56mulberry

WHen we put the new stereo in sons truck last pm (87 F150 2wd reg cab) I noticed the factory stereo wiring was all there for rear speakers even though his did not come with rear speakers (his currently only has the 6" factory door speakers) We put in an amp and some old Kicker subs in a box we built behind seat and are wanting to hook up the 6x9's we have here for the rear channels off the stereo now.

My question is this--where do the factory rear speaker wires terminate in a truck that came without rear speakers? I did not trace them back past the wiring harness/plug on the stereo due to the time last night although they were there (8 wires for LF,RF,LR, RR pos/neg for each)

Anybody got an idea where they go from behind radio or how far so I can at least get close when I start looking?

thx--DOUG

mustangGT90210

Does he have a regular cab, or extended? If it's regular I would think they terminate right after the wiring harness comes out of the stereo. I've got a regular cab, and there were never any speakers besides the 6.5inch door speakers.

ymeski56

I just took up the carpet hold down trim strips along the bottom door jams & ran em under the carpet. I considered cutting 6x9 openings in the lower rear sections of the doors, but settled on some self made speaker containers that barely fit behind the seat but don't really don't the speakers justice. If they were in the lower rear of the door, they'd kick *** & provide more low end!

hackersmovie

If you remove the panels where the rear speakers would be, you should find the wires w/factory connectors taped to something. i.e. the rest of the harness, the panel itself, etc. Ford was always real good about that stuff. A lot of times stuff like that was Dealer added, or people simply saved the money and bought aftermarket cuz' it's better anyway. They should be there, somewhere.

ymeski56

Where pray tell is that panel on an 87'. Cause I'll put some speaker there as soon as you tell me where it is!!!

hackersmovie

If your panel is missing it doesn't mean the wires are too! My regular cab, like most, the wires will be in the lower rear cab corners. May be under the carpet or even taped up inside the cab but, if they are behind the dash, they should be run to where the speakers would be. If not, the are at least run over to each kick panel, at a minimum.

As far as your panel goes, if they aren't in your truck, they are sitting on a parts warehouse shelf somewhere, you really should go track em' down....

OtherWeckta

Put up some pics! I'm thinking about building a sub box and putting it behind my seat, and would love to see the way yours looks!

BigGreyBox

If you cant find the wires, just do as ymeski suggested and run your own speaker wire under the trim panels. Thats how I ran my amp and sub wiring. You might as well do this anyway, because if the original wires are corroded and old, new thicker gauge wires will give you a better quality sound.

OtherWeckta, I put a 12" kicker in my regular cab, and didnt have to build a custom box. I've got a cvt, which is a shallow mount sub, and a generic thin truck box I got from a local audio place. It's running off an 800 watt infinity amp. Sounds great and fits just fine in my reg. cab. I took some thin gauge aluminum and made some brackets to hold everything against the back of the cab.

1995GreenAndWhite

Running your own wire is always best. Factory wiring is not great for aftermarket equipment. I rewired my entire '95 super cab and the sound is incredible. It's well worth it in the end, wire's cheap... you're spending enough buying Kicker aftermarket, which is what I use for amp and sub, but my speakers and receiver are Kenwood. As for a box that fits in trucks, try this... Kicker sound..CVT 10 http://www.kicker.com/compvt_subboxes. Ebay for the cheapest price

BigGreyBox

I'm definitely a kenwood fan as far as head units go too. The subwoofer level controls on them make life so easy. Kicker is good for their thin mount stuff. I paid 150 for a new 12" cvt and my thin mount box about 2 years ago. I've used it in a few different trucks since then. It's rated 400 watts rms 800 max, and for a shallow sub it has a pretty good sound.