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40410
Well-Known Member
It was time to upgrade things in my interior of my '01 Ranger (Edge) 4x4. I didn't like the Edge rubber bottom of my interior at the time when I bought my truck back in '03, but over time I've grown to like the ease of which it can be cleaned with spills, dogs, trash, etc., SO, I wanted to leave the rubber bottom alone. But, I had the 6disk factory stereo which I've already replaced once and in cold weather my 2nd 6-disk CD player was becoming finicky and didn't want to change CDs. My wife's RAV4 had a USB port in her stereo and I fell in love with that, so I went on the hunt for a new stereo...that must have USB.
We live in western WA where tall trees are everywhere so satellite stereo was not needed as it broke up far too often. With the USB I could play any of my nearly 5K songs I already had. So, USB was most important and then a good bass speaker. I did not want loud THUMP, THUMP bass, but I wanted to hear the strum of the bass. I checked local stereo sales, plus also CAR TOYS where they were having a tent sale. I saved $700 on the same stereo install from Car Toys from $2K to $1300.
The stereo is a Kenwood 50W w/ blutooth, USB, CD, and several radio services I'll never use. Car Toys has there own brand of speakers Quinn that sounded as well as or better than Infinity and far better than Alpine & Pioneer, so I have all new Quinn door speakers. Finally, I have a Kenwood eXcelon 1000 W box subwoofer w/amp that will shake every door and window in your NEIGHBOR's house! And its a clean bass sound not a boom-thump sound.
Then, I contacted WET OKOLE for seat covers and my vinyl in my factory seats were starting to split with age. I wanted something "non-standard" of course, so I ordered a set of Wet Okole half-pipe seats with custom FORD image on the back. It was an easy install that took about an hour and a half. The hardest part of the install was getting the top cover over the console lid as I had to unscrew everything to get a decent fit. I also went with the heated seat panels as well.
Lastly, when I was searching the internet for switch panels to install heater switches, I stumbled onto a plastic "gap filler" for interiors, available in tons of colors. It is a soft extruded plastic in the shape of a tear drop with a long tail. It simply pushed into most any gap and you fill the gap with your colored accent. It comes in 3M and 5M lengths and is avail from CHINA from ebay. There is a dealer on ebay from NJ, but they just ship from China anyway and you'll pay more in shipping like I did. Anyway, I installed it, and secured it with superglue on one side. I'm sure there are better glues to use, but I have easy access to SGlue in my shop.
I'm in love my truck all over again. I want to take it everywhere because the stereo is killer.
We live in western WA where tall trees are everywhere so satellite stereo was not needed as it broke up far too often. With the USB I could play any of my nearly 5K songs I already had. So, USB was most important and then a good bass speaker. I did not want loud THUMP, THUMP bass, but I wanted to hear the strum of the bass. I checked local stereo sales, plus also CAR TOYS where they were having a tent sale. I saved $700 on the same stereo install from Car Toys from $2K to $1300.
The stereo is a Kenwood 50W w/ blutooth, USB, CD, and several radio services I'll never use. Car Toys has there own brand of speakers Quinn that sounded as well as or better than Infinity and far better than Alpine & Pioneer, so I have all new Quinn door speakers. Finally, I have a Kenwood eXcelon 1000 W box subwoofer w/amp that will shake every door and window in your NEIGHBOR's house! And its a clean bass sound not a boom-thump sound.
Then, I contacted WET OKOLE for seat covers and my vinyl in my factory seats were starting to split with age. I wanted something "non-standard" of course, so I ordered a set of Wet Okole half-pipe seats with custom FORD image on the back. It was an easy install that took about an hour and a half. The hardest part of the install was getting the top cover over the console lid as I had to unscrew everything to get a decent fit. I also went with the heated seat panels as well.
Lastly, when I was searching the internet for switch panels to install heater switches, I stumbled onto a plastic "gap filler" for interiors, available in tons of colors. It is a soft extruded plastic in the shape of a tear drop with a long tail. It simply pushed into most any gap and you fill the gap with your colored accent. It comes in 3M and 5M lengths and is avail from CHINA from ebay. There is a dealer on ebay from NJ, but they just ship from China anyway and you'll pay more in shipping like I did. Anyway, I installed it, and secured it with superglue on one side. I'm sure there are better glues to use, but I have easy access to SGlue in my shop.
I'm in love my truck all over again. I want to take it everywhere because the stereo is killer.
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It was just dropped shipped from CHINA. Pissed me off. It is available in many, many colors. Just buy if from CHINA and save yourself some shipping.
