor for the air tank, but again that should be peanuts. Now that the wiring is run behind the driver side of the toolbox, I can fabricate my air tank mount, which is also going to have a step to make it easier to get up on the back of the truck when the trailer is mounted.

Next step is carpet and seat covers, and then maybe drive it around and have some fun! Not that this hasn’t been fun so far…

 

[RobbieD]

That did turn out nice. Good job!

 

[Rick W]

That did turn out nice. Good job!

Thank you.

 

[Rick W]

Btw, I also installed my micro switch on the side of the toolbox to change the flash patterns on the Traffic advisor bar. It works great, so I’ll give up on replacing the bar with one with an inside display screen.

And, does anybody have any suggestions for what kind of paint I should used to black out the windshield behind the CB and mirror mount etc? I know you never thought you’d hear it from me, but I know Rustoleum won’t work, it will flake when the windshield freezes. I’m thinking of some kind of acrylic maybe?

 

[RobbieD]

I don't know if any kind of paint will stick to the glass, as it seems to me that it lacks the "tooth" to reliably hold paint.

What about an application type material, such as a peice of limo-dark window tint or self-adhering vinyl?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Btw, I also installed my micro switch on the side of the toolbox to change the flash patterns on the Traffic advisor bar. It works great, so I’ll give up on replacing the bar with one with an inside display screen.

And, does anybody have any suggestions for what kind of paint I should used to black out the windshield behind the CB and mirror mount etc? I know you never thought you’d hear it from me, but I know Rustoleum won’t work, it will flake when the windshield freezes. I’m thinking of some kind of acrylic maybe?

Window tint? Get some 90%, maybe there is 100%?

 

[Rick W]

I don't know if any kind of paint will stick to the glass, as it seems to me that it lacks the "tooth" to reliably hold paint.

What about an application type material, such as a peice of limo-dark window tint or self-adhering vinyl?

too many things to cut around, & no patience. The alternative is a vinyl graphic on the outside. All kind of silly anyway, you can barely see any of it through the windshield.

 

[Rick W]

too many things to cut around, & no patience. The alternative is a vinyl graphic on the outside. All kind of silly anyway, you can barely see any of it through the windshield.

I have a vision of a cross-windshield “The Road Ranger,” But that’s a pretty low priority

 

[RobbieD]

All kind of silly anyway, you can barely see any of it through the windshield.

Then all you need is a little sign there saying "Don't look here".

 

[Rick W]

On the whole overhead console thing, once I started putting it together, I tested every circuit every opportunity I could, so I wouldn’t have to take anything apart to chase down a bad wire or a bad connection. I know the CB was working fine before I put it in.

I don’t know why, when I was out puttering around and walking Lincoln, I decided to radio check the CB. You know it’s a little thrill when you do all that kind of work, and then you try it for the first time. Well, maybe not so much. Everything lights up the way it should, and the SWR swings the way it should, but, yeah, I can’t pick anything up and I can’t get anybody to respond to me.

The fun never ends.

I have three Cobra 29 LTD’s in various versions. I also have a very nice test set up in the shed of miracles, with a 102 inch whip w/spring with a full ground plane on top of the roof.

First, I’m going to try just swapping the microphone. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to test out the two that are on the shelf, and then swap one into the truck to see if that solves the problem. It’s too late to try the 148 SSB since it is a larger box.

The only thing I can think of, and this is a question for somebody who knows CBS, is maybe I damaged the antenna plug in the back when I was putting it all together. When you finally mount the unit, you really have to jam on the wire coming out the back. Maybe I damaged it. If so, that’s going to be another blast since it’s one of the double wire leads, one to each side of the truck for the dual antennas.



More to come…

 

[Snoranger]

On the whole overhead console thing, once I started putting it together, I tested every circuit every opportunity I could, so I wouldn’t have to take anything apart to chase down a bad wire or a bad connection. I know the CB was working fine before I put it in.

