Will someone who has an original 1980 - 1984 shaft-style radio do me a favor and measure the overall diameter of the *****? Thank you very much!

 

Comin' right up ...

 

The beveled edge is deceiving, so I brought it in and laid it on the ruler. I make it 1-6/32" (1-3/16") diameter. Part number E43F18817AA. (Headin' back to the garage for a while ...)

 

Thanks, Joe! But I thought the ***** were chrome?

 

Mine are different than either of those. (pulled from a base model 1984 F150 with the grey mesh radio bezel and am/fm radio with a cassette player)

I do see the Ford Logo in that picture though.

 

Mighty interesting. Mine is an 81 AM/FM cassette, but I added it; bought it from a guy who rebuilds radios. Definitely the right radio, maybe he swapped out the Ford *****? Or maybe trucks with the wood grain upgrade came with chrome radio *****. Or maybe the black ***** were a Filthy Finger option.

I do have the chrome ***** for the lights and wipers. I hadn't even thought about it til now - here goes another search...

 

Lariat, mine are original to my 1981, and they are; the front **** is 1.090" and the
back larger ones are 1.138". That is the diameter as measured with a caliper. Hope
that helps you.

 

This is my suspicion.

Those ***** in Lariat's post, my mom's 1977 LTD II had those, and you'll sometimes run across 'em in cars & trucks in the junkyards.

Other times, you'll find black *****, or a mix of black & chrome, my guess is it depends on the trim level ordered.

 

Thank you gentlemen!

One last question. What is the size (height) of the bezel opening for the radio?

 

This smaller bezel, bearing six part numbers, came with my 81 AM/FM/cassette deck. The opening measures 2-17/32" in height, and 4-3/16" in width.

 

Thank you very much, WilleyJoe.62. I just added a positive rep for you, for being so consistent and thorough in answering my questions!

Do you have a picture of the front of your radio, inside the dashboard? I have never seen one like yours before with the extra bezel. Thanks!

 

Headin' out there shortly - I'll get a photo for you and post it here later today. And thanks for the rep!

p.s. As "my" radio was undoubtedly used in various Ford vehicles, I'm assuming that's why it came with this smaller bezel. I also discovered when I removed the cluster bezel, I had no radio mounting plate - the metal piece behind it. Incredibly I snagged one on eBay almost immediately. I'll have pics later...

 

It's not an 81 compact cassette deck. It's a 1983 or 1984. You can tell from Radio dial face plate.

The ***** also have a engineering number of E43F-18817-AA which translates to 1984 when the **** was first engineered or changed.

The smaller bezel also has a 1984 enginering number, among others and was used in a dealer radio instalation.

What it looks like to me with all the clues, is that the truck did not come with a radio originally, the original owner traded it in a few years later, and the new buyer wanted a radio circa 1984. Why the 1984 parts. The dealer installed one using a installation kit. This happens quite often back then really as all radios were optional in 1980-1984.

The smaller bezel fits into the factory radio delete bezel after the cut outs are cut in the factory bezel.

This is how a 1980-1982 radio dial faceplate should look with the correct as factory installed *****.

1980-1981 Custom with compact cassette: 1982 simular except without the Custom Script above.


1982 XLT: with compact cassette (thanks to lariat85) simular to 1980-1981 Ranger, Ranger XLT or Ranger Lariat with the proper nameplates.


1980-1981 Custom Radio Delete Bezel: (Thanks to fordzilla80)


1980-1981 Ranger XLT Radio Delete Bezel: (Composite) 1982-1984 simular except with XL or XLT in place of Ranger Emblem.



There are also aftermarket replicas of Ford factory radios from this era of trucks.

Top radio: Ford AM/FM Stereo from 1980-1982 year range.
Bottom Radio: Aftermarket Clarion Spec II Replica of the radio above.

 

On the shaft style radio pictured above, how does the tape eject? I don't see a button.

What is the "PLAY" button for?

And it appears that the "REV" and the "FWD" buttons are not separate from each other. Do you have to hold the button to one side to get the tape to rewind or fast forward?

Then the round ***** have no markings on them either. What does the two flat ***** in the back do? What does the two ***** in the front do?

 

With further investigating, the radio kit that is in wileyjoe.62's truck comes from a 1984 mustang.

Here is a URL for the radio properly installed in a 1983 Mustang, with the correct mustang *****.

Silver 1983 Ford Mustang GT Hatchback - MustangAttitude.com Photo Detail

The mustang, the Ford Econoline van, and the 1980-1984 pickups/Broncos shared radios that would swap, but had different installation kits. The radio dial faceplates also match the year as well. The 1980-1982 variant changed in 1983 for the 1983-1984 variant pictured at mustangattitude.com .


Lariat 85:

The volume **** is also the eject button. You press the **** inward for eject. The Fwd and rev button is on a cam. move it toward Fwd untill it locks for foward, and or Rev untill it locks for reverse. In the center it is in play mode. The cassette automatically ejects at the end of the tape, at the end of a fast forward or rewind action, or if something internally wrong happens to the tape.

The Left side chrome *****:
The Rear left **** is for tone: Turn it counterclockwise for more base, clockwise for more treble.
The Front left **** is for volume, on/off and cassette eject.

The Right side chrome *****:
The Rear right **** is for the fader: Fades front or rear speakers on radios with four channels. Also used as balance for two channel radios (rare).
The Front Right **** is for station tuning.
The AM/FM buttons should be obvious.
The Cassette decks do not come with a balance control for right to left if they are four channel radios.

On trucks with am/fm stereo radio without cassette, there is a chrome lever at the bottom for balance. There is a slider marked stereo to slide from am/fm function.