FJ80 Subwoofer and Amplifier Mounting

[Whole Hog Tech]

Pretty typical 80-series stereo system story here... aftermarket stereo install with the factory speakers and a single road trip. Not long into that first long drive, the new stereo pushed the speakers past their limit and it was time to make upgrades.

Door speakers, while slightly more difficult to find because of their shallow mounting requirements, are possible to replace. Replacing the stock 80-series sub woofer (about a 5 inch diameter from the factory) was more of a challenge however, with little options for mounting a standard sized woofer in the stock location and bracket.

Our requirements for mounting the sub woofer and amplifier were:

- Sub woofer must mount centered in the factory location to keep ALL cargo storage room.
- Sub woofer and amplifier must be hidden from the prying eyes of a would-be thief.
- Quick and easy to install.
- No modifications required to the vehicle so that if the 80-series is sold, it can be taken back to stock.
- The new mounting bracket must be designed and manufactured in the same high quality that the factory mounting bracket was made.

We have seen some posts of wood mounting methods for securing the speaker - but having some spare evenings and a mechanical design company opens up a solution for those of you who might be interested in a similar high-quality setup.

Here is a step-by-step installation of mounting an 8" sub woofer in the factory location (with an accessory audio amplifier) on our owners 80-series wagon. Our install required NO modifications to the factory body trim panel or sheet metal... just bolt on the accessories of your choosing and enjoy!

NOTE: We have posted model numbers and dimensions for 8 inch sub woofers and audio amplifiers on the Whole Hog site. If this is an upgrade you are interested in pursuing, feel free to use our site as a reference. We will update the available models and prices every quarter.

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

We started by removing the factory trim panel on the passenger rear corner. This is held in place by 14 clips on the backside of the panel.

Be careful with the bottom tab that mounts under the trim plate at the tailgate. Once the clips are snapped out of position, simply rotate the panel away to remove.

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

The factory sub woofer and amplifier are mounted as shown below. Take the factory mounting bracket off after disconnecting the electrical connectors. If your original sub woofer is as worn as ours, it might have already been disconnected to stop the hiss of a torn paper cone...

Save the bolts if you'd like to reuse them (takes a 10mm socket). If you forget, Whole Hog Technologies supplies a set of new mounting hardware if you'd prefer new steel in here.

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

Now for the new panel. Whole Hog Technologies cuts this new panel out of 6061 aluminum with a laser cutter and forms it to fit in the factory mounting location. Making this out of aluminum prevents rust issues, and the CNC forming assures that this mount is at a level of quality that anybody would expect with a LandCruiser.

There was a plastic clip to secure the factory loom on our 80-series as shown in the picture. Just pinch the plastic and this clip will release. This clip needs to be removed from the hole to make room for the amplifier mounting tab. (We will discuss this clip again later in this post)


We test fit the panel before mounting our new electronics just to see how things lined up. As you can see below, everything lines up great with the factory body holes.

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

You have approximately 1-3/8 inches behind the amplifier mounting plate before running into the external body panel, but be careful to not use mounting bolts/screws that are too big for securing the amplifier.

We used a Kenwood KAC-8405 amplifier in this install. This is a 4-channel amplifier with a footprint of 11 inches x 9-1/2 inches. On the electrical side, we did a bridged setup to only run the sub woofer. Our head unit handles the door speakers just fine by itself. Position the amplifier and mount it as you see fit. We used the mounting hardware supplied with the amplifier from Kenwood.

The amplifier mounting plate allows for two major footprint sizes; 12 inches x 11-1/2 inches for a vertical mount or 13-1/2 inches x 8 inches for a horizontal mount. As a technical reference, we have identified amplifiers that fit this footprint (mono amps, 2-channel amps, 4-channel amps and 5-channel amps) on the Whole Hog web site. You can find the amplifier technical information at www.wholehogtech.com

After we secured the amplifier to the mounting plate, we again did a test fit to plan ahead for wiring. On the Whole Hog web site we discuss that the wiring and amplifier adjustments may not be accessible after the plate is secured, so keep that in mind during the install.

 

[lndcruz]

Looks very clean!

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

After the amplifier was squared away, then it was time to mount the sub woofer. Again Whole Hog has a technical reference page to identify available speakers for this mounting location at wholehogtech dot com. We used a Pioneer TS-SW841D shallow mount speaker here. You have 3-1/2 inches behind the mounting plate to work with.

Technical reference for sub woofer model information at www.wholehogtech.com

The Whole Hog mounting plate allows speakers with six (6) or eight (8) mounting bolt patterns at several different orientations. If the speaker fits in the mounting depth requirements and is of the 8 inch sub woofer variety, odds are that it will bolt right up.

