Has anyone replaced the stock radio in the above vehicle. I'm by no means an electrician so I was wondering how hard it is. The stock radio has a cassette deck (really). Would like to upgrade to something simple with an adapter for cell phone etc. Dont need GPS, just easy peasy..

Thanks

 

Go to crutchfield.com, enter your vehicle info and go shopping. They give you everything you need to make it plug and play.

 

It's not too difficult, just takes patience. The dash bezel is all one big piece and you need to remove the driver's side knee bolster panel and the two halves of the steering column cover to give enough room to work the dash panel out of the truck. It helps to kind of squeeze the dash panel area that goes over the instrument cluster together and sort of roll it out over the column. It is easier than it sounds I guess.

Like JKeaton says Crutchfield will send a Master Sheet that gives detailed directions on both the dash removal and door panel removal if you install new speakers later on. Crutchfield also has good tech support on the phone if you run into any problems, plus a lot of us here can offer help too. Crutchfield and Sonic Electronix both offer free installation kits and wire harnesses to mount the new radio in the dash and wire the new deck for plug and play connectivity. The wire harness eliminates the guess work from wiring up the new deck.

One thing I would suggest that is not in the Master Sheet is to not use the factory ground wire for ground on the new radio. The factory ground may not be a good enough ground for a modern high powered deck. It is best to use about a 12 to 14 gauge wire and run a new ground wire down to one of the kick panels and ground it to clean bare metal under an existing screw or bolt.

If you want a new deck that is simple to use, check out Pioneer. They are super easy to use, have great sound quality and are reasonably priced.

Jimmy