DIY: Rear Speakers in a Standard Cab Taco

[gsm]

This is one way for those of us that wish to have rear speakers in a regular / Std. cab Taco. And with no drilling, cutting into any part (except 1 factory ground wire connector swapped out). Furthermore, connections rear speakers for those with the factory CD/Radio.

Disclaimer of course! Do not attempt any electrical work if you aren’t confident in your abilities. Any work you perform is at your own risk. BUT with that being said, I believe you will see that there isn’t much to this. The most time consuming part is the construction of the rear speaker boxes.

Radio Removal:

007Tacoma has a very good thread under “Mods and Tutorials” call Stereo Upgrade Basics… which can be also found at this link:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/audio-video/571-stereo-upgrade-basic-how-2nd-gen.html

There 007 describes how to remove the factory radio. This is needed in order to wire the speaker wire for the rear speakers. Takes about 10 minutes to remove, 5 if you aren’t over the hill like I am!

Wiring:

The smaller square connector that came from the back of the radio is for the rear speakers to connect (see picture below). Unfortunately for me I was unable to locate locally the inserts for me to feed the speaker wire into this connector.



From the factory there was a single dark brown wire (ground I believe from my research) on this connector. I had to modify how to connect that brown wire and the rear speaker wires to the tabs from behind the radio.

Below you will see where the connection are for the factory brown wire and for the rear speakers:




I couldn’t locate connectors small enough so I used 18-22 ga. quick disconnects and modified them to size as seen below:

(edit: Tim Gainous posted below that Toyota Part#82998-12340 Female Connectors worked just fine for his install - Thanks Tim for your input)

[gsm]

These fit firmly and secure to the rear of the stereo without fear of shorting out on other tabs. Electrical tap was used solely to apply pressure between the connections:



Below is a picture of that Brown wire with the modified connector:



I then ran the speaker wires through the inside of the dash, down behind the kick panels, under the door thresholds and up behind the rear quarter panels to the back bulkhead on each side. No pictures I felt was needed of this and you could just run the wires under the carpet if you so desired.

Rear Speakers:

Finding and deciding on a location for the rear speakers was hard for me. Ideally I wanted to locate them in the rear quarter panels facing inward for best appearance and sound. But that would have meant not only cutting into the plastic quarter panel cover – but a lot of metal behind that panel. Not to mention dealing with the seat belt running behind that panel.

So I finally decided on a boxed speaker setup. And since I couldn’t find anything that would work locally I made them myself. I didn’t want the speaker to be in the way or damaged when we put bags or such behind the seat (surprisingly a lot of space behind the seats for a regular cab, more than twice than I had in my Ranger). And I didn’t want to drill into the bulkhead in case I wanted to change the setup later. So here is my setup and how I did it:



To build the boxes I used 1/4” craft plywood (12x24) from a local craft store. The 6 ½” speakers I chose were going to need a 7 ¼” square face which required me to make a step on the lower back of the box for the bulkhead railing. To hopefully help in sound, on the inboard side wall of each box I bored two large holes so hopefully sound will pass through the felt towards the other side of the cab rather than all forward. After building the boxes I sprayed them with adhesive and covered them in felt.

End result. Sounds great and big improvement over factory setup!

[gsm]

The Build/Install:

First I took measurements for my particular speakers and marked the plywood to cut the pieces out.



I initially went with the back of the box and sides. The top, bottom and face will be cut out after I put the back and sides together to ensure what size they need to be. Not a square box, so I took the measurements from here as I went.

A back with two sides cut out:




The notch above on the sides is for the bulkhead railing, that notch also permits the speaker wire to run inside of the box staying concealed inside the bulkhead railing. You can also notice that the sided do not go all the way to the top of the back board. That is because I left ½” for a lip to sit behind the top plastic cap that snaps on the top rail (just below the back window) to also help secure the box to the balkhead.

Two ¼ x 1 1/8 ply strips to secure each box to. This was a test fit. The inboard strip slides up and behind the top and bottom rail while the inboard (right in this picture) strip only remains behind the lower rail.

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I taped each strip into place and place the back of the speaker box on top. There I marked and drill a small pilot hole through the back board of the box and made a mark in the strips behind it for reference.



I then took the strips and drill them at the mark made from above and inserted a T-nut. The black foam sealer tape (like that used to seal camper shells) is used to apply pressure from the bulkhead while attempting to screw the box to it.



I then assemble the box leaving the speaker out till after mounting. Lining up the holes through the back of the speaker box to bolt into the t-nuts was a little awkward. But the end result is a sturdy connection and well worth it.

This is just one of an endless number of ways to install a speaker behind the seat in a regular cab. If questions arise and more clarity is needed I will be more than happy to edit or reply.

[gsm]

Hope this helps out the other standard cab Taco owners out there that are interested in rear speakers!

[phantom]

you sure helped this one !!!

everything went great
knowing my abilities and just "caveman" tools i cheated and got a set of speakers and enclosures from
audio toys

and i looked through some of my old work stuff and found 4 pins so i wired up the plug

i bet if any one took the above pics to a good electronic store ( not radio shack) they could get the pins and a crimper, or do it the above way
but works great and now i have surround sound and not just from the lower doors !

here is a side shot of the pin ( think it is a standard "molex" connector)

[gsm]

Hey Phantom, glad to hear it all went well and congrats!

If you have the time post pics of your speakers/enclosures or part numbers in case others may want to go that way.

