i have the speaker holes in the back end of my 1st gen 4runner, but when i popped the plastic off to find out why my rear speakers weren't working, i found out that there weren't any that were there. not only did i have no speakers, but there is no place to MOUNT speakers either. why are there speaker holes in the trim? and has anybody figured out a way to mount some in there?

 

I am not really familure with the first gen interior but hear is what I did to install larger spekers in my 2nd gen 4runner:

Check out my page for a ton more pictures.

 

Those aren't speaker holes, those are cabin ventilation exits. If you do decide to install speakers there, be sure to leave some venting available..

 

On our 1987 I mounted some Kenwood 6x9's to the sides of the passenger seats. I just cut out the fiberboard and mounted them through it. The best part was that the bass response was awesome because of the hollow sides. It also vibrated the entire outside panel.

 

Yep, the reason I soundproofed everything. Now it sounds even better without any pannel vibration.

 

That's not correct. The stock speakers were positioned behind the holes with a bracket that attaches to a flap on the top and bottom of the space behind the pannel. I had to fab a new braket to hold my speakers when I replaced my 1 stock speaker. The previous owner took out the one on the drivers side and replaced it with a 10 in sub from Wally World. It was getto!

I'm thinking of putting some 6 x 9 in the slots for the pockets in the back seat like DavidA.

 

check my thread on my speakers.....
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/pics-custom-speaker-install-1st-gen-31868/

 

i don't really understand this. why?

 

They aren't vents, the pannels are just snapped and screwd on. They are in no way air tight so you don't need to worry about pressure building up on hot days or high altitudes. The speakers your rig came with were positioned beind the "grill area" of the pannel between the two legs of your roll bar. You can make a new set that will allow you to use any size speakers you want (with in reason).

Erich

 

yes, but when i took the panel off, all i saw was the inside of the side fender. there is NO place to hook a speaker to.

 

There are two possibilities...

First, the previous owner took out the stock speakers and the stock brackets. This means you will have to fab some of your own. I can show you mine if you want.

Second, your rig didn't come with stock rear speakers. If that was the case, they might not have wired your rig for them, in which case you could run new ones. Now the chances of that are low. I can't imagine they would actually make some with no rear speakers.

Look at the sheet metal on the bottom of the inside fender. There should be a tab sticking up with a bolt hole. That is where the bottom of my brackets did and do attach. There is another tab coming down from the side of the bed where the canopy attaches. That supports the top of the bracket. Was that confusing enough? Just let me know and I'll take some pics.

Erich

 

Well, I'm embarassed to took so long to post this pic, but here it is :pat: this is the bracket to replace the stock ones in the rear panels of my 1st Gen.

 

Here's a view from the side

 

[QUOTE
I can't imagine they would actually make some with no rear speakers.
/QUOTE]

Well My 85 has the same rear panels and no speakers. I bought som 6.5 inch Rockford Fosgates an I was wondering how I was gonna mount them (heh-heh huh huh....I said "mount"...heh-heh-heh...).
Great idea Erich! Thanx for the pics!

 

Yeah, I wish I had gone with something larger like 6.5's or 6x9's, but I bought my speakers before I took the pannels off and saw what I was working with. Show us what you end up doing!

 

They sound nice.
I made the bracket from a piece of 1/2" MDF and part of the old bracket, (sorry, no pics of it on this computer)...
4Runner rear speakers

 

This si what rear speakers should look like:

http://www.angelfire.com/trek/yota/system

 

Here's what I started today. Since I never use those cubby holes in the back seat side panels, I decided to fill them up. I removed the cubby inserts and made the wood mounts a hair larger to cover the marks and holes left behind from the cubby. I didn't want the speakers all the way in the rear due to cargo muffling and rain and or mud in the summer months. I had one finished and mounted but the seat wouldn't fold forward . Part of the latch hardware under the vynal was hitting the speaker bezel :cry: . I now need to counter-sink the whole speaker/bezel deeper into the mount so we'll see how it turns out. I'll post more pics as the progress occurs.

 

I had some boxes made, can talke them out for field parties...

 

Would you believe after weeks of searching, I managed to find a set of the rear speakers for sale on ebay? I didn't really want the speakers but the brackets were what really appealed to me. Here comes the good part though. I took off the passenger side panel today and found that not only had the speaker mount been taken out, but the bottom tab is missing as well. Wonderful!