Just wanted to say a few things to anyone wondering about changing out their early-1990's F-series speakers or stereo:

Apparently Ford screwed with the typical wiring colors that connect radioes to speakers on these trucks, and perhaps two other models, so the typical Ford wiring harness/connector you may buy for a new radio will need the front negative wires switched from the way your new radio will tell you it is supposed to be (so white-with-black-stripe negative matches with solid grey wire, and the grey-with-black-stripe negative pairs with the pure white + lead).

Secondly, I changed out my stock door speakers with relatively cheap (but not paper-woofer cheap) Pioneer TS-G1647 speakers. I didn't realize the sound of the old ones was really that bad and muddy until I got these, and now I'm only kicking myself because I can't afford to change out the rears (and holy cow, the rears sound so terrible in comparison to the fronts, even though the rears are attempting to put out a good part of the bass for the system).

To lessen the effect of the obvious better speakers I have the system fade set so that the rears push a little more than the fronts. I would have thought I would have favored the frotns, but they so easily overpower and outperform the rears when the fade is equal that I can't stand the loss of the rear effects.

Best,

 

good info, but my 93 doesnt have this problem...

 

Cool. Did you change out your stereo and use a pre-defined wiring harness & not have the problem then?

THankfully the guy at the Best Buy installation department knew what it was from the get-go. I was feeling like a real wiring-moron there for a while... everything looked right according to the instructions, colors, and text on the wire insulations.

 

i got my harness from wal-mart. a best buy guy actually knew something useful? wow...

 

Yeah, I thought the same thing! But this guy was in charge of the installation bays, so I'd guess he's probably the most knowledgeable guy in the store.

I know the Best Buy north of Pittsburgh has a ton of useless people working for it, but this store does seem a little better on the whole.

If you don't mind me asking, since you have a 1993, what stock Ford radio did you pull out? From looking at my wires, everything seems pretty straight forward, so I'm left assuming Ford screwed up the internals of the OEM AM/FM radio/Cassette, then re-routed the wires through the truck accordingly for that model.

 

it was an AM/FM/Cassette. my truck was built in 92 if that means anything, but i didnt notice any wiring problems. as before, good info

 

 

I've got a '93 Extended cab, but no speakers in my rear holes, and it doesn't look like there's any wires there either! Is there an easy location to pick up the rear wires at up front, or do I have to run them straight from the deck?