Background info:
Vehicle : 2001 Nissan Frontier XE V6 Desert Runner 2X4 King Cab 2-door w/factory stereo & speakers
New speakers : Rockford Fosgate Prime R1653 6.5"
Just recently bought a Pioneer DEH-P4100UB radio and pair of RF R1653's to replace the worn out units in my work truck. The "My Vehicle" feature of the website (very cool, I might add) said these speakers would be a direct replacement for the factory speakers. I can't speak for any other model of Nissan Frontier but that wasn't the case with mine. I'm not complaining, trust me. With as many years, makes, models, etc of vehicles available, its amazing Crutchfield can keep up with them. But I thought I would pass this on in case anyone else runs into the same problem.
The instructions (039 0010) for removing the door panels were a nice addition. As figure 2 (pg 4) shows, the factory speakers are mounted on a plastic factory bracket, which in turn is mounted to the door. Step 9 instructs you to remove the 4 screws holding the speaker, disconnect it, connect the new speaker and remount it with the original screws. No such luck on my setup.
First, the factory bracket has a plastic guide pin on the face that needs to be cut off. Next, and more critical, the inside rim of the bracket has an approximate 1/4" lip, making the center hole of the bracket too small for the RF R1653 speakers to sit flat against it. Third, the screw holes in the R1653 speakers do not line up with the four screw holes in the bracket.
Best Solution: Would probably be a replacement bracket, but that may not be economically feasible if only a few vehicles have this problem.
Work-around: Remove the three screws from the plastic factory bracket, remove the bracket from the door. Be careful not to break the 2 guide pins on the BACK of the bracket. Using a Dremmel tool with a router bit, remove the majority of the 1/4" lip all the way around until it is flush with the rest of the bracket, leaving the screw mounting holes untouched. A sanding bit can be used to clean up the burrs.
The speaker will now fit flush, but the screw holes still don't quite line up. Using the long thin screws supplied with the speakers, get one screw started, about half way. Pulling on the bracket, get the hole opposite the first screw to (nearly) line up and get another screw started. Finish inserting the screws until the speaker is snug against the bracket (the screws are long enough to go completely through the plastic and out the back side but will not interfere)
The bracket will be slightly torqued out of shape but with a little effort, can now be mounted back on the door using the factory screws. The first speaker took me about an hour from start to finish as I tried different things to figure it out, but the second literally took 15, including removing and replacing the door panels.
Hope this helps someone else out there.
Not exactly sure of their fitment in your truck, but when you ordered from CF, you should have received a set of replacement speaker brackets that would have helped with the install.
02 BMW 330Ci, Alpine DVI-9965, Alpine MRA F350 5ch, Alpine MRP T220 + 2x Kicker 6x9 FreeAir, Kicker KX1200.1 + Alpine 12" Type-R, 2-Way Security, Keyless Entry, Remote Start
Thanks for the quick reply. I did receive an extensive collection of replacement brackets for Nissan vehicles to mount the new radio, but nothing for the speakers. I even called their tech support and we had a great conversation re: my problem with the speakers. The guy I spoke with was very helpful but said he was unaware of such a problem or a replacement bracket. I just wrote it off as if I had a less than common configuration, told him I would use a Dremmel to modify it and we left it at that.
Thanks for the info Gunner0812. This post should be very helpful to others in your situation.