hi,
I want to put in a new sound system in my 1999 Dodge Ram Van. Does anyone know how to access the speakers that are located in the top of the dashboard?

thank you,
DennisG

 

Dennis,
You have to pull your "A" piller trim off and then you can reach the speakers. If nobody else replies I'll find the directions in the morning and post them.
Evan

 

Dennis,
When I bought my stereo and speakers from Crutchfield they included an excellent set of instructions for our vans. I kept mine just in case but now, of course, I can't find them so the following is from my shop manual.
1. Remove right A piller trim by removing caps and screws from the handle and pop the trim off with wooden wedge. Pop the left side off the wedge also.
2. Remove screws from each end of instrument panel top cover and lift closest edge with the wedge and pop it out.
3. Remove screws holding speaker, lift out and disconnect the plug.
Assembly is the reverse except the left side trim is a bear to get back on.
Good luck,
Evan

 

Thanks for the info, Evan. I am probably going to get speakers from Crutchfield also.


Out of curiousity, what speakers did you put in the dash? I am thinking of getting components and would put the tweeters where the dash speakers are now.

Dennis

 

Dennis,
I put Boston S35s in the dash and SL95s in the front doors. To my less than tuned ears they seem to work pretty well.
Evan

 

Just did the speaker replacement two weeks back for the front.

One item to note ... Do not put in over large magnet based speakers in those small holes. If they are too close to the dash metal, weird things happen to the sound and the radio has a difficult time picking up stations.

Adding speakers to the side doors is rather easy. Just unscrew a few bottom screws and pop the lock clips. spring-back a little the bottom of the trim and slide in there with the speakers.

The rear speakers depends on the Ram Van. The 15-passenger and 12-passenger grill covers just need to be carefully broken off at each of the four corners. There is no easy way really around this. Measure the depth. 3-1/2-in speaker depth from the top to the base is ideal. I picked up a pair of BOSS 400W 6x9's to put in there. As for putting them in, the snapped out grill holes work well. If using the snapped out grills, just drill out the broken studs and use black screws and black washers to match the trim.

 

Thanks for the additional info. I've got the door speakers worked out, it's only the dash speakers that I couldn't figure out.

My van is a high top conversion van (Mrark III) that had the rear speakers installed in a box above the rear bench seat. I ripped all that out and turned the van into a windsurfing van with sail and board racks. The only seats that are left are the front ones. I am going to install 6X9's behind the front seats to augment the front speakers. I plan on putting on in the rear side cargo door and the other one in a box on the other side.

 

My '97 Mark III (RIP... I miss you ) had 6x9 speakers cut into the section of paneling just above each rear tail light assembly. This was an excellent location, to my ears anyway, because it filled the entire rear section of the van with sound.

You could stick some Dynamat on the inside of the body and fab a couple of panels to fit above the tail lights for a cool "speaker box" custom job. Or, maybe visit the local boneyard and lift a few sections of upholstered paneling out of a junked conversion van and run with that.

Running 6x9 speakers directly behind the front seats might concentrate too much sound up front. Something to think about...

 

Step Two - remove plastic windshield pillar covers, note there are two white panel clips on the midpoint of the panel which hold it to the pillar that may or may not pull out easily, Plan on buying new ones. Also, the door frame weather stripping may need to be pulled away to remove the pillar cover and you will need to glue it back in place

Stop Three - The forward dash panel that has the defroster vents and speaker vents has a small flange at each end, It is under the pillar cover, so you cannot get to it until the pillar cover is removed. Remove the phillps screw from the flange ends

Step Four - begin prying the forward dash panel away from the top of the dash, use a large putty knife to push in on the clips which hold the dash panel down

 

Five year old thread????