Simple Scanner Mod for your Railfan Jeep or Truck

Most of you that know me, know I am a hardcore Jeep fan. I was raised in a Jeep family with my dad having a 1964 Utility Wagon (still in the family) and my older brother having a 1977 CJ-5. Over the years I have had a lot of Railfan vehicles, from a CJ-7, to a Dodge Caravan, to a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Each vehicle had it's strong points, but the simple "universal" Jeep was the best for me. Railfaning with the top down and not having to worry about the doors when getting that shot have proven my love for the Wrangler over and over again.


So here is my current Railfan Jeep that I have named Jessica, or "Jess" for short. The only bad thing with Jess in "Railfan" mode is, you can't hear the scanner with all the wind noise. I loosely installed a Radio Shack CB speaker but one day Shelby, my girlfriends 18 year old daughter, was driving wearing her shorts and flip flops and enjoying the freedom of the Jeep when suddenly she said she felt a snake slowly lower itself on her bare leg. Naturally she freaked out. I looked and found that the "snake" was the wire from my speaker. Fortunately, we did not do any unscheduled off-road traveling this day but the event led me to make this simple mod.

Step One:

I went to Radio Shack to purchase a CB Speaker that includes a metal bracket and about a 9 foot cord with a 1/8" phono plug on the end. I also picked up a set of 1/8" Phono Jacks that are surface mount. Step one is to find a suitable location for your jack. Since I like everything neat and OEM looking, I choose the blanking plug that was in my switch bezel in the center of the dash. Drilling a hole in this piece was cheaper than drilling a hole in the dash, and if someday I need to instal something that needs the Jeep switch, I can take this out without ruining the Jeep.

Step Two:

Next, I used a piece of tape to A: center my drilling spot and to B: keep the drill from slipping. I drilled in the lower center of the blank as the top had some pieces on the inside. I also started with a pin vise so as to drill a series of pilot holes. Drilling one big hole could be done, but I'm all about neatness.

Step Three:

With the hole drilled, you will need to cut off the male 1/8" Phono Plug on the speaker. Carefully solder the wire ends on to the tabs. I used electrical tape to cover my solder and exposed wire, however I suggest Heat Shrink Tubbing. Do not install the jack into the blank or dash yet.

​Continued...

 

Step Four:

Here is what the Phono Jack looks installed. I went ahead and took this out of the blanking plug later so that routing the wire and jack through the dash was easier.

Step Five:

As I said earlier, the Radio Shack CB speaker comes with this metal bracket. Depending on your vehicle, you may have to drill mounting holes. Fortunately I did not have to do this. All Universal Jeeps (woo woo woo, CJ and modern Wranglers) have footman loops on the top of the windshield frame. It just happened that the mounting holes on the bracket matched the footman loop so as you see I mounted the bracket slightly off set to favor the driver.

Step Six:

Next, I installed the speaker onto the bracket with the included thumb screws. While at Radio Shack, I picked up these wire keepers. I cleaned the windshield frame with 91% rubbing alcohol and installed one to help neaten up and route the wire. Since Jessica has a habit of running around topless, I needed to keep the wire neat and away from the windshield clamps for the soft top. I next routed the wire down the side window frame plastic molding, across the dash and into the center section. Jeeps are easy to take a part. I had the dash apart in less than 15 minutes with just a screw driver. Older pick ups and SUV's from Ford, GM and Dodge are similar. Newer vehicles may be harder. Routing the wire within the spacious dash makes for a neater install.

Step Seven:

With the wire and jack run, I now installed it into the blanking plug and installed the blanking plug into the switch bezel as seen here.

​Continued...

 

Step Eight:

I now installed the center section of my dash and Ta-Da, Scanner Jack. This certainly looks a lot better than the wire loose in the cab.

Step Nine:

To listen to your scanner with your new Aux Speaker, pick up a male to male 1/8" phono line. They come in lengths from 1 foot all the way up to 9 feet. I picked up a 3 foot one so my scanner can sit in the center console. Now when I go railfaning I can simply plug the scanner into Jess and hear the RR above all the wind noise. The speaker is also loud enough to have Jess track side and hear the RR. If I need to take the scanner with me, I simply unplug it and take it with me.

The scanner Mod is easy and cheap. All in all I probably spent less than $50.00 and two hours tops in assembly time. When your done, you have a neat professional Aux Jack that looks like it came from the factory and a system you can actually hear. This instal is may have been done on a 1997 Wrangler, but other Railfan Trucks and SUV's can enjoy this simple mod.

Hope you found this interesting, next time a simple mod to both hold the scanner securely yet still be able to see the screen. Till next time,

​High Greens!

 

Thanks! If you get to Galesburg this weekend, your welcome to check it out. The nice thing is that the speaker is loud enough to hear over highway wind sound with the top down at 70 MPH, and you can hook up anything you want to it. I even hook my iPod up to it when I'm listening to a podcast.

 

This reminds me how much I need to get my external speaker hooked up again...

 

GE parked an ES44C4 out there, really miss the days of seeing the Wabash F7, Zephyr and Milwaukee Road 261, but kudo's to GE for bringing a locomotive out there for display and having a crew on hand to answer questions.


BIG thank you too goes to the Galesburg Railroad Museum and BNSF for giving us a VIP tour of the BNSF shops and hump yard. For $20.00 you get to see the shops and hump up close and talk to the BNSF workers.



This is really bringing in the people again.