A Revisionist's History

This may not be a very visual post.

We had a wedding to attend over Memorial Day weekend. I was able to steal a bit of fab time on Monday before being beckoned to operate the grill. Last week, I pulled the trigger on ordering two (2) Smittybilt Jerry Can gas mounts. In the prior weekend's work to rectify some electrical issues, I ended up abandoning the rear cab and bed lights altogether. This opened up a spot that got me thinking about mounting the jerry cans up and out of the bed. To facilitate this, I needed to relocate both antenna mounts.

The CB was not so bad. I had a tough time gaining access to the HAM antenna mount based on where I had welded it in. That side was also complicated by the locations of the penetrations to the toolbox housing the secondary power center. Ultimately, the welded angles I used on that side to alleviate the issue/conflict with the wiring was probably the route I should have taken on the driver's side as well. The weight of the steel used on the passenger side is not nearly as much.

I'm not sure how sturdy the CB antenna mount is going to be. We will have to see if the toolbox wall holds up to the cycling loads of the flexing imparted by the antenna mount. My hope is that there is enough clearance to accommodate the can mounts when they arrive. Fingers crossed.

Below are a few pics.

The CB antenna used to be mounted just behind the cab on the upright flange of the headache rack

CB moved to the toobox

Created a platform for the gas can mount

I actually think the two angles is a better approach. Not as heavy.

The difficulty was avoiding these power feeds out of the toolbox. A little more forethought 2 years ago would have been very helpful today.

Same with this mounting location. Ultimately had to take a Sawzall to the original angle.

Still figuring out what I want to do with adding the bed box in. I've been thinking about mounting it lengthwise parallel to the passenger side rail toolbox.