I have a 99 F-150 Off-Road that came from the factory with a cassete player/radio and no CD changer. For Christmas, Dad bought me a factory CD player/radio advertised for a 99-2003 F-series truck. The CD port is on the top part of the face. After removing the cassette player/radio, it became obvious that the CD player/radio would not fit, although the wiring connections and antennae hooked up fine. First, the CD player/radio slid on a tract, while the cassette player/radio set on a shelf at the back of the dash, and a plastic stud with a vacuum cap on it was clipped to the back of the cassette player/radio. This rubber-capped plastic stud fit into the back of the dash, and kept the radio from bouncing around, I assume. No problem - after studying the situation, I figured out how to get around this. However, as I installed the CD player/radio, I quickly found out that it wasn't going to work. The "ceiling" of the dash is sloped downward, and since the CD player/radio is thicker than the cassette player/radio, there was no way it was going to fit. What should I do now - should I try an earlier model CD player or what? Surely, Ford built enough flexibility into their trucks to swap from a cassette player/radio to a CD player/radio. Then again, why should I think that? Man, if it can go wrong, it does - stuff like this doesn't even surprise me anymore. I'd appreciate your input.

 

Its been a while since I removed my factory head unit to install my aftermarket one, but isin't there a bracket in back that could be removed for more clearance? Also I may be wrong on this, but most stock headunits for the 97-03 f trucks, but in this case the 150, had the cd slot in the center of the unit. I'm not gonna say anyones stupid but is it possiable that where ever your dad got the unit gave him the wrong one? I'd take a look at someones truck who you know and get an idea if a) its the right headunit and b) if they're a good friend if you can remove it to get an idea of how to install it

 

Remove the angled down bracket. It must be removed to install either the 6 disc indash changer or the dual media (cd & cassette) head units.