Need to replace the stock radio/cassette player in my '95 dakota. How tough is this and how hard finding a replacement with a cd player that fits the existing opening.

 

Any aftermarket radio will work. You will need an adapter kit to fit it in. You can buy radios and the adapter kit from any autoparts stores and even walmart. You can buy an wiring adapter to install it easy. Again any autoparts stores or walmart. The wiring kit will come a wiring diagram. Or you can go to the FAQ in this section and go to the wiring diagrams page.

 

Ive done tons of stereo installs....so Im probably oversimplifying but heres a short walkthrough.

Take the 8(I think) star heads out of the front of the dress plate on the dash. Should be 4-5 on the center and 3-4 on the left of the steering wheel. If you have a tilt wheel tilt is down all the way. You need to take the panel below the steering wheel off(2 philips on the bottom corners). There will be one final philips holding the dress plate on the front, to the right low side of the steering wheel. Carefully pull the dress plate out, and remove the philips screws holding your stereo in place. If you buy the install kit, carefully remove the tabs it tells you to. Honestly, my instal kit was pretty weak, and I wasnt really happy with it. Its the walmart one, I dont know if other places are better or not. You can get the harness for 6-8 bucks or so from walmart. Plug in your two connectors and wire in your stereo wire for wire(Ie black to black, purple to purple ect).

Id say if your not familiar with it allow yourself an hour.

 

I had my factory radio go out, well, the cassette went out and would squeak and whenever I hit it it would work fine for a while then squeak again. To fix it I kept a hammer with me and started hitting it with that because I was getting mad, and hurting my hand hitting it every few minutes. Needless to say I needed to get a new radio. I think the factory radio sounds pretty good so I got one off eBay for $20 or so. I still run it with a cassette adapter for my iPod. I am picky with sound quality too.

 

get rid of that stock crap! go alpine or JVC if you want sound quality

 

If you go with some killer radio and stick with the existing speakers it is overkill. IMO. Not to mention existing speaker wires should be replaced then too, and add an amp.

 

The factory speakers are also extremely easy to replace. The wiring should handle a decent speaker and deck, although I would agree if you run an amp to upgrade the wires. I wouldnt worry about an amp in this truck though, mine sounds good with just a decent quad of 6.5" speakers(front doors and rear cab). The deck has plenty of juice to run them.

Be careful taking off the rear speaker covers or youll snap the little hangers.

 

haha, so im not the only one who snapped those hangers. my factory wires are handling my ampped wall speakers. i upgraded the wires from the amp to the speakers tho.

 

as far as radios go i dont really care what it sound like as long as it plays music, i got as stock as it comes in my truck no cassette player or anything just the clock and the radio, i would like to put in some whip antennas tho, i would probably get some more stations then

 

I love the casette part of it for playing my ipod. I can do without a CD player, I don't even play CDs all that much anymore. When I get a new GPS I am going to get one with the mp3 player on it to save space.