the_old_curmudgeon

I installed 93ix in the front door and 62ix in the rear but I used Excelon KFC-X2C in the dash. I had to take care with lining the Kappas up in the Metra mounting brackets but it wasn't that difficult. The Kappas use set screw mounts to attach the speaker wires so you'll need to either fabricate your own harnesses or buy ready-made ones and cut off then strip back the speaker-side ends.

Just to make a few comments. The only shady behavior here was that done by the dealer as they did not explicitly outline who they were submitting applications to in your behalf although the Ally underwriter probably could have made better choices in selecting the reasons to be listed for the denial. There are a number of different scoring models, some of which use a standard framework (FICO 2/3/4/5/8/8 Bankcard/8 Auto/9/9 Bankcard/9 Auto,Vantage 3.0, Vantage4.0 are all well-known examples) and some of which are proprietary. Sagestream provides a proprietary score. Chase Bank as an example uses an internal proprietary model. To give 2 other examples Navy Federal and Pentagon FCUs both used proprietary models until they converted over to using FICO 9 1-2 years ago. You can't directly compare the results from 1 scoring model to another because they look at different criteria and weight them differently. It's not uncommon to have a FICO 8 score of 800+ and a FICO2 or FICO5 score in the low 700s,and there are still a number of banks and credit unions that use FICO2 or FICO5 scores to make credit decisions. It's also not uncommon to have Vantage scores (Credit Karma, WalletHub) that vary more than 50 points from the FICO 8 score from the same credit reporting agency (Experian/Transunion/Equifax). Having a FICO 8 score of 840 and a SageStream score in the 700s is no indication whatsoever of any incompetence or dishonesty on their part but they do show you have a clean profile. Other well-known creditors like US Bank and Ban of America also pull from Sagestream as a secondary source. Ally is legally obligated to give you between 1-4 items from a formal list of about 80 that telling you what most influenced the decision to deny you credit. What you got may not have been the actual reason or even reflect reality in your case but may have been the best fit from those options available to choose from. BTW a phone # with different area code than what a landline at that address would get is a risk factor for potential fraud. As is true in your case it can be a BS reason but the phone # it's accurate Ally can select it. You should request in writing via registered mail a free copy of your Experian and Sagestream reports although with FICO 8 scores in the 840 range both you and your wife are going to have clean files. This also speaks to why it's not a bad idea to line up financing before visiting the dealers, while for scoring purposes multiple inquiries from the same CRA will be treated as a single hard pull they are all still individually reported and current creditors will see each one of them It's not unheard of to have a dealer send out applications to 10-12 different banks/credit unions.

Just kind of brainstorming here because while I'm familiar with screwdriver antennas I've never installed one. Much like with Breedlove if you go to the Tarheel site they have a lot of truck install photos, looking at those might give you some ideas. Seems that something using a stake pocket if it were sufficiently well exposed should make for a fairly straightforward install so for simplicity's sake if that were an option for you that's what I would first consider unless you were willing to go with something more complicated to install like a puck mount. Good luck!

I have an FTM-100DR head unit mounted under the center dash with the body mounted under the drivers side back seat in the open area enclosed by the factory sub. Power is run from the battery along the passenger side and the control and mic extension cables up the driver side. My antenna is mounted using a NMO fender bracket on the drivers side with the cable run through the firewall back to the radio body. Because the radio body is semi-enclosed by the sub and the seat above it I have a MLS-200M10 external speaker mounted near the sub toward the jack. I originally tried mounting the mounting bracket for the head unit using double-sided tape but it would only hold for a few days. I ended up sliding off the bottom piece and drilling mounting holes and screwed the mounting bracket to it using backing washers. I had to shave the center tab and ream out the slot on the dash but it slid back in perfectly. The only concession is that I'm careful to grip the head to support it when I turn it on or off so as not to put too much stress on the mount. I hope I uploaded all 3 pictures correctly showing the radio head and mic and the NMO fender bracket.