I have been working on installing a radio in my 2012 Ranger 500 over the past few weeks. It took a while to gather all the stuff but I have around $230 in it. I did not want to spend a lot of money on this. I found some radio kits but those were typically $400 without the radio. I thought I would share this in case others are looking to install one in theirs also.

I bought a piece of 16ga metal to mount this stuff on because I did not want to drill holes in my plastic roof. I cut two pieces of 1 1/2" PVC to make a couple of "bars" that run from the front of the cage to the back. To attach the PVC to the cage, I used PVC T's by cutting just enough off the back side of the T so that it still would sort of "snap" on to the 1 3/4" bar of the cage. Then I mounted the 16ga metal to the top of the PVC bars. I found some info on another site where instead of purchasing speaker pods that go for around $50 they used a pair of Petmate dog food bowls and they fit the speakers perfectly. I ran the speaker wires inside the PVC so I didn’t have a lot of extra wires hanging around to get caught on things. I also bought a dome light so I could have some light if I need it too. I sealed everything up real good with some black RTV sealer to keep the water out.

Here is a list of items I used and an approx price I paid.

24x24 16ga metal - $22
10' 1 1/2" PVC - $7
(4) 1 1/2" PVC "T's" - $6
(2) PetMate plastic dog bowls - $14
(1) Boss stereo - $41
(2) 6 1/2" Bazooka 2 way marine speakers - $80
(1) Marine radio housing - $20
(1) Marine radio cover - $7
(1) Dome light - $10
(1) Rubber antenna - $19
Wire - had spare wire from a previous project

 

Sweet set-up! Definitely cheaper than buying a roof system. I went with J-Strong and really like it but spent a grand on it. Thinking I'll go your route next time I upgrade rides.