my xm remote doesn't have a mute, but i see that the remote for the new roady xt does. i found it on ebay for less than $20. this might be the way to go, thanks.

 

You’re saying that it’s too hard and too far to reach from the steering wheel over to the radio to turn down the volume on the radio? Please tell me this is a Joke! If this is the case then why didn’t you buy a truck that had the steering wheel mounts controls? As for noise if you had an older Cummins 12 valve then I can see you saying the engine could be a bit loud but a 2006 I can’t see how unless you have changed out the exhaust system to some big *** noise maker. All I can say is what is the world coming to when a person can’t reach 6-8 inches to move a **** on a radio to make and adjustment because it either to far or to hard! Well I guess I can say learned something new today about society.

 

If you have never had steering wheel controls you will never know how great of a feature it is. Just try going without a remote for your television for a few days. Yes, we are a society of people who are spoiled by way to many conveniences.

 

i got sirius satt radio uhh 2 days ago. i mounted it right above my rearview thinking it was out of the way and easy to reach. but damn do i wish i had a remote now. i can reach it fine just but my arm gets tired trying to hold it up and its a PITA to see what channel im changing too and watch the road. so i may just install the head unit i have which is sirius ready and has a remote

 

becuase i dislike forums that never rearlly answer the question i will answer my own for the next guy. i just found this on crutchfield today (the link has been bad up until today on crutchfield).

I also found that the following product does the same thing: DCCR03SR Scosche

 

I have to agree with you. Seems to be a lot of work and expense just to adjust the volume. I have a 05 Tahoe LT with tons of steering wheel controls I barely use. I guess I am just a creature of reaching for the volume habit.

 

Again, why not get rid of your TV remote, you're just a few feet away.

 

Don't beat him up because DC has a poorly thought out radio layout in these trucks. I didnt have to lean forward in my Ford to adjust the radio and it's not something that occured to me until after the fact. This is not necessarily something one tends to notice on a 15 minute test drive. It's the kind of annoyance that only occurs to you after a few hundred miles. Still, even if I had noticed it never would have affected my ultimate decision to buy the CTD.

 

Installing a new radio would be the best route. For around $300 you could geta new radio with remote installed from just about anywhere. If you want to do it yourself its pretty easy, about and hour to and hour and a half.

 

Some of us just want the added option. Many of us did not 'order' our trucks as custom builds. We took what we could get and add the rest ourselves. For me a diesel megacab in my color and with the best set of options I could get. My dealer had to send a set of drivers 400+miles (another state) to get it. It did not have the radio controls.

I dont want some crutchfield circuit city stuff but some of you may like that after market look. I got a 50K truck missing a few small options. So should I hack it up over a 150 bucks because a couple of you think 8 inches is within our reach. A few of us on this forum are using this forum to research 'how-to' add what we want. Try to keep the flaming out of the forums and it'll be alot less reading for us with projects to do. There are 'galleries' where you can post pics and talk about what your mom has in her truck or what you paid for your uprgaded carpet.

So... to those who want to know. YES, you can add the controls. My research so far shows that late models (perhaps 04+) are pre-wired. You will need either a new steering wheel with controls or modify existing wheel and buy controls from mopar. (the controls are very cheap like 15 each ? moparstore.com). I am looking on ebay for a wheel with the controls or at least the holes. I dont feel comfortable modding my only wheel. I want to always be able to fix what I break!! The switches I mentioned do NOT appear to have connecting wiring from what I can see. One could easily make it and connect from switches to prewire in column. I suspect this could *easily* be done for under 100 dollars. The easy part is the money. The hard part is the labor. Search this forum for a good list of how to disconnect the wheel/airbag!! Steering wheel puller will be necessary (harbor freight $).

As an added bonus the controls, once installed can also duplicate your nav function. Those of you with them might not even know it because it does not exist in the dodge/chrysler literature in recent years. For the front radio controls (cars) you push the left center button for like 4-5 seconds and a steering wheel icon will appear on your nav screen. For rear buttons (trucks) you do the same with the left button to activate. Do the same 5 seconds to deactivate (go back to radio control). Once activated, the left-center acts as the 'select/enter' and the right as 'cancel'.

I know, I know, why dont we all just use maps like dad used to do or hire a navigator to keep us from getting lost. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Hope this helps someone and hope the rest of you learned a valuable lesson. Play nice and try to help people. --> tjayweaver@hotmail.com Id enjoy seeing any pics that anyone might have of any installs, or comments, no flames. Peace out.