A while back I posted about finding a replacement for the original AM/FM radio in the Suline. There were several possibilities, but the low cost ones were all AM/FM/Cassette players which we didn’t want. The AM/FM/CD units for RV’s were a little pricey for our budget as were the automotive aftermarket units.
Finally, “Cash for Clunkers” bailed us out. My son (an auto tech at a dealership) called and said they had taken in an ’01 Grand Cherokee and offered the radio and some other items to us. The car is headed for the crusher so we are getting some items that will fit DW’s Jeep plus the radio.
The radio turned out to be a factory original AM/FM/CD/Cassette with a basic graphic equalizer and is just perfect for the Sunline. The new radio is wider than the original plus it needs different mounting requiring an even wider opening. That meant that the existing vertical stiles of the cabinet had to be relocated to create a bigger space. So here are the pics from the conversion:
Here’s the radio area of the trailer before the job started. The radio is surface mounted to the wood stiles of the cabinetry.
I removed the radio and the adapter wiring leaving only the 12vdc hot and ground wires plus the four speaker wire pairs. Everything was labled before removal. The 12 vdc hot was taped off and all the wires were bundled together. The inner stiles of the cabinet and the small paneling pieces between the stiles were also taken out because the new radio is wider than the original, and mounts differently. The left and right cabinet doors came off because I kept hitting my head on them as I tried to work.
Here’s a view of the back side of one of the stiles. There are four wood screws in low angle pre-drilled holes which screw into the horizontal stiles of the cabinetry. In the confined space of that cabinet, it was a real knuckle-skinner to remove and reinstall them.
Here’s the left stile all clamped in place ready for the screws to be run
This is the position I had to work in when tightening those four screws:
Both stiles back in place; the opening was 7.5" wide and is now 9.5"::
Trial fit of the new radio with mounting brackets in place:
And fasten the mounting brackets:
www.installdr.com has connector wiring info for all the different automotive radios and instructions on how to install them. If you need to figure out how to get into the dashboard of your car or truck, this is the place for answers. The radio came with about a foot of the original harness so it was a simple matter of identifying each wire and connecting it to its corresponding wire in the Sunline. The new radio permanently in place and all wires hooked up:
The paneling between the left and right stile pairs gets reinstalled. Each one was originally stapled in place with over a dozen long wood staples. There was no easy way to pull the staples so the edges of the panel pieces got chewed up during removal. Since the new openings are narrower, no harm done. I used Gorilla Glue (my new best friend!) to hold them in place. All clamped up waiting for the glue to dry:
Had to go back into the wiring and add pigtails for the dimmer and back light switching. The wirenut and tape on the 12 vdc hot wires is just for insulation and protection. There are 6 wires in there and they are twisted and soldered in place before the wirenut is screwed on.
Automotive radios are designed to be mounted behind the dashboard’s panel so I had to fabricate a cover plate. I did it in two sections using 1/8” sheets of ABS so that I will have the flexibility to add something else in that area without disturbing the radio. Since the radio’s front panel is rounded at both ends, I had to make a custom template for the opening using pieces of card stock and tape.
Here’s the lower panel in place:
And the final job with the upper cover panel mounted as well:
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