Jeeps, by nature, don?t have a lot of room for mounting accessories such as CB radios, GPS units, ARB switches and other electronic devices. Sure, you could squeeze that new CB under the dash or mount your GPS unit to the dashboard, but often times, these installations result in an unfinished look and detract from your nice, clean looking dashboard. Jeeps with center-bar roll cages have the luxury of a mounting surface for these accessories, but for those of us YJ, CJ and TJ owners who don?t have this set-up, there?s a new product on the market that solves this problem ? The CBrack.
The YJ/CJ rack measures a little over 38-inches long and 7-1/4 inches wide and a little over 35-inches long for the TJ model. The CBrack is made up of two pieces. The top piece is secured to the windshield frame using the existing footman loop screws along with two additional sheet metal screws (included). The rear part of the rack secures to the roll bar with a 1-inch nylon strap, or if you want a more permanent mount, screws are provided to bolt the rack to the roll bar. The bottom piece of the rack is held in place by six acorn nuts and allows for the easy removal for mounting your accessories.
I opted to mount all my auxiliary switches (electric fan, front/rear driving lights/on-board air switch) onto a custom faceplate and then mounted this to the CBrack. This was done because there is only 1/2 -inch clearance between the top and bottom piece and the switches I am using are about 3/4-inch deep. A lower profile aux. switch could be mounted directly to the CBrack. I mounted my CB radio and interior light to the rack. I used the bullet-type disconnects for the electrical connections to make removal of the bottom piece easier. I?m also designing a mount to be used with a video camera so the camera can be mounted above or below the rack for that cool "on-trail" video footage.
The only limitation I see in using the CBrack is that you cannot lay the windshield down without first removing the CBrack since the rack is bolted to the windshield frame. INSTALLATION: Detailed instructions are included in the kit and were very easy to follow. Using a small drill and a screwdriver, the CBrack was installed into my Jeep in less than 20 minutes. The only problem I encountered was the rear mounting flange had too steep of a bend, resulting in the rack sitting slightly higher than the roll bar. This was easily fixed by bending the mounting flange to the proper angle so that the CBrack was flush with the top of the roll bar. Some vehicles with modifications to the stock roll bar or windshield frame may have altered the distance from the windshield frame to the roll bar thus requiring modifications to the CBrack (like bending the flanges to fit properly). However, if the distance between the roll bar and windshield frame is too great, the CBrack may not fit properly. I opted to secure the rear mounting point to the roll bar using the supplied nylon strap. If you plan on using heavy accessories, such as a video camera, on the rack, you may want to secure the rack to the roll bar using the supplied screws. This will provide a rock solid surface and keep things from moving around. The CBrack is a neat product designed to simplify the mounting of your electronic accessories. It keeps them out of harms way and has unlimited possibilities. If you're looking for a simple way to mount your electronic accessories, or other accessories for that matter, check out the CBrack. Oh yeah, if you think of other cool ways to use the CBrack, let me know, I'm sure there are 1001 uses for this rack. Retail cost for the CBrack is $100. If for any reason you decide you are not satisfied with the CBrack, 100% of the purchase price, including shipping costs, will be refunded. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OffRoadDotCom
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