stock head unit

Alright I'm going to try and keep this simple. I'm starting to feel the urge to cry. I've spent 9 hours on it today, with 3 friends helping, who know a lot as well. I'm in the USA and it hasn't been above 8 degrees once today and its been snowing. I'm a extremely frustrated. And cold. Please...

Has anyone taken the face-plate off of the stock CD receiver? I would like to change the bulbs but don't want to take it apart until I know a little about it. And installing a new unit is out of my budget right now.

So my father just gave me his 96 explorer xlt. I am trying to install a mtx 4250d amp and a pair of alpine type e 10 inch subs in it. The truck came fully loaded from the factory so it already has a 6 disk changer and a tape player I can use to play my iPod through (unless someone also knows how...