Putting a Chrysler Radio in my Ford

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So my F-350 has the basic AM/FM radio. That's it.

I would like an input so I can listen to stuff from my phone. I don't need bluetooth. Don't need anything fancy. And, to be honest, I hate aftermarket radios and the waay they look.

There's a lot of Patriots / Compases and Caravans at the local junkyard with this radio.
Stereo_Install_06.jpg


How hard would it be to get this in my truck? Looks like they are both double DIN.

Are there conversion units?



Edit: This is the radio in my truck:
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Or is there a straightforward way to add an aux jack?
 
I would think it would be tricky to make sure it wired up ok. I would look at YouTube and see what people do to add an aux cord to their stock radio rather than try to. re-engineer a non stock factory radio.
 
You can get a FM transmitter to plug your phone into for less than $20. You pick a frequency that isn't used in your area and then tune your car stereo to it. I used one in my focus for a while and its quality was decent for a cheap OE setup.
 
You just need to fabricate a mounting bracket and wire harness, after you dig up the wiring pinouts for both vehicles.

Frankly I'd just get an aftermarket with an already made wiring harness adapter. If you don't like the way aftermarket systems look, you should look a little longer. There are plenty that look fine including some with the fancy touchscreens now.

Bluetooth would be the better way to go, why have a dangling wire and stress the phone headphone out jack if you don't have to?

The other decent option is not an FM transmitter that plugs into that fragile headphone jack but rather a bluetooth unit that plugs into your cigarette lighter outlet, bluetooth receives from the phone, and then FM transmits it. Some of those also have their own mSD card as a second function so you don't even need the phone involved, can just use the unit by itself for digital audio playback and save your phone battery or use it for something else alone like phone calls or GPS navigation, etc. However some of those cigarette lighter unit options include a mic and allow making hands free calls like the vehicle integrated systems MyFord Touch Sync etc do.
 
I agree with E150GT - The semantics of getting that thing to work right with a totally different harness could prove problematic. You may be better off going with an inexpensive, simple aftermarket product, even though you're not a fan of the way they look.

I put something similar to this one in my mom's car a couple years back, and she totally loves it. The one I put in her car has a CD player, but since the one you currently have in your truck right now is just AM, and you mentioned just needing to be able to connect your phone, I thought this digital-only one might work.

357qzch.jpg


BOSS Audio 820BRGB all-digital head unit. Bluetooth, MP3/USB/SD AM/FM - $50

Again, I know you're not a fan of aftermarket head units as a whole, but this one would have everything you need - aux line in and bluetooth - and even also has USB and SD card input.. and trust me on this - once you start using one of these two, you'll probably stop using your phone. I have a 16GB flash drive connected in my car, and I virtually never play music through my phone, or via the CD player any more.
 
Go over to Crutchfield.com

Search for double DIN radios that are confirmed fit for your truck. Yes it will be more expensive than pulling a used radio unit - but the people at Crutchfield really, really know their stuff. They will supply the appropriate electrical connectors so you won't find your truck melted on the driveway because some wire was crimped incorrectly.

I've used Crutchfield for years, they have excellent tech support to sort out the DIY install snafu's.

Did I mention Crutchfield?
 
The amplifier might be stronger or weaker, you should find out before attempting this.

Otherwise, you are going to have to create a custom harness using diagrams from both vehicles, but the only problem you could run into is anti theft protection. I am not sure what they would charge you at the yard for that, but make sure you can return it if you run into some mishap.

At the yard I used to go to they would pull the more desirable factory stereos but leave the bad or common ones in some cars. I would not pay very much for a factory head unit that survived them picking the car over.
 
Yea, why? If the boneyard is full of Mopar radio's (which suck, and also largly rely on CANBUS signals), it should be overflowing with Ford radio's. Do as suggested, get the upgraded CD/Cassette from that generation (make sure the plugs match, the Ford's with JBL/Mach/Alpine speaker systems can be goofy) and use a cassette adapter.
 
Originally Posted By: SirTanon
and even also has USB and SD card input.. and trust me on this - once you start using one of these two, you'll probably stop using your phone. I have a 16GB flash drive connected in my car, and I virtually never play music through my phone, or via the CD player any more.


+ 1,000,000!!

CD's are going the way of the CRT tv's... (who whudda thunk it?)

Now....

