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Speakers in rear hatch

MN-Cherokee

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Minnesota, USA
Quick and to the point. I want to add speakers to the rear hatch of my XJ. It is a '96 2-door. It does NOT have the sound bar.

There is four plugs under the hatch trim piece. One goes to the rear defrost. One goes to the rear license plate light. The other two dont plug into anything. I do not have power locks or the rear wiper, am I correct to assume that these plugs are for those options? One is a flat 4 point plug and the other is a box 2 point plug.

Where would the harness for the speakers end? Also, did any '96 XJ's even have speakers in the hatch? Or was the sound bar the only rear speaker option?

Thanks,

Brian
 
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not the speakers,there should be 2 2point plugs for them. wire colors are
driver side
pos..brown/yellow
neg..brown/light blue

pass.side
pos..dark blue/white
neg..dark blue/orange

in the tailgate of coarse..
 
Brian,
Are you interested in a sound bar from a 1996? I have an extra grey one taking up space in the basement. Complete with wire harness. IIRC the speaker wire connection is behind one of the cargo area plastic side panels.
Tim
 
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Actually I am. Is it complete with all the hardware to mount it? Let me know. This is what I would prefer I could just never find one.

Brian
 
yes, it is possible to put 6x9 in the hatch.
i've got some in mine. i had to make some spacers for them, though. they were too deep to fit inside the hatch completely. in my case they stand out about one inch... and you do have to cut into the hatch cover to make room.

i don't know what the maximum size for the sound bar speakers are...
i think it's less and you won't be able to cut bigger holes, either.
 
mine was a '87...

i don't know how much the hatch changed over time but i can't imagine why you shouldn't be able to do that.

other than that the sound bar is the better place for the speakers 'cause you can hear your music even with some groceries in the back :)

anyone: are there speaker wires going into the hatch even after the speakers moved into the roof?
 
Micha said:
mine was a '87...

i don't know how much the hatch changed over time but i can't imagine why you shouldn't be able to do that.


Eek! The entire hatch is different on a 97+! Made of Steel!

I'm curious if this is possible, too. Those 5.25" Pioneers (I can't believe I spent money on them!) in the sound bar are not even good for "fill" back there. The 6.5's in the front doors do ALL the work....

Den
 
ok, made of metal then.
but not solid, so you should still be able to cut the necessary holes and attach the speakers, don't you think? i really never took a close look at the later hatches, so don't flame me if i'm wrong...
 
For the roof mounted speakers the wires come from the front, then they plug into the roof speaker wire harness that runs up the window pillar. The connector plug is behind one of the plastic panel in the rear cargo area. No speaker wires in the hatch.
 
I have 6 1/2's in the rear soundbar on my 96, used the grills they came with and they fit, hang a little low though
 
My '95 XJ the rear hatch pops open very quickly. I don't know if the 4-6lbs that bigger better speakers would add, would really slow it down that much.

You sure your lift rods/struts aren't blown?

Slamming the rear hatch and especially forcing it open faster than the rods extend or slamming it when its very cold, will blow them. If you make an effort to always close the rear hatch smoothly and slowly the lift rods/struts will last much much longer. I did that on my '91 Caravan, which the rear hatch easily weighs 4 times as much a the XJ, and those struts where still as good as new, when we gave it away in 2002.
 
my struts carry the 6x9 sony xplod speakers just fine...
still, adding weight will put more stress on the hinges and might mess up things. i like the sound bar up above 'cause it doesn't get less lound iff you fill up the trunk.
 
What is the top-mounting depth of the 6x9's you guys with the fiberglass liftgates are using?

I have a '94 and would be very interested in doing this, but i need to make sure that I don't buy something that will stick out farther than a spacer will account for (reasonably).....
 
Go to Crutchfield.com and input your year/make/model and they'll give you a list of what fits OEM with Specs.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7MWPgq...p=/S-7MWPgqyjJ6Z/index.html?&id=0&vehicleid=0

The specs for all the speakers that fit the tailgate, the deepest ones are 2 & 5/8", top mount depth, so its safe to assume if you get 6X9 speakers of lesser depth you should be fine. Be careful, since you'll have to cut up the tailgate to mount a different size speaker, the back might not be located in the same spot and the same depth may not apply.

I'd take the tailgate apart, measure and size up the job before ordering.
 
I want some feedback from the back roaders. You know hundreds of miles of dirt surrounding me. So for some rear hatch speakers. Thinkin a 6.5". Whats the most durable and resilient to dust dirt mud water. Thanks
 
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