WxNerd2015
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Trevor
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2018
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- Location
- Gregory, Michigan
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- 2019 Ranger, 2011 Wrangler, 2017 Escape
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- Applications Engineer
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- #1
I first want to preface this post by stating that I purchased this product on my own and have no affiliation with Bullet Proof Diesel, but I want to share my honest opinions and experience when installing the Third Brake Light Dual Antenna Mount.
So what we have for review today is the Third Brake Light Dual Antenna Mount from Bullet Proof Diesel. They started out with creating these mounts for the 15+ Raptor and F-150, and have now created these for most of the modern trucks today!
These mounts are built solid. I believe they are machined out of solid steel, but they provide some great strength for your antenna mounting needs. Additionally, these come with two separate NMO antenna mounts located at either side of side. From the mounts, there is 15 feet of low profile coax cable for each antenna. and lastly, to provide a good and safe seal to the truck, there is a thick gasket across the entire backside of the mount, and two cab supports for your antennas as well so no damage will come to your cab.
I purchased this mount for $499. I know $499 is still quite a steep price, definitely some sticker shock with it, but this was the mount that I thought looked the best, and fit my need the best. From this entire mount, that is definitely the biggest downside, as that price is a hard pill to swallow, but once you get the mount in your hands, you know you have a great mount that will last a long time!
I chose this mount as I will be needing to run both a CB Radio and a VHF/UHF Radio from my truck and I had had my eye on these for a while. Additionally, I wanted a most ideal antenna location on the the truck, without needing to drill into the body or make too many, or really any body modifications. The highest mounting location you can get in the middle of the roof of the vehicle, and this is about the closest I can get, short of using a magnet mount, and I wanted more permanent than that. From there, I also had to take into consideration the location of the stock antenna on the Ranger. This is located in the middle of the rear taillight, sloped back. If one were to use the single antenna mount, my concern would be the antennas being much to close together or even touching. So moving the antennas out to the side of the third brake light gives more space for each antenna to prevent interference as well. And lastly, I really do like the look of this truck in OEM fashion, so I don't want to change that too much at this time! And this mount is definitely one of the most OEM looking mounts that I can see!
So with that out of the way, on to getting the mount and a couple of struggles starting out! I will cover the installation procedure in the next post then! When I received the mount, my first two impressions were that It was very heavy (very solid), and that it was quite large. I couldn't believe that taillight was that big, but it definitely appears a bit smaller on the truck than holding it in your hands. Everything was packaged great in the box and the mount was basically ready for installation. I did however have a few failed starts with getting the mount installed though, as there is a white felt sticker over the hole where the stock taillight wiring passes into the cab. It had no play, and I could not even attempt to move the wiring at all, let alone pass a coax cable through! I was also hesitant to push too hard to move the felt or poke a hole through it, as I didn't want to damage my headliner on the other side.
Now the white felt looking portion. It was actually sealed extremely tightly around that hole and held on stronger than you would think. But after some further investigation, I contacted Bullet Proof Diesel for some customer service, and they actually brought a Ranger into their facility and investigated themselves to provide me with further details and pictures from their side as to how to run through the cab! Definitely some great customer service that I really appreciated! Specifically Andrew from Bullet Proof Diesel for the helpful information!
Last thing to note is, when I purchased this mount, it was only listed for the F-150s, though the Ranger is the same taillight, and it was also verified for the Ranger, so the instructions that came with the mount, are specific to the F-150. In most of the installation, it really makes no difference, but the portion of routing the wiring through the mount and cab is where the confusion came in. SO please read the following post for my details on the Ranger installation for this mount!
So what we have for review today is the Third Brake Light Dual Antenna Mount from Bullet Proof Diesel. They started out with creating these mounts for the 15+ Raptor and F-150, and have now created these for most of the modern trucks today!
These mounts are built solid. I believe they are machined out of solid steel, but they provide some great strength for your antenna mounting needs. Additionally, these come with two separate NMO antenna mounts located at either side of side. From the mounts, there is 15 feet of low profile coax cable for each antenna. and lastly, to provide a good and safe seal to the truck, there is a thick gasket across the entire backside of the mount, and two cab supports for your antennas as well so no damage will come to your cab.
I purchased this mount for $499. I know $499 is still quite a steep price, definitely some sticker shock with it, but this was the mount that I thought looked the best, and fit my need the best. From this entire mount, that is definitely the biggest downside, as that price is a hard pill to swallow, but once you get the mount in your hands, you know you have a great mount that will last a long time!
I chose this mount as I will be needing to run both a CB Radio and a VHF/UHF Radio from my truck and I had had my eye on these for a while. Additionally, I wanted a most ideal antenna location on the the truck, without needing to drill into the body or make too many, or really any body modifications. The highest mounting location you can get in the middle of the roof of the vehicle, and this is about the closest I can get, short of using a magnet mount, and I wanted more permanent than that. From there, I also had to take into consideration the location of the stock antenna on the Ranger. This is located in the middle of the rear taillight, sloped back. If one were to use the single antenna mount, my concern would be the antennas being much to close together or even touching. So moving the antennas out to the side of the third brake light gives more space for each antenna to prevent interference as well. And lastly, I really do like the look of this truck in OEM fashion, so I don't want to change that too much at this time! And this mount is definitely one of the most OEM looking mounts that I can see!
So with that out of the way, on to getting the mount and a couple of struggles starting out! I will cover the installation procedure in the next post then! When I received the mount, my first two impressions were that It was very heavy (very solid), and that it was quite large. I couldn't believe that taillight was that big, but it definitely appears a bit smaller on the truck than holding it in your hands. Everything was packaged great in the box and the mount was basically ready for installation. I did however have a few failed starts with getting the mount installed though, as there is a white felt sticker over the hole where the stock taillight wiring passes into the cab. It had no play, and I could not even attempt to move the wiring at all, let alone pass a coax cable through! I was also hesitant to push too hard to move the felt or poke a hole through it, as I didn't want to damage my headliner on the other side.
Now the white felt looking portion. It was actually sealed extremely tightly around that hole and held on stronger than you would think. But after some further investigation, I contacted Bullet Proof Diesel for some customer service, and they actually brought a Ranger into their facility and investigated themselves to provide me with further details and pictures from their side as to how to run through the cab! Definitely some great customer service that I really appreciated! Specifically Andrew from Bullet Proof Diesel for the helpful information!
Last thing to note is, when I purchased this mount, it was only listed for the F-150s, though the Ranger is the same taillight, and it was also verified for the Ranger, so the instructions that came with the mount, are specific to the F-150. In most of the installation, it really makes no difference, but the portion of routing the wiring through the mount and cab is where the confusion came in. SO please read the following post for my details on the Ranger installation for this mount!
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