hardon85

Hey guys i know this isn't 3rd gen related but this would work for any vehicle. I have learned a lot here so that is why I'm posting it here. But anyway I put a double din radio in my 2004 dodge ram. The thing I was most concerned about was making the bezel look good. I wanted it to look factory for many years. Most people use bondo to make these but my concern with bondo was the different expansion and contraction rates between plastic and bondo and have heard many stories of them looking good for a year and then having cracks show up.

I wanted a dd radio in my truck but the bezels were $180 and I wasn't gonna pay that. So after hours and hours of reading I formulated my own plan and to my surprise it came out looking as perfect as could be. I did this in the fall and after going through a harsh Minnesota winter and close to 90 degree weather it still looks just like when I put it in.

I will be honest I really didn't think it would work since I had never worked with plastic before so unfortunately I didn't take any pics while I was building it which sucks. But here's what I did.

First thing I did was fit the radio in the dash which wasn't to bad just had to cut one piece of plastic and make some mounts out of flat aluminum.

Next I cut out as much of a junkyard bezel as I could without losing the shape of it.

As I said earlier I didn't want to use bondo and after hours of searching for a product I was comfortable with I settled on something called plast-aid. For those who don't know much about this it's made for fixing hot tubs but will cure to just about any plastic out there. If anyone is interested in doing something like this I would the omen taking a look at this product. What sold me on it was that it bonds to plastic chemically. Which is kind of like welding it so I was hoping it wouldn't crack.

Anyway after fitting the radio and putting the cut out bezel back in my truck I took a double din bezel mounting kit for some other vehicle and put that over the radio where I wanted it. Then I mixed the plast-aid till it was like a putty and glued the aftermarket bezel to the one I had cut out.

I found out plast-aid will not stick to scotch tape so I simply taped the gaps on the face of the bezel and poured the plast-aid in well it was still the liquid form.

Next there was many hours of sanding and filling which I still did not get perfect but after a while I just wanted to use my damn radio lol

hardon85

I then painted it since my factory bezel was smooth I wanted to keep the same look. The paint came out ok. It did not perfectly match the other painted plastic in my truck so if I were ever to do this again I would go with a vinyl wrap instead.

Like I said I didn't expect it to work but after a harsh winter and hot summer it is holding up great.

It would be a lot easier to explain with pics but I can't do that now lol.

mudd746

they do sell a dash kit for a double din for that vehicle. it replaces the center piece of the dash and they give you new brackets. you just need to remove the heat welds from behind, put in the new center piece, clamp it so it fits tight, and they give you the poxy to set it together. bolt the deck in to the new dash kit, and i cant rember if you need to cut out behind the dash, good luck

hardon85

You're right the do make but there was 2 issues (in my eyes anyway) #1 they cost $180. #2 the weight of the radio is supported entirely by the bezel. Mine is mounted and completely supported in the dash. I wasn't gonna get into that since it wasn't 3rd gen related but that's why I opted to make my own

The reason I posted this here was I don't believe anyone makes a double din kit for these cars and like I said I have never worked with plastic but came out with an awesome factory looking bezel for about $65