It’s a personal bug bear but I really hate wires showing and installations that don’t look factory, its just me I am obsessed about such stuff, all the Sirius antennas I have seen on Tundra trucks look fine and in most cases cant be seen, however I wanted something more permanent and I had some spare time so I decided to work on this modification/install.
First of all I had to find an antenna that I liked and would do the job, after several evenings research I settled on a Mercedes antenna part number B6 7 83 0014 $59.99 delivered from an
ebay seller.
Now what really threw me in my research was that every antenna I was finding had 2 leads on it which I found out that one is for Satellite and one for the ground based Repeater system, now I knew I needed both signals and on doing further research it is common that the SAT signal line contains both SAT and Ground signals and the other lead Ground signals only but I wanted to test before I started drilling holes in my truck, I dug out one of my old Sirius receivers which I knew had a signal strength meter and mounted the antenna on an ammo can made up a coax lead that I threw it in the bed of the truck.
As you can see I was getting good signal strength and this was with the antenna in the bed being masked by the sides. I drove around the valley for a day or so and got similar performance even with some cloud cover and rain. Being confident with the new antenna I decided to bite the bullet and drill a hole in the truck roof.
Take notice I do not work for Toyota I am just an amateur any electrical work can be dangerous and cause damage I am not encouraging/instructing you to do any of this I am just showing you what I did you copy it in part or in its entirety at your own risk. I suggest doing any trim work on warmer days to avoid damaging plastic parts.
Tools you will need
Soldering Iron And Solder
10mm Socket
Trim Tool Or Similar
Drill And Cone Cutters
Tape Measure
Masking Tape
Allen Wrench
Magnet
Fluffy (Not Shown)
I am not going to show how to route the cable all the way back to the receiver there are enough threads showing that information, I am going to concentrate on just the antenna installation.
First step is to remove the rubber door seal from the back of both rear door openings, these just pull off, however a word of warning always grab these things as low down as possible against the door frame, never pull by the rounded part as they can tear.
You will next need to remove the cap on the top of the rear trim
Inside there is a 10mm bolt that needs to be removed
You can then pull the trim towards the center of the truck it is held with a couple of clips, it does not need to be fully removed. The next step is to remove the coat hooks, first remove the covers
You will then need to squeeze the metal clip together and remove the coat hook, the metal clip may stay in place so just remove that and replace it in the coat hook.
Next step is to unclip the roof lining, this is held with 4 clips above the back window into a strengthening bar that is part of the rear roof, just slide one hand up under the lining and find the first clip, what you want to do is get fingers either side of the clips that are just glued to the lining to stop them ripping off and gently put pressure downwards until they release, do this for each clip across the back window.
Once all the clips are released you need to free the lining fro the side trims if you have not already done so, you should then be able to get you arm into the roof and feel around.
These are the lining clips they are a kink of T bracket glued on the lining try to get you fingers on to the T part before you pull
Check around up there and make sure that there is nothing that you don’t want to drill into, my truck does not have a sunroof, I don’t know what might be there if one is fitted. In my case all was clear. You will need to keep the lining away from the cab roof while you drill I used fluffy.
OK so lets open the rear window and climb into the back of the truck (I couldn’t fit through the window so I walked around) We are now at one of the most critical parts of the install measuring and marking, first step is to decide where you want the antenna, once you do place a strip of tape across the roof to mark the location, take one hand and put it through the window and under the lining and place it roughly under the point you want the antenna, with the other hand tap on the tape move the hand in the roof until you locate a point directly under the point you are tapping, you are doing this to confirm that the area where you want the antenna is clear and there is no strengthener bars or double panel skins.
Next you need to find the center line of the roof, I always like to measure from a hard point on the roof , in this case I choose to use the back roof trims. Measure from one side and mark rough center on the tape, repeat this from the other side, you should end up with 2 marks with the center being between them. Once you find the center measure again to check and again.
OK point of no return, ask yourself “do I want to drill a hole in my roof and am I sure that I marked it right” Any doubt stop and review the previous instructions.
I used a ¼ brand new drill for my first hole, place the drill on the center mark do not press down on the drill too hard or you could dent the roof just let the drill do the work, make sure your drill is full charged before you begin. Do not let the drill snag it will dent the roof make sure you have sufficient power and speed.
The antenna requires a 20mm hole, I always use stepped cone cutters on bodywork. I would never recommend using a normal 20mm bit to drill such thin metal I have seen some real horror stories, you could put a wooden block under the roof and have a helper hold it tight against the roof but for the cost of the drill you can get the cone cutters at Harbor Freight. You could also drill multiple small holes to make a 20mm hole that works fine also but needs good marking.
Once finished test the hole size with one of the plastic bushes you get with the antenna. Do not peel off the adhesive cover at this time.
Next step is to tidy up a little, need to get rid of the drill debris or it will rust into the paint I use a magnet wrapped in kitchen towel to pickup the debris just hold it above the roof, obviously don’t wipe with a cloth you will scratch the paint. You could also use an air blower. I also used it to tidy up inside the roof.
Your now ready to fit the bushing under the roof just get rid of any burrs on the underside use the thinner bushing remove the peel off and stick it in place.
Moving on we need to do a little wiring your new antenna comes with 2 connectors the one we need has a black plastic cover on the plug, I was unable to find a similar connector it is not the same as standard Sirius so I cut off the plug and carefully stripped the end, I had an existing magnetic antenna on the truck so I decided to reuse the same cable I just removed the old antenna stripped the cable and carefully soldered the inners together, try to use as little solder as possible as any lumps could cause signal attenuation at the high frequencies we deal with, for the screen I just folded it over the cable outer and heat shrunk the 2 together making sure everything was insulated and isolated.
So go ahead and remove the screw from the cover on the new antenna
You will be presented with this, try not to handle the internals too much or get grease or oil on it.
Next turn over the antenna and loosen the Torx in the center but don’t remove it, you will also note the first set of weather seals make sure they are clean of debris.
Thread all your cable through the bushing and put one hand back inside the roof to hold the bushing, you can now fit the antenna into the bushing it just clips in, Now tighten the Torx from under the roof I used the same Allen wrench I used to remove the lid.
It will seem like it is standing proud of the roof this is due to the first weather seal. Next fit the second weather seal from the bottom of the cover and then the cover itself making sure the seal is seated correctly.
I tidied up inside the lining by wrapping the connections in some foam and tucking them up in roof strengthening bar.
You now have to reassemble the roof lining and interior in reverse order and route the antenna cable to your receiver.
Finished pictures, kind of look off center to me but its a camera trick.
Permanent Sirius Antenna Installation
, but a solution to what I've been looking for to hide all my wires for my sirius. Thanks for doing all the leg work for finding the best antenna. I have the sleek one now but that might change! good job. A job I would have to do when the wife is at work
Re: Permanent Sirius Antenna Installation
Very nice DIY for a subject bugging many of us Sirius guys.
2007 DC LTD, Silver Metallic. MODS: Line-X Bedliner; Toytec 3" Lift; HUGE Moto Metal 20" Wheels and 35*13.5*20 Procomp Xtreme A/T Tires; Sirius Radio; Nuvo GPS Navigation; Hornblasters; Black Westin Bull Bar with fog lights; Northern Tools Tool Box; TRD CAI; Color-matched Fender Flares; Boorla Catback Dual Exhaust; Infinity Kappa Series Speakers all around.
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