Grommet question

Finally bit the bullet

I finally hunkered down and got to routing the wiring and antenna and was surprised at how relatively simple it was, and the grommet was basically hiding in plain sight the whole time. When I finally poked the awl through the grommet and saw where it came out I almost smacked my forehead...until I realized the awl was still in my hand...

For those who would like to see, I took some pics as I worked the wiring.

Here's the bad boy from in the cab, just above and to the left of my left foot on the driver's side :



Picture with the awl jammed in the grommet to get it loose:



Now, looking down on the grommet from the engine side:



Same pic backed away for reference to location in the engine compartment (fuse box in the foreground):



After I got the grommet loose, I used a socket wrench as a pry-bar to keep the grommet in place but leave space to fish the wire through the outside. I took a flathead screwdriver and taped the wire to it in order to easily push it through the opening:



And the "finished" product:



Along with the antenna mount on the hood:



I re-worked the grommet to seal it better and put the power cable and antenna in some tubing in order to protect it from the elements. I may have to remove the antenna cable from the tube since it shares it with the power cables (I'll see eventually) and encase it in its own tubing.

The larger size images are below, along with a pic of where I mounted the antenna. Due to a sudden rush to send the kids to a neighbors house and a run to Radio Shack and Home Depot, Lowes, and Wal-mart to find some parts for the install, I just finished putting the wiring in with the battery. Putting the positive cable back on is a b***h.

I have yet to install the radio and route the power cable and antenna wire in the cab which is now draped around the center console, under the mat, and the passenger side floorboard just to get it out of the way. I'm doing the radio install tomorrow after work. I can supply pics if anyone is interested.

Sorry if this is attachment overkill. As much trouble as I've put myself through on researching this, I wanted to ensure the next person who comes along has pics for reference. If it's too much then the mods can remove. The attachments are (much) larger and I included them if anyone had a need for the detail.

Thanks again for the advice. I wish I'd done this much sooner. I sweated it too much for fear I would screw something up and make a "simple" install much worse, like, oh complete meltdown of the electrical system, causing the implosion of the engine block, creating a black hole, or releasing pestilence to the masses accidentally. I'm glad I didn't do any of that, although the black hole would have trumped that collider in Europe...:laugh: