*Installing Equipment in a Toyota Tundra*

By Jaden

10 February 2004

This article is geared towards LEO’s, EMT’s, firefighters and other emergency personnel. Here’s how we installed blue lights, a siren and Motorola MCS-2000 radio along with a roof mount antenna and glass mount cell antenna in a new Toyota Tundra. This article is designed to give you ideas of how to make it all fit. This truck had 213 miles on it when I drilled the first hole!! Woohoo!

We had 2 strobes to hang in the rear window in each side. 1 Dash-King strobe for the windshield and 2 strobes for the grill.

The first step is to start getting ideas on how to do make it all fit. Stand there and look at the vehicle and get a picture in your mind of what it should look like.

The 2^nd step is to start tearing the vehicle apart. We needed enough room to run thick strobe cables, coax and power wires. We had already determined the wire routes. Don’t tear apart any more than you have to.

The strobe power supply was going under the passenger’s seat, which is about the only place it would fit. All the wires from the lights had to surface here. I removed the passenger’s seat, pulled up the snap on plastic along the edge of the carpet and had to open up the headliner somewhat to be able to install the antenna in the roof.

While I worked inside the truck, my coworker worked on the outside. He got the blues fitted in behind the grill (PITA) and the siren speaker installed. The speaker they sent was HUGE so the only place it would fit was in the engine compartment.

I started off by mounting the blues in the rear window and getting the wires run down through the wall paneling and under the carpet. Yea, this is kind of a weird spot, but it’s where the owner wanted them. Hope he only carries kids or midgets in the back. :o)

2 strobes per side

Before any drilling was done, I pulled the headliner down enough to see what was behind it. It was clear for drilling, no wires or thin spots where a screw might go through the roof!… That’d suck, BIGTIME!

This was fun. Had to custom manufacture mounting brackets

Ran these wires through the firewall along with the power wires.

Mounted to the headliner

Ran this wire through the A post covering and down under the carpet to the power pack.

Have a wire (power pack)

Mounting the controls In there

I installed the MCS-2000 in the storage compartment under the rear seat.

Wires going through the firewall

BE SURE that any wires going through the firewall go through a grommet. NEVER just drill a hole and run a wire though. It WILL chafe and short out…might even cause a fire.

Can’t even see the blues can ya?

I put a ¼ wave antenna in the roof and a 3db glass mount on the right window.

This took us 1 solid day to install. It takes a long time to tear apart a vehicle, install equipment, run wires (concealed) and put the vehicle together again.

Jaden