Hows it sound? It's made the difference of night and day in my Regular Cab.

[phantom]

yes it does help a bunch
i just got a cheap set of speakers in a small enclosure ( took two times as they would be out of stock, so not a hi dollar item )
they are 4 .75 x 4.75 x 7 inches and i played and they worked best when pointing straight up. and i am seeing if they will stay with just double sided tape ( think they will) they sit on that cross brace for support!

i still have to dress the wires to the speakers a bit and that will be another day as doing the "hide the wiring" about did me in for a few days
but just wanted to say a big

thank you

for the pin outs on the radio

i had gone through the service manual but they give wire color codes and no wires to match up with ;-DD and over 60 could not read any pin numbers on the plug! hell i was lucky just to find the right one ;-DD

and a quick panic when the radio didn't work but found out it receives a lot better with the antenna plugged in !
(a quick hint on the 4 radio bolts, put a small piece of tape on the socket and you don't have to worry about them falling into god alone knows where
for me to do all the mods in 4 1/2 months is a lot of work
now just have to give it a oil change in april !!!
i love my truck more than my ex wives ( except when the bed gets cold)

and that will be my last mod for a looong time as it is finally the way i want it ;-D ( and my savings account wants it )
last project is to make sure my 3 wheel trike will fit in the back ( electric)

here is the pic

[gsm]

Hey Phantom looks great guy. Glad it all worked out.

I noticed you still have what I believe to be the worthless center seat belt restraints. Do/have you ever been able to use yours for anything? I found that taking mine out helped free up some floor space behind the seats for those bags of groceries, etc. (See PIC above) Everything simply unbolted with ease. I replaced the bolts back into the threaded locations in case for future use and simply placed all of the plastic covers, seat belt harness away in my Taco Parts storage box in case the need should arise (I doubt it), or for some ungodly reason I might have to sell her

[phantom]

if you look i have the passenger head restraint on the floor by the jack ( does wonders for increased visablity ) heheh (the center head restraint is in the house in a closet)
i thought about the seat belt , but all my goodies are in my truck box so i have a bit of room behind the seat and i have it all the way back.

and i can still use it to restrain any bigger cargo i might carry inside, or if some cute blond hitchhiker wanted a ride and was very friendly ( still hoping)

and it is easier for me to get to the truck box than behind the seats ;-D

[TIM GAINOUS]

hey at the expense of sounding dense where do you hook up the brown wire to? and also if the factory harness is there why cant you just hook to the other end of it? i must be missing something here

[gsm]

Originally Posted by TIM GAINOUS

hey at the expense of sounding dense where do you hook up the brown wire to? and also if the factory harness is there why cant you just hook to the other end of it? i must be missing something here

Start at the beginning of the thread and you will see the second photo lists where the brown wire attaches to.

It also explains that I couldn't locate the pins to wire the speakers to the factory connector so I came up with a solution for me - Read the first post of the thread it goes into detail.

Hope this helps

[TIM GAINOUS]

Gotcha Thanks!!

[phantom]

the factory harness only has the one brown wire on it.
now if you can come up with the pins i showed then you could wire up the factory harness
so two ways to do it

gsm ...just goes and makes a brown wire extension and then modified connectors to the pins on the radio

phantom ...... hunt like hell and find the right sized pins and just wire up the harness


both ways work great !

and it does make a big improvement on the sound ! now you can use the fade adjustment ;-D

i would suggest that you wire the speakers and route the wires to the radio area and then cut to length, but you could work back to the speakers too but that area for me was really ugly to wire up the speakers

[TIM GAINOUS]

i can get the molex connectors im just wondering where the factory rear harness is hidden? thanks for your help

[TIM GAINOUS]

There Isnt Really A Part Number For The Ones Im Using I Got Mine From A Large Universal Fuel Injector Harness Repair Kit However I Think Gm Used These In Theweatherpack Connectors" In The 90's If You Could Find A Real Parts Store Theyd Have Em Or Pep Boys Might Have Em Their "help" Line Thanks Again For The Info Phantom And Gsm

[TIM GAINOUS]

I Couldnt Make The Fi Connectors Work Right So I Got More Info Off Of A Lexus Forum .the Way I Finally Hooked It Up Was With 4 Toyota Part#82998-12340 Female Connectors .they Click In The Harness Perfectly .splice Em To The Speaker Wires Youre Done. Night And Day Difference I Used Blaunpunkt 6x9's In Q Logic Boxes Sounds Great Ps I My Pos Computer Wont Send The Pictures I Took

[phantom]

glad you got it figured out and now there is a part number !
good work

and here are some pics of the finished install from TIM GAINOUS's install





and the parts bag with the magic pins




Toyota Part#82998-12340 Female Connectors

[TIM GAINOUS]

Thanks Man For Doin The Pictures My Computer Has Windows 98 On It I Think Thats The Problem. I Didnt Mention The Cost Thought I Might. Speakers 30.00 Boxes 30.00 Toyota Repair Harness 4.37 Each
2 Rolls Speaker Wire 3.00 Ea Totalabout 85.00 Well Worth It.next Ill Be Installing The Gtc 542's I Ordered At The Same Time. Iwanted To Hear The Diff With Just The Rears Anyhow Thanks Again

[gsm]

Great looking job! The larger speakers/boxes look good back there and I bet it sounds 100% better as well.

I'm sure others will be needing your Magic Pins part numbers so I'll reference them up top.