Basic Radio Install Question??

[DuckRyder]

That is bizzare. I haven't seen a common ground sterero in forever.

So you are saying you have the speaker negatives wired into the black ground wire from the stereo?

If that is the case I would try grounding the metal radio chasisis to the truck.

It may be that it is a common ground radion and then grounds the power supply trough the radio chasis.

[granitestate68]

The black wire should be the common ground. Definitely connect that to the body and you should be all set.

[71Ford]

I thank you all so much for your answers.

[darics]

Got a new (very old) radio. In searching for some insight on installing it I found this thread which is helpful. . .

BUT, my question is: should I ground the speaker to the door or should I bring the ground back to the radio and the common "black" ground?

[spartman]

Depends if your stereo provides a seperate ground for the speakers or not.

Either way I would just run the wire pair to the radio and call it good.

[Chasbod]

Everything on the cab body and doors that is metal is 'grounded'. Typically the speaker wires are run in pairs. One wire out of each pair is a 'ground'. It can be tied off to the cab, can be wired with the black radio ground, really doesn't matter as long as the radio black wire is properly grounded.

The ungrounded wires are obviously the red (power supply) and left & right positive speaker leads.

[68F250]

Yeah I would guess that the black wire is the common for both speakers and the radio ground comes from grounding the radio chassis.

I wouldn't use the chassis for the speaker returns, instead run a pair of wires to each speaker. There's enough ground current flowing thru the chassis already, the current spikes can cause noise and if bad enough can cause damage.

[Joe Kriston]

As long as we're talking basic radio installation,here,I'm going to be installing an old aftermarket am/fm in dash 8-trak(you guys go ahead and laugh,we'll see who gets the chicks when I'm riding around in my leisure suit,listening to the BeeGees )...First of all,I'm going to test it out before I rip my dash apart and make sure it isn't a bum radio...A couple of questions...What's a good way to clean the junkyard dust that's probably accumulated inside the unit..Just blow it out with an airhose?...Also,I seem to remember installing units in the old days that had some kind of antenna tuner,where you'd find a weak AM station and adjust the screw until you got optimum reception....All I can see on mine is a hole with a paper sticker on it that says'head alignment',which I'm assuming is for the 8-trak?...Finally,on the red wire between the in-line fuse and the unit is this thing,about the size of a AAA battery,that has wound copper wire around it....Any ideas of what that is?....Thanks...

[68F250]

Hey I got a Lynnard Skynard 8-track you can check out.

What I would do is open up the unit and check the belt, it's probably stretched and cracked. A good electronics store will have replacement belts. You'll have to match the size and style so don't break the old one, get one just a little shorter. Then I'd blow out all the dust but not with a a lot of pressure. Clean everything with a bunch of Q-tips and blow it out again. Also get a head cleaning kit at the electronics store while you're there, clean the head last. You could demagnetize the head too if you feel like buying the tool.

There should be some kind of antenna trimmer near where the antenna plugs in. It's for AM only and matches the antenna to the receiver. Most all radios with AM have a trimmer. Tune into a weak station above 1400 kHz, trim for the strongest signal.

The thing on the power wire sounds like a choke for noise suppression. This also is for AM only.

[Joe Kriston]

Thanks,Barry,...ummm,Gimme three steps ...I figgered I could count on you...I did wipe off the dirt on a long skinny sticker with an arrow that said 'antenna trimmer adjustment',but it just points to the back of the radio....I do listen to some AM stations,just so I could hear them fade out when I drive under a bridge....Would it make any sense to install a power booster with it?

[68F250]

What kind of power booster? One for the antenna or the speakers? Those style radios only put out a couple watts. Boosting it will make it louder but not necessarily better. They didn't have the best of specs.

Hey you're getting pretty savvy with the camera, maybe snap a couple pics of the side and rear, that trimer's somewhere.