caperJ

If you refer to this you cannot go wrong it's hard to break anything taking panels off it's very easy.

hillwood24

Would I need that door panel removal kit that he has?

Quahog

Which model of JVC? I've been checking out the JVC KW-NT50HDT that seems like a good deal. I also like the removable screen.

Quahog

Thanks for the video... big help!

Quahog

If you have a Harbor Freight Tools near you, pick up a set for around $5-6. They're made of some kind of strong plastic and work great for removing things without scratching them all up.

Here's an example: http://www.harborfreight.com/5-piece...set-67021.html

jwhjack

Yes I got the jvc kw-nt50hdt and I love it. It is easy to use and the gps is east to use. You have to get a certain ford wiring kit that crutchfield has for about $120 but when you get the head unit they charge you $60. And yes you will need the door panel removele tool. I got them from crutchfield when I ordered my radio they were about $5.

jwhjack

Oh I almost forgot you will want to have one of those extendable magnets. One of the clips that you use to screw in the door panel fell down into the bottom of the door and it was a bear to get it out. I scratched up my arm pretty good getting it out.

Apone

I definitely agree with everything you guys posted. I have the Sony Nav/premium setup, and the sound is marginal at best. I upgraded the speakers and now my truck sounds almost as good as my home theater. It was a HUGE difference. My wife usually doesn't care about these kind of things, but she drove my truck, came back and said "wow - it sounds awesome in there!"

I wound up using Boston Acoustics speakers as well. I did SR50's up front, SE35 in the center, and SR80's in the rear. For the sub, I replaced the Sony sub with an 8" Kicker Solobaric L7 (which hits like a truck, but doesn't shake the entire neighborhood.) These speakers need an amp though - and as soon as you add an amp to any of those factory systems, you need to re-EQ it with something like an LCQ-1. Trust me on this one... The Sony nav head unit has everything crossed over before it reaches the Sony amp. Even if you cut in right out of the factory head unit, you'll still get a sloppy signal going to your amp. The LCQ-1 solves that.

A lot of people have complained about replacing the factory speakers in our trucks, and then the truck sounds worse. The reason is that they picked the wrong speakers - stick with a highly efficient speaker (like the ones that you guys picked) that don't need a lot of amp power and you'll be fine. The good thing is, you can amp them later to make them sound even better.

EricTheOracle

Pulling the door off is easy.


Any hook will do (bend a fork, an icepick, a small nail and use a pliers, whatever). Come to think of it: chase down to Northern Tool and spend $6.00 on the blue plastic interior removal kit and a set of picks. That, or you can use a spoon to remove the power locks but plastic non-marring tools are better.

You'll need a 8mm socket (or 5/16" socket), an extension and ratchet, a 1/4" drive

The only tip I can add is that once the door skin is off, pull the little black surround on the door skin that hold the the old-style push lock lever in place. Doing so will greatly ease the reinstallation.

And FWIW, I have the Navi and I found out that I like the stock speakers better than the aftermarket speakers I tried (Boston SR80s).

aaronled

Sorry to hijack - but this seemed a good place for the question.

To those that have done this -
When you take your door panels off, are you able to touch the inside of the outer panels of the door? Reason I ask is b/c some A-hole put a small dent in one of my rear passenger doors when the truck had 2k miles on it...and I'd like to push that out with my hands (without using dent pullers, etc). It would also be nice to maybe fashion some styrofoam out to place inside the front doors to take out that awful 'flexing' when you shut the them.