After mounting the sub woofer to the plate, we attached the appropriate electrical connections. Prior to attaching power to the amplifier, make sure to disconnect the negative battery terminal on the vehicle to prevent shorts.

During our installation, we ran audio cables down the passenger door sills and the positive power cable along the driver door sills to prevent potential interference problems. There are several good grounding points at the passenger rear corner of the vehicle (make sure you don't try to use one of the isolated bolts for the factory rear bumper though...)

 

[Jrob80]

Oh baby this is awesome, I have been wanting to do something like this for some time. I have an amp in this location now but moving it shouldn't be a problem.

Very

 

[bignasty]

Arent you worried about cancellation?

 

[bpassmore]

Arent you worried about cancellation?

X2.

any way to seal this? (i know the answer...)

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

Before we start buttoning the panel back in place, it's time to fasten the sub woofer and amplifier mount to the body. Use the three (3) factory bolts or the five (5) supplied by Whole Hog Technologies. You will need a 10mm socket to attach the hardware. If you want, you can attach the plastic loom clip in the same hole again by pressing it through the amplifier mounting plate hole (we left it below the mounting bracket on our install).

This is also a good time to crank up something with some bass to make sure that you don't have any loose bolts on the subwoofer or amplifier mount. Also, if you need to make adjustments, this is the time to do that.

Now back to our requirements... the idea here is to use the factory body panel. We got a set of new clips for the back panel from Toyota (PN 67771-32060) just to ensure that there were not any rattles added to the system from a little bigger speaker. As stated before in this post, there are 14 clips on this panel.

Slip the bottom tab under the tailgate trim plate and then snap the fasteners in place by pressing on them.

In the end, you have a factory looking rear cargo area that won't differentiate you in a parking lot. You have the same amount of cargo room that you did before. You have a factory panel with a fully-functional cubby hole.

But... a little more bass and room to mount the amplifier someplace that is out of harms way!

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

If any of you are interested in a similar installation, check out our site. We are accepting pre-orders now for the mounting plates.

Find out more at: Whole Hog Technologies

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

X2.

any way to seal this? (i know the answer...)

There's not much room back there for sealing... we looked at it pretty hard but decided that for an 8 inch sub, the added cost and complexity wasn't worth the design time and final cost.

Our primary design intent is to offer a solution that accepts a wide range of speaker and amplifier designs to add some bottom end to the audio performance of the 80.

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

Arent you worried about cancellation?

We are not worried about cancellation with this mount. A speaker that pushes more air volume than an 8 inch sub woofer might generate a slight mechanical cancellation effect with respect to the body panel and mounting plate, however after testing this exact setup, it is far superior to the factory performance and adds enough low frequency response to justify its presence.

 

[Eicca]

Can you make one of those brackets for a 10" sub or even 12"?

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

Can you make one of those brackets for a 10" sub or even 12"?

We have talked about a 10 inch option. If I can get a few people interested in this, we could push it forward for sure. Let me know how interested you are...

 

[thumper]

Cool. Nice work on this. Couple questions though. How does it sound ? Secondly, on the LX, there is no grill back there, how would this affect the sound quality?

On the speaker list, of the 3 that will fit, is any one of the three a standout or are they all pretty much the same?

Also interested in a 10/12 depending on how you think the quality of the sound would be.


Thanks,

Jon

 

[Whole Hog Tech]

Cool. Nice work on this. Couple questions though. How does it sound ? Secondly, on the LX, there is no grill back there, how would this affect the sound quality?

On the speaker list, of the 3 that will fit, is any one of the three a standout or are they all pretty much the same?

Also interested in a 10/12 depending on how you think the quality of the sound would be.


Thanks,

Jon

It's an 8 inch sub, so you can definately tell that it's there, but the guy down down the street can't (that's a plus for most of us who like to keep a higher performance audio system under wraps)

We haven't had a LX450 to try it out on yet, but I would add a grill. I believe this is a factory available part from Toyota, which would help to keep the thieves away rather than putting on an aftermarket grill. All depends on what you'd like in the end.

The speakers are all pretty much the same performance-wise, although we have not heard the highest end one from the list. We have the Pioneer one and have been happy with it's performance. It really sounds great in our 97 FJ-80.

For the 10/12 inch subs, rather than a factor of sound quality is the issue of room to mount. While we have a design to fit a 10 inch sub, it requires that the factory cubby pocket be removed in order to provide appropriate room for an amp. The larger speakers also produce vibration problems with the interior panel, both in mechanical noise cancellation issues and in rattling items to death such as seat belt retractors and windows.

 

[Chef J]

Fantastic work, I though my instal was nice but this is definitely something I would consider upgrading to down the road.

 

[bpassmore]

It does look like a well thought out solution.