I want to put an aftermarket radio in my truck, but the two shops in town are both retarded, so I don't trust the info I have gotten. I have an 08, 4.7 quad cab without steering controls and without the alpine system. If I remember the codes, it is the uconnect 130, an the only perk is the Sirius. It doesn't have Bluetooth or anything.

One place says I need a $150 adapter, crutchfield gives me a choice of a$80 or $50 with little explanation which is which, one place wants $300 labor to install, and so on...

So, could y'all set me straight?

If you are just installing a generic radio with no DVD or GPS then you don't need the CAN adapter. The basic install kit from Crutchfield should work. Save the money also and install it youself.

Crutchfield will send decent instructions. If you are moderately competent at DIY stuff then it should go pretty quickly.

What kind of radio are looking at? I installed a Jensen VM 9424bt double din. I had to add the CAN Bus Adapter and I went ahead an purchased the plug-in wiring adapter so I was able to soldered and heat wrapped all the connectors at my work bench and then is was plug and play from there.

I added XM and ran video and power for a back-up camera.

I did have to modify (Cut a chuck out) of the support beam in order for the double din to fit. You probably will not have to modify the support beam if you go with a single din radio.

All told it took me about 2 hours total to install the unit, soldering, modifying, running video cable and power and installing the antenna for navigation. So it's something you can do if you research it ahead of time.

Good Luck,

Last time I bought from them you could still call the help line for free with purchase.

Ok, most of the units include DVD now, and my truck does not have GPS, so I remain confused. What exactly is the CAN bus and what does it do?

the CAN Bus is basically how all the electronics in the truck talk to each other. if you had NAV, steering wheel controls, etc... you would need to plug into the CAN bus to have the new radio use the NAV, steering wheel controls etc... since you sound like you will not be using anything else other then a radio to be a CD/MP3/Radio, you basically just need battery power, ignition power, ground, and all the speakers.

Read more on the CAN bus here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus
I would recommend what Keithhud said previously, get the plug-in adapter and solder in the wires from the new radio to it. This will make it 100% simpler when doing it yourself. I had to chase all the wires one at a time in one of my old trucks and it was a PITA

I will read that when I am NOT on my phone but I do have one point of confusion. He also said if its DVD requires can bus. I'm not sure why that would be unless it is going to something like factory seat back screens or something. The receivers that I'm looking at are probably going to include DVD so that's where my confusion comes. I don't anticipate piping video out to anything other than the deck itself but I may want to watch a DVD or some other video source from the deck to the deck. Is this a case of stereo shops wanted to charge me an extra $100 or more for a piece that I really don't need?

Yes and no....

The computer systems in the vehicle use CAN signals to talk to each other. Several data bits can all travel on a single line instead of having a separate signal for each individual component. A DVD player needs to know the parking brake is engaged before it will play. The parking brake signal is carried on the CAN bus.

So yes you need the CAN bus adapter for DVD. It converts the CAN signal to a grounded output for the DVD player.

or

No you do NOT need the CAN bus adapter for DVD. You can pull the ground directly from the emergency brake pedal or just use a toggle switch to trigger the ground to the DVD player.

Here's a link to my install. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...08-dakota.html
I installed a double din. The CAN adapter is handy for providing reverse output for backup cameras and the park brake output for DVD players.