Yo,

I want to install some speakers in my cab. I got the truck with a non-working speaker system.

In the process of cleaning up the cab, I removed the two old speakers in the rear-sides of the cab and all the previously-laid speaker wire. I have a radio, speakers, and speaker wire to put in, but stupid me, I didn't pay attention to where I should begin my wiring.

If I am right, there are 2 speakers in the dash at either end of the dash, where the grooves are, and 2 speakers in the rear of the cab by the seat belts. I don't know where to start the speaker wiring. Would you please tell me where I should begin the wiring?

Thank you!

 

what kind of deck do you have there should be wire for 2 fronts and 2 rears

 

I don't know where the wires are coming out of the console. I actually have a Pioneer aftermarket player. I see the harness, but I don;t know where the wires for the speakers are.

 

If you are talking factory speaker locations, there should already be wires there. I actually used to know the colors for each corner but it's been awhile...

If you access each factory speaker hole and find the wires you can simply attach them to the new speaker (you may have to crimp on connectors). Typically installers will use the lighter color for posative and the darker color for negative. You can also make notes as to what color goes where.

After all the speakers are installed, go to the dash where the radio goes. Find the Molex plugs just below the cigerette lighter. You will find the same color wires in a Molex plug. You can cut the plug, or buy a wiring harness adapter at any stereo shop--I would totaly do this! This not only saves you from hackin gup your wiring harness, the plug in adapter has a wiring diagram telling you what wires are what.

You can also use a 9-volt battery to figure out which wires go to wich speakers--hold one wire to one terminal and tap the other to the remaining terminal and the speaker will make noise.

Now, if you don't have or can't find the factory wires, siimply run the speaker wire from the speakers in the rear down to the floor and then under the carpet and/or the sill plate along the door. Then up behind the kick panel and across the dash to the radio spot. In the dash, you just string the wires along the dash, just underneath and out of site. Use Zip-Ties to keep the wire secure and up out of the way. There are wires and other things under the dash to secure your wiring to.

Polarity is important. You speakers can play in forward or reverse. They sound pretty much the same either way, but if the left is reversed and the right is playing forward, you will cancel out the sound and won't be as loud and it won't sound as good.

 

I looked in the old speaker holes and there were no wires. I don't mind doing it with my own speaker wire, etc.

My question is, I see the wiring harness from the truck that plugs into the stereo system. Are you saying I need to find out which of those many, many wires are for the speakers, and cut them so I can splice the speaker wires to? I can do that, just want to make sure that is right.

 

It should only be like 8 to 10 wires... Somone may have already cut off the Molex plug. Look under the carpet in the radio spot for a wire loom right about where the radio goes.

If you do have a Molex plug there, go buy that wiring harness adapter. It plugs into that factory Molex plug and then gives you wire labeled for power, ground, constant, etc...

Let's say you can't find the wires, they are just gone. You can get constant power off the cigirette lighter, you can ground on any metal under the dash and you can go over to a the steering column for a keyed power lead. That and the speaker wires are all you need.

 

Post a pic of the Molex Plug you see and I should be able to tell you if that is the right one.

 

I'm 99% certain the Molex plug is there - it's white, rectangular, and has all the colored wires leading into it from the dash area. But, there are no speaker wires anywhere near where the speakers are. So, I think I can get the radio connected, but I don't know where to attach the speaker wire to to run to the speakers.

 

Okay, I get it... If you run your own wires directly to the speakers, they will make no connections to the vehicle under the dash. They will only attach to the head unit speaker out wires.

Pioneer is pretty good about having wiring diagrams on the head unit itself so you can figure out which wires in the head unit will go to which speaker wires.

 

Ok, thanks, I just want to make sure I can splice the speaker wire into the wires coming out of the back of the head unit and get it all to work.

 

Yup, that is the only way it will work--you got it now!

 

even though it may seem like a pain in the ass to run all new wires in your truck, in my opinion it is well worth the effort. rather than just taping into the old small factory wiring, you can run all new wire whichever gauge you chose. the fronts will be easy, you already have to take a decent amount of the underdash off to gain access to them anyway so just run wires right under and into the radio cavity. be sure you avoid any moving objects such as steering, brake or clutch components and also secure the wires along the way so they dont fall and risk getting ripped out accidentally. For the rears you can get a wire fish or just a straightened out coat hanger to help you fish the wires. take off the door sill scuff plates to make it easier to run and conceal wires. start at the bottom corner where the door would meet with the extended cab part and try to fish the coat hanger up and into the area behind the panel until you can see it and grab it. securely tape your speaker wire to your wire fish and slowly pull your wire fish and wire back out of the hole. now you can attatch the wire to the back of your speaker, put it back in place and finish running the wires to the front, be sure you label your wires so you dont mix them up. also be sure to keep the wires from the back clear of any screws that hold the scuff plates back in so you dont risk pinching or screwing through your wires. make sure you keep your wire locations the same on all speakers, for example, the wire will most likely have some sort of writing on one of the two wires. Make sure that the one with the writing is on the same side for all speakers, i usually use the writing as positive. If you decide to try to stick with the factory wiring i typically use the left side as positive when the speaker clip is facing up. good luck.

jason