JCR CB Antenna Mount

[DustyGeneral]

I am new to the forum and the world of XJ's, but not Jeeps....

I had a CB in my YJ and now I'm putting one on my XJ. I decided that I wanted to mount my antenna with the JCR driver's side rear mount. When I first went to install the mount I had to widen the holes because the coax was rubbing on the liftgate.

After I took care of that I had everything mounted up and started running the coax, but had to head to work. On my way home from work I stopped to get gas and was looking at the mount. I noticed that when driving the mount was bouncing front to back and was rubbing on the liftgate and had already started scratching through the paint. For the time being I removed everything until I figure out a solution.

My thoughts were to either 1) apply a stick on pad (like a furniture slider) to the mount so when it does move the pad rubs on the liftgate and not the actual mount itself or 2) get a whole new mount system and mount it to the stock roof rack and find a way to ground it.

I know that roof mount would be BEST for ground plane, but for the sake of this thread let's ignore that.

If I were to do the roof rack what would be the best way to ground the mount? If I were to keep with the JCR mount what do you recommend for keeping the mount off of the liftgate?

 

[clean4drxj]

If I were to do an antenna mining it would off a bumper or incorporate into quarter panel armer

 

[trippled]

If you plan on wheeling it, I think anything mounted on the sides or roof will get ripped off. I mounted mine to the liftgate ( old fiberglass one) and have no issues grounding the antenna. While the reception can be a bit direction due to its location, it really is only apparent when someone is far away. If you have a tire carrier that would also work well IMO. If that mount is flexing that much already think of what will happen if the antenna grabs a tree.

 

[CarbonXJ]

Had mine on the side for 3 years of wheeling, with no issues. You should NOT have that mount flexing around like that already. What antenna length?

I bought mine from right channel radios. Works great with notching a tab in it. 3ft Firestick antenna
https://www.rightchannelradios.com/collections/cb-antenna-mounts/products/vertical-door-jamb-cb-antenna-mount

 

[831_xj]

 

[GordoSmasho]

Was hoping youd chime in there pat

 

[Bent]

If not on the roof, I'm going to have to agree with the back of the XJ. I think on a tire carrier would be better than the liftgate only because of opening the hatch. On the hatch would leave less cable exposed.
I ended up putting a K40 on the roof and it flexes rather well with trees. I would still rather that it wasn't up there, though.

 

[GordoSmasho]

Ive had wips on the roof and rear hatch mounts like that. Also on the rear bumper. I was a bit of a competition cb head for a bit and the roof is the obvious winner for best rx and tx. However i dont want to permanently mount mine in the roof. So i opted for the front bumper. Just inside the passenger headlight i have a 4' fiberglass wip. It works great there. Even without a spring. Its actually quite protected there.

Rx and tx are pretty good and honestly anytime im in a group on the trail the need for perfect antenna position is pretty low. So anywhere you can mount it protected and properly grounded is fine. The mount from the OP is not on the list for protected. As 831xj showed, one tree rub and youve messed up not only the mount but also anything its near.

 

[831_xj]

Lol if I ever decide to replace the hatch I will move it to where gordos is. Seems the most practical! For now I'll let it continue to stab