The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Shaft mount radios? Do they still exist?

Guys,

The Pioneer tape deck died in my '54 Bel-Air. Are new shaft-mount radios still made? It doesn't have to be one of those period-correct looking ones. All I need is a digital tuner and RCA outputs. Don't want to cut the dash for a CD player, or one of those "hidden" radios.

thanks....

They're what we used to call 'knob job' radios because they had two knobs.. generally one for tuning, and the other for volume.

I haven't seen new 'knob job' radios in quite a few years.

I'd check the local bone yards.. you might find one that got left in a vehicle when it got junked.

I have seen some outfits online selling those style radios.. intended for use in old muscle cars and such.. generally with a tape deck built in and some obscenely large Chevrolet logo on the tape door.. but they can be kind of pricey.

yeah, pricey, but fit right in

Bill

Here are a couple of links that might be worth checking out.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-zln94acTo4V/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=200&I=070XC4100

http://www.vintagevibes.net/

their are company's that will convert stock am radio's to fm, remote cd player's probably even i-pod players. that will retain stock look of your dash.

I have one of these and it works great, although the knobs aren't quite up to farm duty (thank goodness for Krazy Glue). I got it for Christmas 2 years ago. I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 (Mom ordered it out of my LMC catalog).

Custom Auto Sound

I,ve always liked those radio,s for old cars & trucks. They are easy to install without butchering the dash. I bought the last one available from one of the big electronic stores. It was the display model but they sold it for half price. I pick them up at swap meets for between $5 & $20.00. They usually work but the last one I just put in the display doesn,t light up.

If the radio works, but the display won't come on, that's a pretty easy fix, my man.

Those old digital display 'knob job' radios just used a little 1.5V light bulb to backlight the digital display, and once you get the old bulb out, you can get a close enough replacement from your local neighborhood Radio Shack store.

The newer radios, with much higher resolution displays need more light, so they use what is basically a little baby flourecent bulb.. a much bigger pain in the *** to source parts for, especially when your only real parts resource is an MCM catalog or Radio Shack.

But the old digital display 'knob job' radio backlights are cake to fix if you're handy with a soldiering iron and a screwdriver.

The other common reason those radios die is because some idiot kid thought he was an electronics expert and hooked 'em up to power backwards.. which pops a diode in the back of the radio designed as a 'safety' for the rest of the circuit.. kind of like a fuse.. they're easy to identify.. just look for the black scorch mark on the circuit board in the general area where the power wires go in the back of the radio.

Jumper the scorch with a chunk of resistor leg, and away you go.. just don't hook the radio up backwards!

I've got an old Pioneer Supertuner stereo radio and tape deck knob job with a 25w amp that has been sitting on a shelf. It works, you can have it for free if you pay shipping, just email me your address. I had been saving it for something and never used it.

Otherwise, try walmart or kmart or an autoparts store and see what they have in the cheapo section.

Yes, you can still buy that style of radio but are getting hard to find. I needed one recently for a truck here on the farm and was going to have to order it from a local radio shop they didn't keep any in stock anymore. Cheapest I found was $159.00. I did try wal-mart and all the other local stores but no luck.

the last time i looked autozone had an offbrand shaft radio.

Fumblin, whats a shaft radio? Weeds

Hi 4onthefloor

I sent you a PM.

thanx.....!

Not to hijack this thread, but does anyone know the dimensions required for the new slide-in radios? Since the dash on my 51 is already butchered, I was wondering just how big these radios are. I am contemplating making a 'hood' that will stick out of the dash just enough to accomodate the radio or making some sort of housing that would mount the radio in the center of the cab near the windshield.n Right now I don't have a headliner in so I have several options.

Any suggestions, links, pics would be appreciated.

Ebay is the best and cheapest way to find one, look for NOS

It's one mad mother fu..

SHUT 'CHO MOUTH!

What?? I'm just talkin' 'bout a radio!

WE CAN DIG IT!

The rectangular DIN decks need an opening of 7.2x2.11 inches. There are also double DIN decks that are 7.2x4.22.