Hey so I'm new here. A week ago I bought a 1998 4Runner Limited 4x4 in black with 130k miles. Love it so far. Interior is pristine. Exterior looks great from far away but has some blemishes up close, which will be a project coming up in the near future.
First weekend I replaced the battery, a few bulbs, but other than that all electronics are working A-OK, except for the driver's side front speaker which was dead (confirmed it was the speaker and not problematic wiring).
I searched the forums and everyone said "plug and play with a 6.5 inch". It definitely was not plug and play - not for me. I opened up the door card and found that when I removed the speaker screws, it would not pull off of the housing (glued). So here's my first write-up on here.
I didn't bother with replacing the speaker with a similar component one, the aftermarket jobs I bought are superior in every way to the OEM speaker, with or without the additional tweeter. This would have added significant work for small payoff unless I really wanted to invest in some top-end speakers, which... no.
1 - There are a hundred videos about how to remove the door panel so I started with the door card removed (pic below). As you can see, the housing extends upwards halfway up the door and organizes the wiring. Remove the five screws and pull off entire housing. Unclip the wires from the head unit and the wires to the tweeter. There's a foam seal that you're essentially going to rip apart, which I assume prevents rattling. Since the residual stays on both sides, when you screw it back in, it should still have a similar effect. You can replace if you want. I didn't.
2 - After the housing is off, you remove the four screws in the gold speaker trim to separate it from the housing. Then I had to pry the speaker away from the housing. I could have used an exacto and taken my time, avoiding damage to the housing, but I just used a screwdriver and pulled it apart bit by bit. There are some minor dents in the housing now, but since you seal it all up anyway, it doesn't really matter.
3 - Once it was all pried apart, I connected the adapter (you need an adapter for most speakers, 14 bucks at best buy) to the speaker and ran the wire out through a slight cutout in the housing (same place the former wires came out). The wires here were a little thicker so I used an exacto and dug the cutout slightly deeper. Most speakers come with an adapter to match up the screw holes. As luck would have it, this one more or less fit. I stuck a little foam ring between the housing and the metal edge of the speaker (instead of @&!#*@* glue!!). Here's the finished product.
This is the first time I've attempted anything with a car stereo ever, and it took me around 1 hour for both sides. Had the stupid OEM speaker not been glued on, it would have taken like 10 minutes per side.
All that said, I am NOT a professional, and no doubt I missed 100 minor details a pro would have done. Nevertheless. I blasted through a selection of music from acoustic bluegrass through hip-hop and straight rap, and it sounded fairly awesome for a stock head unit and no sub. The JBLs I bought have a slightly sibilant top end, but the bass is punchy and for the price, I couldn't care less.
Hopefully this helps someone!
Martin
First weekend I replaced the battery, a few bulbs, but other than that all electronics are working A-OK, except for the driver's side front speaker which was dead (confirmed it was the speaker and not problematic wiring).
I searched the forums and everyone said "plug and play with a 6.5 inch". It definitely was not plug and play - not for me. I opened up the door card and found that when I removed the speaker screws, it would not pull off of the housing (glued). So here's my first write-up on here.
I didn't bother with replacing the speaker with a similar component one, the aftermarket jobs I bought are superior in every way to the OEM speaker, with or without the additional tweeter. This would have added significant work for small payoff unless I really wanted to invest in some top-end speakers, which... no.
1 - There are a hundred videos about how to remove the door panel so I started with the door card removed (pic below). As you can see, the housing extends upwards halfway up the door and organizes the wiring. Remove the five screws and pull off entire housing. Unclip the wires from the head unit and the wires to the tweeter. There's a foam seal that you're essentially going to rip apart, which I assume prevents rattling. Since the residual stays on both sides, when you screw it back in, it should still have a similar effect. You can replace if you want. I didn't.
2 - After the housing is off, you remove the four screws in the gold speaker trim to separate it from the housing. Then I had to pry the speaker away from the housing. I could have used an exacto and taken my time, avoiding damage to the housing, but I just used a screwdriver and pulled it apart bit by bit. There are some minor dents in the housing now, but since you seal it all up anyway, it doesn't really matter.
3 - Once it was all pried apart, I connected the adapter (you need an adapter for most speakers, 14 bucks at best buy) to the speaker and ran the wire out through a slight cutout in the housing (same place the former wires came out). The wires here were a little thicker so I used an exacto and dug the cutout slightly deeper. Most speakers come with an adapter to match up the screw holes. As luck would have it, this one more or less fit. I stuck a little foam ring between the housing and the metal edge of the speaker (instead of @&!#*@* glue!!). Here's the finished product.
This is the first time I've attempted anything with a car stereo ever, and it took me around 1 hour for both sides. Had the stupid OEM speaker not been glued on, it would have taken like 10 minutes per side.
All that said, I am NOT a professional, and no doubt I missed 100 minor details a pro would have done. Nevertheless. I blasted through a selection of music from acoustic bluegrass through hip-hop and straight rap, and it sounded fairly awesome for a stock head unit and no sub. The JBLs I bought have a slightly sibilant top end, but the bass is punchy and for the price, I couldn't care less.
Hopefully this helps someone!
Martin
