Kathy and I love listening to music on longer treks. Unfortunately the factory Ford speakers in the E-450 Chassis leave a little to be desired. Ok, they leave a LOT to be desired.
It’s not all their fault. RVs are loud while driving. It’s a function of weight, tires (all 6 of them), bad aerodynamics, and lack of sound deadening material. Long story short, there’s a fair bit of road noise in the cab which makes it difficult to hear your music – especially when the factory speakers have the acoustic properties of a paper cup.
On the plus side, our RV has a decent head unit from Jensen that supplies 40W of power x 4 channels. Sure, a full system with an Amplifier would be better, but it would also cost a lot more than this upgrade costs.
Here’s the video I made during install. Step by step instructions, plus a link to the speakers I used are below the video.
List of Supplies For This Project:
Inexpensive Speaker Options – All Ford E-450 speakers (front and rear) are 6″ x 8″:
Infinity Primus 6″x8″ Speakers →
Rockford Fosgate Punch 6″x8″ Speakers →
Pioneer 4-Way 6″x8″ Speakers →
Other Supplies:
Wire Stripper & Crimper →
Female Quick Disconnects →
These are what I used to connect my speakers
Ratcheting Multi-Bit Screwdriver →
T20 Torx (Star) Driver →
Link is to a full driver kit – very useful for RVers
Optional Supplies:Soldering Iron Kit
6″x8″ Speaker Baffles →
Prevents rattling & protects from moisture/condensation
Ford Speaker Harness Adapters →
I’ve read these ship with reverse polarity so need to be rewired. I didn’t use adapters
If you prefer to solder all your connections then you don’t need a crimp tool or the quick disconnects.
Speaker Wire Polarity
It’s important to attach the positive wire to the positive input on the speaker, and the negative wire to the negative input. It probably won’t hurt the speakers to mix them up, but it won’t sound great – especially if you wire it right on one door and wrong on the other.
Ford uses different wires for each door. The wires for many recent Ford vehicles including the 2012 E-450 are:
Driver Side
Solid white wire is Positive +
White wire w/ brown stripe is negative –
Passenger Door:
White wire w/ violet (purple) stripe is Positive +
White wire w/ orange stripe is negative –
Click to see larger images:
Location of the 4 screws you need to remove 
Start by pulling off the black trim above the door. 
Remove the screw from behind the trim piece 
Remove the screw cover at the bottom of the door and remove the screw. 
The last 2 screws are near the door handle. 
Pry up the screw cover from the right-hand side then remove the screw. 
To access the last screw, pry up the panel with the window controls. 
You can see how the panel is held down – there are clips on both sides. 
Then unplug the door locks and power window controls (if equipped). 
Finally, pry out the trim piece that surrounds the door handle. 
It has clips on the left, but only tabs holding it in place on the right. 
Remove the 4th and final screw that holds the door panel on. 
Now carefully lift the entire door trim. It should feel loose and pull up easily. 
Here’s the door without the trim. I had already installed the new speaker. 
The speaker is held on with 4x T20 Torx screws. 
Remove the old speaker (this is the new speaker) 
Cut the Ford speaker plug, and attach the quick disconnects. 
Screw the new speaker back into place.
The end result of the upgrade was well worth the investment! The speakers sounds so much warmer and fuller than the factory speakers. In fact, the upgrade makes me want to upgrade the speakers in the living area of our RV too – but I’ll leave that for another post.
Until next time, happy trekking!
This was an awesome description and worked great on my 2017 E-450. Thanks!
Thanks for the information, I am doing this now, I just got done switching out the original Magna dyne head unit on my 2012 Tioga Ranger with a Pioneer 4800BS if you have any questions about the switch out contact me anytime. Thanks again, Ron R.
Glad you found it useful – and thanks for the offer. If I take on the head unit project, I’ll definitely ask you if I have questions.