How to remove 2004 XLT overhead console

[icprules1978]

Hello. Just like the titlke suggest. How do you pull the overhead console on a 2004 Expedition XLT. Also is it inter-changable with other overhead consoles? I'm wanting to put a flip down dvd player/monitor in it. My father passed away last September and we (family and friends) took his ashes on a 2 hr journey to an old camp area to spread his ashes. I have 4 kids. A 4 year old boy (Jimmy Jr), a 3 yr old daughter (Josephene-JoJo for short), and a set of 1 yr old paternal twins (Cole and Corbin) and to keep them occupied for the trip I went and got those easy to install monitor/dvd players. The ones that connect to the back of the chairs. Well they only lasted 6 months with the kids (kicking, touching, etc). So I'm wanting to install a flip down that they can't touch and was wanting ideas. Like installing a shorter overhead console and a flip down. Or maybe cut the existing overhead console to fit and then install a flip down. something like that. First I got to figure out on how to remove it first. I tried looking online but all they show is F150 overhead consoles. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jimmy

 

[03exped]

Don't try to pull it down!

Whatever you do, don't try to just pull it down. It is held on with plastic rivets and the whole thing will shatter if you put force on it. I found that out the hard way after mine partially detached and I tried to pull the rest down. Now, I have the under skeleton of the thing hanging down with the lights and rear A/C dangling. I kind of tried to pull the rest down, but it is held on there with more resistance than I feel like dealing with at the moment.

 

[GAINMOB]

what i did with mine was have a 12" monitor w/built-in dvd player installed...you will have to undo the hanger hooks...screwed in...then start from the rear by removing all pillars that hold the headliner in and so on...if you dont have the rear air...you can go as big as 30" monitor...with rear air...pending on the housing...17" monitor may be the max for a clean look...i have 12" monitor as stated earlier and will be going 17"-20"

you could also put headrest monitors in...built-in dvd or not

 

[bubbadabulldawg]

You can do it yourself with another person for help in supporting headliner so not to cause any damage by being unsupported. But to install a rear screen requires you to disassemble most of the interior plastics IE: unbolting seat belts at the shoulder mounting, removing coat hooks from ceiling (which you can break if not looking at what to squeeze to unlock), both rear quarter panel plastics and side window trim, front windshield visors, windshield trim & entry grab handles.

The long overhead console snaps into a second piece of plastic above the headliner, just grab the sides starting at the back and pull down, you think it will break but it won't, it will scare you when it first breaks free but you will see what I mean. You will have to unplug your heater/ac controls and map lights.

I installed a 13" flip down monitor for rear viewing and gaming and had cut a piece of plywood to go above the headliner. You need to do all of this to run power and video to monitor and wood to support the monitor also DO NOT USE SCREWS THAT WILL EXIT THE ROOF OF YOUR TRUCK! I cannot express this, I've seen it done over and over by teenagers doing stereo installs and not knowing what they are doing!

My suggestion is to do a headunit upgrade to a unit that has indash nav, dvd, reverse camera input and install a monitor for the rear, you can even add wireless head phones so you don't have to listen to Yo Gabba Gabba for the entire ride and listen to music while playing the movie in the back. You can do a complete setup for under $2000 if you shop around and install it youself.

 

[bubbadabulldawg]

Overhead install

Plastic above headliner

There is 6 locking clips that hold it up

View from beck

Hope this helps you out.

 

[icprules1978]

Yes, it helps a lot. But I have a few more questions. How did you hook up the power? Do they have an adapter or will I have to splice the wires? Also how do you run them through the stereo speakers? With the kids in the car(Like I said I have 4 kids ages 1-4) and would not even try to use headphones. So we are use to just listening to what they were watching.

 

[bubbadabulldawg]

I installed an aftermarket stereo with a harness adapter that plugs into the factory wiring and spliced the switched power off of that to the monitor and as for the sound it came from the stereo to the speakers because the aftermarket stereo had a built in dvd player.

 

[msumike74]

Nice

How big of a piece of plywood did you have to run?

 

[Team Zombie]

small enough to fit through the hole but large enough to be able to drill all the needed screws into (my kenwood has 4 screws). Not sure what they glued the wood to the inner roof with though.

I went for the DVD/Monitor all in one with a 10.5 screen , right in the middle and it makes it hard to see what's behind you. If I could go back I would install a smaller monitor on each side and seperate dvd player.

Note, all of this was in my silverado, i haven't decided if I want to go through all the trouble of having this stuff hooked back up again.

 

[bubbadabulldawg]

How big of a piece of plywood did you have to run?

I dropped the headliner down so I could slide the plywood above it. My monitor is a 13" so before I had put the wood up there I traced out the monitor onto the wood and then added about an inch to each side before I cut the wood so when I screwed the monitor to it, it was sandwiched evenly.