Replacing speakers in front doors

Hi-

I have a 1998 4-door Blazer LS with power windows, door locks and mirrors. The speakers in the front doors are blown and need to be replaced. The speakers in back are OK, so I bought two 6.5 inch Pioneer speakers, thinking that the replacement would be easy. However, after looking over the threads on this subject, it appears that the door panels need to be removed first. I am not willing to do this myself because of a previous bad experience on a different car ( door locks never worked right again).

What I am wondering is .... since the new speakers come with grilles already on them, can I somehow just remove the old stock speaker grilles WITHOUT removing the door panels and replace the speakers that way? I don't care if I have to trash the stock speaker grilles to do it.

Thanks,
Ken

I just did my speakers about a month ago. You do have to remove the door panels completely. I have a 98 LT, so I'm guessing that my Blazer and yours are not much different as far as door power controls. Once you remove the screws from underneath the door armrest, pop off the power control panel on the door. Once you have the door panel off of the door, the control panel will fit cock-eyed through the opening in the door panel. You do not need to disconnect any of the power window or lock wires. After you get the old speaker out and go to put the new speaker in, you will need to be able to tell which wire is positive and which one is negative. The wire connections are not standard connections, so you will need to do a bit of wire splicing.

That's pretty much it.

Mission blazer is right...you have to remove your panels. Once you do one side the other side will be much easier to do. Also, the speaker mounts do not match up exactly with non-delco speakers. A little silicone bead around the speaker and the mount will give you a good seal and better bass response.

i have the same year blazer and i believe there are two bolts under the handle that you need to remove first. use bolt size 7 with an extender(if you dont have one you can do like me and put a flat head screwdriver at the end of it, it work pretty good)then just take the control panel and slide it under. after that you should just carefully start taking the panel apart in order to take it out you have to kind of push it up and out. when putting the pannel back on it is helpful if you have the window rolled downso that you can start at the top and and push foward and down.
just my 2Cents