2003 Jeep Liberty Sport
Radios:
Yaesu FT-7800R
Yaesu FT-1900R
Uniden BC796D (Scanner)
Antennas:
Comet SBB-7
Hustler LMG-144 5/8w NMO 2m Whip
Larsen NMO 150/450/800 (Scanner)
Mount:
Maldol PRM-T
Comet CK3M
NMO Roof Mount and Coax
Other Accessories:
Pro-Fit
Lo-Boy Mount
Opentracker 2 OT2M (Argent Data Systems)
Garmin Nuvi 350 (SiRF Star III)
Westin
Brush/Grille Guard
Rola Roof Basket
Hella 500FF Driving Lights
Kumho Road Venture AT KL78
tires in P225/75R16
It got started pretty quickly, all the gear was pulled from the previous minivan that its taking over for, so no waiting for stuff to arrive. Here is the antenna mount and antenna all installed and ready to go. The coax goes down into the area between the door and the fender, and then into the interior at the doorjamb. With the two stage coax on this mount, Comet CK3M, you don't have to worry much about leaks around the weather stripping. Those mounts were on the minivan for three years and no leaks whatsoever, and they were in a more exposed area on the top of the back door then it will be here.
The FT-7800R was installed with the remote mount face kit. I just bought a Pro-Fit Lo-Boy mount and stuck it on, easy as can be. The control head cable was routed into the dash under the upper panel and across to the drivers side and down from there. The Uniden BC796D is mounted with 3M Dual Lock, a huge improvement over velcro, its like using fasteners and bolting it to the dash but without the holes! The power and antenna to the scanner is all run under the dash top, hidden and clean.
In the little center compartment is where I stowed the small mobile speaker. A perfect fit for it!
Here you can see the radio body hiding under the drivers seat. Plenty of room and airflow, heat shouldn't be a problem for it at all.
Here is the APRS radio, FT-1900R, stacked with the FT-7800R under the seat. The FT-1900R and the Opentracker 2 are turned on and off by a relay which is ignition switched.
The Garmin Nuvi 350 sits up on the corner of the dash, as always all the wiring is tucked away and hidden. The Nuvi 350 along with the OT2 allows me to send out my position as well as see the position of all received activity. It also still functions as a full GPS Nav unit at the same time! It also does MP3 player duty as well, playing through the Jeep stereo system.
The antenna for the APRS radio is on the roof, a NMO style through roof mount. Huster 5/8w giving me a good track out here in the boonies.
With the radio and antenna installs done, its on to the wiring. On the Jeep Liberty there is a very handy unused body plug through the firewall on the drivers side below and to the left of the main wiring harness entry. I found this info on another website, and saved the pictures, but for the life of me I can't find that site again! So if someone wants to claim rights on these pictures just let me know and I can add you to the credits if its ok that I leave them here. First step is pull back the carpet.
Second step is to pull back the rubber sound/insulating pad behind the carpet.
Now you will see the plastic body plug, in this picture the author had two sets of black and red wire going through it and some silicone around it to seal it back up. His Jeep was Red in color, and as you can see the firewall is basically primer gray which made it a lot easier to see under there. Mine was dark blue body color and kind of hard to see but it was right where it should be! I didn't remove the plug, I just looked under the hood and made sure nothing was on the other side of it, and in my case there was nothing, so I just took a small drill bit and drilled a hole in the center of the plug. Then I fed my wire through and sealed it up with silicone.
The power connection for the radio was made to one of the two studs holding the battery positive to the fuse/relay panel under hood. Along with a weatherproof fuse holder that was all that was needed this time.
I added some other upgrades to the Jeep. A front brush/grille guard with a pair of Hella 500FF driving lights, also a Rola roof basket with another pair of Hella lights. Just a little more wire tidying to take care of. One of the clips holding the wiring harness for the grille guard lights broke and it fell down, I like all wiring to be out of sight.
The auxiliary lights are powered by relays, the switches for which are installed neatly into the dash. They are only on with the high beams to comply with state laws. Also the rooftop lights have covers on them as here in MN your only allowed four uncovered forward facing lights, not including the factory fog lights, when on the road.
The auxiliary lights are all done and powered up! Here is a night shot with the camera flash on.
The auxiliary lights are bright enough that the camera wouldn't compensate even with the bright daylight setting for the auto iris selected.
One last shot head on to the front. I could feel the heat of the lights about ten feet away taking this picture.
That's the whole setup! Thanks for taking a look, it was a lot of time and effort to make a clean looking install but in the end it was worth it! You can also have a look at the XYL's mobile install, go back to the home page and click on KCØUYA Mobile on the left hand side.
This site was last updated 09/02/11