DIN help/installation

Ok so when I bought the truck it had an aftermarket cd player in it. They had one of the metal din boxes attached to the bezel. This just caused sqeakig and noise in the cab as the radio flexed the bezel.  I'm sure this is not the right way for this.


I noticed these u nuts behind the bezel. Is there a din box that attaches here? It would seem more plausible and a better way to support the stereo.

Kind of hard to see in this picture but the factory radio uses them

From what I under stand depending on year truck & radio there were 2 different radio brackets.
There is also a rear bracket that supports the back of the radio and is a slip in type bracket.

I posted something over on FTE https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1598160-anyone-have-a-custom-stereo.html
On how I think I would go about mounting the newer type of radios in our trucks.
Then again I like the look of the factory radio. My radio & brackets I understand is of the 87> type mounted in my 81 F100 flare side. I got lucky and got everything off Ebay as a set, even the pig tails to splice it into my trucks harness as they cut the wires & broke the dash to get the radio out before I got the parts truck.
Dave ----

edit: I just remembered the 2 brackets.
The early type is like a sheet metal plate that has the holes & pin to screw it to the dash.
Mine has 2 brackets (1 each side) that bolt to the side of the radio that have the holes & pin to mount to the dash.

Mine also has a 3rd bracket off the rear for that slip in support.
I don't know what the early ones have but guessing the same type.
I think Gary listed this at one time when I was looking to see what was used and I kept seeing the flat plate type and why I listed it in the link above.

Yes, there is/was a bracket and it looks like this.  Note the holes in the sides that then should go to the bracket supplied by the radio manufacturer.




Here's how it was done on Big Blue, which is wrong.  Instead of attaching the radio's bracket, which you can see surrounding the radio, to the truck's bracket they bent those tabs out, which sorta attaches that bracket to the bezel.  So, just like in your truck, the bezel is the mounting point for the radio.  And all of the weight is hung out behind.  Plus, it is a sloppy fit so the radio bounces on each bump.  

But that'll get changed in the transformation.  The radio's bracket will be attached to the truck's bracket and the radio will then snap into its bracket.  And the bezel will just be a trim piece that covers things.  And to do that I'll probably turn to Crutchfield.

I found a bracket for another vehicle, and modified it, the dash, & the bezel for what I wanted.  Read this & the NEXT few captions:



Even with only 1 screw, and the added weight of 1.5 DIN, it never squeaked or shifted.

Dave, I have an '87 and I just screw the plastic 'T' bracket to the back of any DIN radio.

Sometimes the holes in front for the tabs leave the head unit shy of the factory bezel.
In that case I just (carefully) drill and tap holes X dimension back, so the face ends up where I want it.

I really love the Bricknose setup.

The printed flex cables, not so much.
Be sure to use an amp and no problem, but you can't push much through the stock harness.

“Stock harness”?

You guys and your fancy trucks that came with radios lol.

I was thinking about building a custom box out of abs for a hot second but looks like there are retro kits available to use those mounting points.

For that price you can't even think about making it.  Good find.  

Rembrant wrote

“Stock harness”?

You guys and your fancy trucks that came with radios lol.

Not all of us have a sweet sounding v8 to listen to.
My six is so quiet I hear the voices in my head  so I had to add the radio back in.
Dave ----