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Mounty sound system in explorer

ahuggins6

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 20, 2011
Messages
194
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88
City, State
New Boston, TX
Year, Model & Trim Level
1999 explorer 4.0 auto
I've got a 99 explorer (XLT, I think) I'm driving that needs new speakers. I also have a wrecked 98 or 99 mounty that apparently has the Mach system. I'd like to know if I can swap the amp and sub from the mounty into the explorer. I'm guessing the explorer does not have the correct harness to allow this to work? Maybe the GEM would also kill the idea?
 



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Don't recall the GEM being involved but otherwise yeah it's a set that needs the head unit, and amp/speaker unit, and the wiring harness to it, and the wiring out to the speakers coming from it rather than the head unit.

The thing that puzzles me is you start out stating it needs new speakers yet this swap doesn't give you new speakers ?? I'd go ahead and get the speakers and go from there, but frankly I wouldn't bother with the mach setup.

I'd get an aftermarket head unit then figure out the wiring to take sub or line-out from the new head unit, just make the amp/sub module an active slave powering only the sub.

Doing that you'd only need to run power and signal wiring to the sub, but after this much time I'd look the sub over first, maybe the speaker in it is shot after almost 20 years. Even so I like the idea of a hidden sub, not taking up cargo bay space, so I'd be tempted to gut the amp/sub combo and use the enclosure for a new speaker and one of those class D switching amp bare modules on ebay for around $10. They're not very powerful compared to most aftermarket sub amps but my aim would be full sound rather than loud, plus I'd wonder if too much sub power would rattle the trim panel.
 






As in my Budget Bass project, I would just take the OEM sub enclosure, add an aftermarket sub, and power that with an aftermarket amp.

Add that to your existing system, upgrade your speakers, and you're good to go...
 






I appreciate the input. I'm not looking for a sweet sound system. I just needed to replace a bad speaker and since I had the mounty stuff, I was curious if it was worth my time getting it out of the mounty. I did pull the front speakers from it and swap into my explorer, so for now, the problem I was having is fixed. It could still use an upgrade, but I need to do some other work to it before I worry about sound quality.
 






If the subwoofer is 8 inches then the amplifier is the later, simpler version with only power, ground, amp remote wire, sub + and sub - inputs. You can solder your head unit to the severed amp pigtail with a cheapie Scosche amp kit that has 16 feet of all the wiring you need.

I took the subwoofer assembly out of a 2001 Explorer Limited and put it into my 1999 2 door Explorer Sport. 3 out of the 4 mounting spots were on my frame. I just needed to get the body clips.

I found the wiring color codes on this site:

wiring aftermarket head unit to factory woofer

thin red/black (sub -)
thin brown/orange (sub +)
thin green/purple (amp remote wire)
thick black/green (ground)
thick green/purple (power).

The remote wire on mine seems to be fine with 12V from the head unit. Some have said it requires 5V or you get pops from the sub?

My modern aftermarket head unit only has a 10 amp fuse. I read the sub/amp is only 85 W so that will still put you well below the stock 25 amp fuse for the radio power wire. The Scosche amp kit includes a fused power wire so you could put another 10 amp fuse there (it wound up easily accessible behind my glove box).

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I've got a 99 explorer (XLT, I think) I'm driving that needs new speakers. I also have a wrecked 98 or 99 mounty that apparently has the Mach system. I'd like to know if I can swap the amp and sub from the mounty into the explorer. I'm guessing the explorer does not have the correct harness to allow this to work? Maybe the GEM would also kill the idea?
 






Mine didn’t have the factory sub. Managed to find one at the pick & pull. I bought a new 8” Kicker dual coil, wired in a monoblock amp I had laying around. Tied it all together with a Kenwood head HD Bluetooth unit and it rocks so nicely. Modified the factory trash pocket with a piece of expanded metal covered with black cloth to protect the sub.
 






Modified the factory trash pocket with a piece of expanded metal covered with black cloth to protect the sub.

I might have some OEM grills if you are interested...
 






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