The installation goals included having 1) a hidden install with wires and cables properly and safely routed 2) the transciever remotely mounted and 3) an easily reversible install with no holes drilled or cuts made.
The antenna is a Larsen KG2/70CXPL glass mount type dual-band that covers 2m and 440 Mhz.
Here is the interior piece of the antenna and the beginning of the coax routing down the rear passenger side:
The coax was able to be tucked under the edge without the need to remove the panel:
Removing the rear, passenger side scuff plate (and most other pieces or interior plastics) was simply a matter of applying firm, constant upward pressure until what Toyota calls the "claws" release:
The antenna coax safely tucked in amongst the truck's cable bundle. Notice that I made use of the existing clamps:
The coax cable runs under the plastic panel to the front door. Again, removal of the scuff plate involved a firm, constant upward pressure until the claws released. This picture shows the coax being routed below the carpet under the seat toward the eventual mounting location:
Here the power cable is shown with the transceiver end shoved under the carpet toward the mounting location under the seat:
The power cable is also safely tucked in with the existing bundle and routed under the clamps toward the front of the truck:
Under the kick panel, toward the dash/firewall and waiting for connection to the wires routed from the battery:
Starting at the battery side with the power wires, attached to a grounding point close to the battery and the positive battery terminal:
Running the DC power alongside an existing wire bundle that traverses the engine compartment:
The pass-thru location for the power wires. Toyota truly thinks of everything as this opening seems to serve no other purpose than to provide a location for running power to a ham radio:
How perfect is that?
The grommet after drilling a large enough hole for the wires. It is not easy drilling a piece of rubber...
Poking a hole in the sound absorbent material on the other side of the firewall:
Completing the power wire run across the engine compartment:
Taking the DC power into the interior of the truck. The wires from the battery side were connected to the cable previously routed from the mounting location.
Now it is time to mount the ham radio. The mounting idea was to place the rig under the seat but off of the floor. Besides the environmental issue of dirt and dust on the carpet, mounting a radio on the floor exposes it to more vibration, possible kicking and makes vacuuming more difficult. In addition, in the Tacoma, floor mounting the radio would place it directly in line with a heating duct.
Seat mounting in the Toyota Tacoma is simply four large bolts so removing the seat was easy. Here you see the seat pivoted back as removing the seat would have entailed the removal of a set of wires and clamps:
A shot of the aforementioned heating duct under the seat with the coax and wires coming through the hole in the carpet:
Looks kinda cramped to be mounting a radio on the bottom of the seat huh?
I relocated one wire bundle and its clamp to an existing hole toward the edge of the seat, opening up some room on the bottom of the seat cushion.
Next, the radio's mounting bracket was zip-stripped to the metal webbing on the bottom of the seat cushion. My original idea was to use small hose clamps but that did not work. And yes, I know the picture is blurry. You try laying half inside a truck on your back in the front floor and take a picture of the bottom of the seat and get proper focus :-)
A couple of shots of the Kenwood TM-V71A dual-band ham radio mounted on the underside of the passenger side seat:
Now it's time to run the cable for the remote faceplate. The rear console has to be removed in order to slide the front console backward far enough to route the wiring. The shifter faceplate and the cup holder use the same claw mounting as the door scuffplates, just pull them up firmly.
The control head cable is from the center console area, under the carpet toward the opening below the seat and connected to the transceiver:
The other end of the control head cable is routed safely through the center console section, again following existing wire bundles and ensuring that it is not near the movement of the shifter levers, gears, and cables.
The cable exits at the front of the console area directly under the radio and climate controls:
Once the front portion of the center console is back in place the control head cable causes a slight gap in the plastic, but it is not necessary to drill or cut to route the cable.
I have yet to decide the exact mounting technique for the remote faceplate so for now it will sit in the front console loose. Update: The faceplate is, for now, attached to the console using velcro tape on the back mounting base. We'll see how long that lasts.
The radio power-checks okay and with the external antenna installation the RF check can soon take place.
The microphone cable was routed out from under the seat and I leave the microphone laying on the center console.
Put the console pieces back on, secure the seat and the installation is complete.
The entire set of pictures of the installation can be found on my Flickr account.
The total installation time was roughly 4 hours, but your time may vary as I had all the tools and parts I needed on hand.
Lessons:
Toyota makes trucks that are easy to work on. Some engineer designed this with that concept in mind.
There are two ways of doing most everything - the right way and the lazy way.
After spending this amount of time on the install I need to 1) keep the truck for a while and 2) get on the air more
This stuff is fun!
To learn more about amateur radio, go the American Radio Relay League.