Loading all your favorite music on a flash drive
and plugging it into the stereo is REALLY the "bee's knees"!!!
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: SirTanon
and even also has USB and SD card input.. and trust me on this - once you start using one of these two, you'll probably stop using your phone. I have a 16GB flash drive connected in my car, and I virtually never play music through my phone, or via the CD player any more.


+ 1,000,000!!

CD's are going the way of the CRT tv's... (who whudda thunk it?)

Now....

Loading all your favorite music on a flash drive
and plugging it into the stereo is REALLY the "bee's knees"!!!


What's funny is - when people told me that I should just go with USB and forget about my CD player, I resisted. I kept saying - I like my CD's and I find it convenient to keep a CD book full of them in my car to switch out. I held off on going down that path for a while. Then one day I had an extra 8GB flash sitting around and loaded it up.

Well, it didn't take long. Suddenly I realized they were right. That's when I went and bought a compact 16GB drive and spent a few hours picking out which of my albums, etc.. would go on it. I pretty much just keep it on shuffle and in the car at all times. I've only taken it out twice, to remove a few albums and one off songs that didn't fit the mix, and to add a few new albums that I had purchased.

Now.. having said that, I would not want to go without the CD player option as well, at least not in this car. The head-unit that came stock in it has MP3-CD capability, so a single CD can still be loaded up with about 5-7 albums worth of music. Every so often, I want to play some specific album(s) straight through, or load in a few new albums that I've purchased, but don't want to interrupt the existing USB playlist. When that happens, I pull out one of my (~500 or so) blank CDs and load it up with my specific music and bring it with. When I'm doing playing it, I switch back to my USB and I'm back in the mix.

Bottom line: At this point, there's no way I'd want to be without my USB option. A good quality all-digital unit would still work for me, since I'd be able to load up a temporary SD card instead of using a CD.
 
The swap is very do-able, and that is a double-din chassis. the mount is a little different between the two and would probably require some tinkering.

having done a few radio installs, that chrysler head unit is one of the last that doesn't play with the CAN bus, meaning it is a simple 4-speaker, ground, batt power, ign power, unit; so... 11 wires to work. And they have an excellent sound quality. if you find the pin-outs online and cut the factory wiring harness so you have leads, it should work just fine.

Be careful- some of those models come in a slighltly wider face than the standard 2-DIN. Example includes like the 2002 T&C.

-m
 
Originally Posted By: 14Accent
Yea, why? If the boneyard is full of Mopar radio's (which suck, and also largly rely on CANBUS signals), it should be overflowing with Ford radio's. Do as suggested, get the upgraded CD/Cassette from that generation (make sure the plugs match, the Ford's with JBL/Mach/Alpine speaker systems can be goofy) and use a cassette adapter.

I would see if the junkyard has a wrecked Crown Vic/Grand Monkey/Town Car, SN95 Mustang or Explorer/Expedition/Navigator that used the mid-level sound system. If it doesn't use an external amp, it will be a plug and play swap.

My parents had an old Nissan Quest that used a Ford "premium" sound system with an external amp - it didn't use the DIN keys to remove the radio but the shape and buttons/display was like any other Ford radio.

IF you really wanted to, I would wager the navigation radio from an Escape Hybrid can fit - you'll gain Bluetooth, navigation and Sync.
 
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When removing the junkyard stereo, cut the wiring plug off, leaving about 6 inches of wire attached. Then buy one of those adaptor harnesses for your truck (the one you'd typically buy to install an aftermarket stereo). Get a wiring diagram/pinout for the Chrysler connector and splice the wires to the adaptor harness. Plug it into the truck's factory wiring plug and you're done.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
And, to be honest, I hate aftermarket radios and the waay they look.



OEM radios for heavy-duty trucks occasionally turn up for a good price on Ebay.

(1)They don't look like aftermarket radios
(2)Many have features like bluetooth, USB, mp3, sat radio
(3)Pretty much all of them use an ISO connector for the power/speakers. This is a standardized radio connector. Can get an ISO connector set on Ebay for $5 or so. European makes like VW / Mercedes are the most prominent users of the ISO connector, but Ford, GM, Kia, and Hyundai have also used it.
(4)Pretty much all of them are single-DIN radios with a DIN sleeve, so mounting them is not a problem.
(5)They don't require a CAN bus connection to work.

This is what an ISO connector looks like: from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectors_for_car_audio


 
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