removing the radio from the dash of my 41 Cadillac

[sweeper34]

Can anyone tell me how to remove the radio from the dash of my 41 Cadillac series 61? It is the original radio and I need to get it repaired and want to take it out without causing any more damage.

Thanks,
David

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

First, you need a set of smaller Allen wrenches. These will take off the knobs on each side at the top. Removing these will reveal the nuts that are behind the knobs. Do NOT remove these nuts yet. Then, you get to find out what "hogshair burn" is. You get that on the back of your neck from getting upside down on the seat, which you move all the way back, of course, with your neck on the carpet. (If you are "big" forget this, and take the front seat out.)

There is a bracket bolted to (I think) the lever assembly for the cowl vent. While you're under the dash, remove carefully the antenna plug ins and the power wires. Also, take loose the rubber vacuum tubes for the antenna. Then, get out into the world again, and loosen the aforementioned nuts holding the radio to the radio grill. Support the bottom of the radio with one hand and completely take off the nuts. Then, if everything feels loose, carefully work the radio down and out.

This is from memory of at least twenty years, but I think it's pretty close. The main thing is to make sure you have all the wires and leads undone before you let the last nuts loose, or you'll have twenty pounds of radio dangling and you can't see what you're doing. Good luck. Additions and corrections gladly welcomed.

[Bob Schuman]

Barry's memory is pretty good, but he overlooked one step. The knobs on my radio are each held by two slotted- head screws. not allen screws. After removing those knobs, the 5/8 inch nuts holding the radio are not yet visible or accessible. Each is covered by a chrome plate about 2x3 inches that comes off next. Each is secured by a small nut on a threaded stud. Removing the nut allows removal of the chrome plates. It's almost impossible for male human hands to reach those nuts, but it can be done. The rest of the process is exactly as Barry wrote.
Have fun.
Bob Schuman, CLC#254

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

I have a 1950 fog lamp switch on my desk and IT has an Allen screw in it, so I guess they started using them after the war. For what ever reason, I never had to take a radio out of any of my 1953 Cadillacs, so I'm not conversant with what they used for the radio knobs...

[steve340]

I think "Allen" wasn't born until after the war!

[Glen]

Quote from Wikipedia:

In 1909â€"1910, William G. Allen patented a method of cold-forming screw heads around a hexagonal die (U.S. Patent 960,244). Published advertisements for the "Allen safety set screw" by the Allen Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut, exist from 1910. Although it is unlikely that Allen was the first person to think of a hex socket drive, his patent for a manufacturing method and his realized product appear to be the first.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_key

It seems the driving force for this was for set screws in pulleys and gears.