P5Fretless

Sheesh, I was just out working on pulling the HU, and I had quite the adventure. Got the removal tools in place and was working it, when the lower right one slipped and caught on the HU face, and pulled the corner of it apart from the metal chassis. I couldn't snap it back into place, so I ended up just prying the whole face off.

Anybody else had this happen? It looks like it shouldn't be too hard to reconnect it, at least I hope so. Oh well, now I don't have to worry about damaging the face while I'm pulling the unit out!

The other fun part was when my hand slipped off the tool and I punched myself in the nose because I was pulling so hard at close quarters. I figured it was time to take a break at that point.

1st MP3 in NH

Well you probably killed the radio. If you used the tools Sir Nuke described you'd have an easier time of it.

P5Fretless

Actually, I am using essentially the same tools Nuke described, though for the small U-shaped ones I started with the Ford tools and bent them into wider U's so they fit fine. Everything was cool, but that one corner just slipped forward past the clip and put enough lateral pressure on the face to pop it loose.

Why do you think I killed it? It's just a couple connections between the face and the chassis that seem like they can easily be plugged back in, so it looks to me like it's just a matter of mechanically getting the plastic face snapped back into the metal chassis. Have you seen one killed this way before?

1st MP3 in NH

Not a mazda but a few other.

NoahsMP5

I did the same thing, exept the punch in the face. It still played but was messed up. I finally just had someone install my first player and then did my second one myself

P5Fretless

Oh man, you haven't had the full effect, then!

OK, I'm very pleased to report that my head unit is still quite functional. I pulled the rest of the unit out, figured out how to reattach the face and did it, and hallelujah, it still worked fine. WOOHOO!!! It's a damn beautiful day.

I ended up doing something different than Nuke's clever trick with the coat hangers. I cut a piece of wood (happened to be a dowel, as I found one just about the right length just laying on the garage floor), cut some notches on the ends, and used it to spread the U-shaped tools apart (to release the clips). Then I used a pry bar to pull the unit out. It worked beautifully! It just popped right out with no struggle, actually, because I got great leverage on it pulling on the pry bar. The piece of wood made it so there was no need for extra hands.

Here are some pics:

The tools...




And the tools in place...

Sir Nuke

MAN, I don't know about sticking that pry bar in there like that...but the wooden dowel to spread and hold the tools to release the clips is a good idea.....I will have to remember that one!!

1st MP3 in NH

I just had a mod to the dowl that should help. Make the wood peice longer with deeper threads then dripp a hole through the grooves to insert stop pins so it doesn't slip off.

P5Fretless

The pry bar just looks scary! It actually went in very smoothly, fitting in sideways with just enough clearance, and then when it was behind the HU I rotated it up so it caught the back edge, and it pulled great from there. The key is not to use it like you'd normally use a pry bar, of course -- no bending.



That would definitely make it pretty failsafe. I like it. Even the way I had it with the slots on the end was nice and tight -- it never slipped. Fortunately once I tried this method it went so fast and clean, there wasn't time to screw things up!