I don’t know why, when I was out puttering around and walking Lincoln, I decided to radio check the CB. You know it’s a little thrill when you do all that kind of work, and then you try it for the first time. Well, maybe not so much. Everything lights up the way it should, and the SWR swings the way it should, but, yeah, I can’t pick anything up and I can’t get anybody to respond to me.

View attachment 101463

The fun never ends.

I have three Cobra 29 LTD’s in various versions. I also have a very nice test set up in the shed of miracles, with a 102 inch whip w/spring with a full ground plane on top of the roof.

First, I’m going to try just swapping the microphone. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to test out the two that are on the shelf, and then swap one into the truck to see if that solves the problem. It’s too late to try the 148 SSB since it is a larger box.

The only thing I can think of, and this is a question for somebody who knows CBS, is maybe I damaged the antenna plug in the back when I was putting it all together. When you finally mount the unit, you really have to jam on the wire coming out the back. Maybe I damaged it. If so, that’s going to be another blast since it’s one of the double wire leads, one to each side of the truck for the dual antennas.



More to come…

Maybe it’s just that it’s 2023 and no one uses CBs anymore.

 

[RobbieD]

You still have a manual for that Cobra?

It seems maybe that model, maybe not, had a red LED light that would come on if the SWR is too high.

Everything lights up the way it should, and the SWR swings the way it should, but, yeah, I can’t pick anything up and I can’t get anybody to respond to me.

And to expand on my first question, is that an SWR or signal strength indicator on the CB? A needle indicator should go up for signal strength, and down for SWR.

"can't pick up anything and nobody responding", can either be an indication of how popular CB is these days or you do have antenna problem. Got a multimeter? Set for "ohms" or continuity; male pin on the PL-259 (CB connector) should have continuity to the whip only, and no continuity to ground. The outer ferrule on the PL-259 (screw collar) should have continuity to ground. Probing between the PL-259 pin and collar should be infinity (zero continuity).

You may have pinched the coax at the PL-259. I know that you used to be able to a 90" adapter to help depth issues.

Try in order: swapping the mic; substituting another (hopefully known good) antenna.

I think I might still have a working SWR meter, and I could walk you through how to adjust the SWR (beg pardon if you already know how).


Related, and maybe funny story. I'm cleaning out my decades-neglected junk shed today (damn I'm loving being retired!) and pulled out a JC Penney 23 channel CB. A few '60s and '70s factory head units, a few cassette decks, and one 8-track deck (so far). Damn I'm a packrat.

"Kick It Back, Good Buddy!"

 

[Rick W]

No begin’ pardon, all help greatly appreciated. Some of it I knew/know, but the gray matter is pretty old at this point, so I never know when I’m going to remember what I know at any given point in time….

You did give me a great idea though. I have a couple of magnetic stick on the roof antennas, and it won’t be a lot of work to just unscrew the antenna lead and put a temp on it and see if that solves the problem. I have a strong feeling I probably messed up the cable pushing so hard on the connector.

And another thought. I know the CB is old technology, but 90% of the time I use it is when I’m driving down the road to talk to other drivers about what’s going on or to stay awake. I’m not aware of a better alternative for that. Where I live in Atlanta, if you turn it on, and you turn down the squelch, there’s always that background noise. And I live about 1 mile from one of the busiest interstates in the southeast. There is almost always chatter 24 hours a day. I’m not getting the background noise or any transmission right now.

When I built my headache rack and all the overhead lights, is when I installed my antennas. I have one on each side of the cab mounted to the back of the cab. Then I bought (at retail, ouch) one the double antenna cables and ran it all before I did all my bodywork. So the issue, now, is if it is that cable by the connector, I have to re-run all those cables through my truck. That’s a bona fide pain in the differential area.

Having said that, if that is the issue, it has to be right there at the connector, so I may cheat and just cut the two wires and splice them together into a new connector. I don’t believe one or 2 inches of the lower ohm cable would hurt anything on the performance of the dual set up.

keep the cards and letters coming in …