Wanting to throw the original radio back in my truck.

[Fireball5657]

The easiest way to hook up an aftermarket radio is to salvage the factory radio plug and a short length of each wire and solder those wires to the adapter for the new radio. Unfortunately there is a fairly high percentage of idiots in the world who will do it the other way and butcher the truck.

Its 60 / 40 in favor of it being done right but there are a lot of them done the wrong way. I vividly remember the install of a Kenwood into my old Dodge Van. First I had to chase down the MOPAR color codes which are a lot harder to find than GM ones. Then I had to solder the aftermarket adapter to the wires and as you might guess none of colors matched.

If you are unlucky and the truck has been butchered I suggest you salvage a factory harness plug at the junkyard and carefully solder and shrink wrap the harness back together and then the factory radio will plug right in. If anyone goes aftermarket later on the new radio's harness can be soldered onto a factory plug.

You should know that there are modern radios with phone/bluetooth that look exactly like the factory radio and fit the same spot in the dash. They are expensive but might be an easy solution. Goood luck and let us know how you come out.

Looked in the dash, and the factory plug was still there, just plugged into an extension, I’ve got everything sorted and plan to stop by the boneyard this week and try to find me a radio. Should be plug and play, as everything I need is still in the truck.

Also I’ve seen those newer radios, but something about them just doesn’t look right to me and I don’t want to buy something that I’m not gonna be happy with.

 

[Eveready]

There are services (again expensive) that will refurbish the factory radio. You stand a fair chance of the filter capacitors being weak in salvaged radios. Good luck finding one that sounds good. I'm not trying to put down your project as the ideal would be to have a great factory radio.

I admit I am partial to aftermarket because I think the Bluetooth hands free phone is a safety item that really modernizes the truck but they certainly don't look as nice.

Again every success and please report how it turns out.

 

[AK49BWL]

Hey also to anyone who knows, what size bulbs are in the stock radio buttons? I've converted my entire truck to LEDs and I can imagine that most of the bulbs in a stock radio will be burned out over the last 25+ years. I know the climate controls use T4 or T4.2 but I've never even seen a stock radio in person, let alone taken one apart.

Yet another thread of mine lol. 5mm 360 degree LEDs work, but due to the filter screens and other factors, blue doesn't really shine. White would probably be brightest. But I'm a blue freak so I made it work to the best of my abilities lol

https://www.gmt400.com/threads/blue-leds-in-a-94-stereo.49103/#post-1096165

Hope you're good at soldering...

 

[Fireball5657]

Yet another thread of mine lol. 5mm 360 degree LEDs work, but due to the filter screens and other factors, blue doesn't really shine. White would probably be brightest. But I'm a blue freak so I made it work to the best of my abilities lol

https://www.gmt400.com/threads/blue-leds-in-a-94-stereo.49103/#post-1096165

Hope you're good at soldering...

Damn that looks rough, I’ve done a bit of soldering over the years, but I’m by no means good at it. I wish it was half as easy as the climate control lights, those just twist out. Guess I better hope that all the lights work.

Also, you said that you had specific blue LEDs for the buttons, but if I just wanted the stock green color, could I use white bulbs or will I need green ones?

 

[AK49BWL]

White bulbs would be fine, and probably look a lot better. The filters in the display are green and you will still get a slight tint from that.

 

[Fireball5657]

White bulbs would be fine, and probably look a lot better. The filters in the display are green and you will still get a slight tint from that.

Well I hope I get a setup that still has the lights... Either that or I’m gonna have to get real good at soldering...

Thanks for all the help! Either today or tomorrow I’ll stop by the junkyard and try to find me a “new” radio!

 

[Ehall8702]

Basically title, I’m tired of cheap aftermarket radios that just don’t fit right or look good, the functionality is nice, but it just doesn’t match the rest of the interior and my truck is my daily driver so the small things bother me. Anyways, my truck is a 94 Sierra and it had the UX1 radio which is described as “RADIO,AM/FM STEREO, WEATHER, CASSETTE, EQUALIZER, ETR, INCLUDES CLOCK” Is this the one with the graphic equalizer? If it is, then could I buy an original radio on eBay and just hook it up? The wires on the stock radio should be the same color as the trucks harness, so it’s as easy as connecting red to red or blue to blue etc, right? Any help is appreciated!

U might be in for sum fun depending how the aftermarket radio was put in. They make harness adapters but most ppl just cut the wires going to the factory amp and splice in to em, most ppl toss the factory amp plug also...I cut harness but leave enuff to reuse and plug factory plug back into the amp so it don't get lost. I'd suggest inspecting how the previous install was done before you buy anything or u may be buying a radio u can't use and then needing to spend money or find harness or even factory amp.

 

[Taconic]

Basically title, I’m tired of cheap aftermarket radios that just don’t fit right or look good, the functionality is nice, but it just doesn’t match the rest of the interior and my truck is my daily driver so the small things bother me. Anyways, my truck is a 94 Sierra and it had the UX1 radio which is described as “RADIO,AM/FM STEREO, WEATHER, CASSETTE, EQUALIZER, ETR, INCLUDES CLOCK” Is this the one with the graphic equalizer? If it is, then could I buy an original radio on eBay and just hook it up? The wires on the stock radio should be the same color as the trucks harness, so it’s as easy as connecting red to red or blue to blue etc, right? Any help is appreciated!

I bought a newer Delco CDM for my 1988 truck on ebay for $110 from username thedealman13. Hooked up to all of the original connectors. Also replaced the dash speakers with Infinity Kappas and connected my Sirius radio. Very pleased with sound and the installation.

 

[Ehall8702]

Huh, TIL.

Weird how they changed the brain over the years.

A bit off topic, but how hard would it be to hook my subwoofers up to the stock radio? They were in the truck when I got it and while I'm no basshead, I do like the extra kick and would like to keep the subs around. It has its own amp under the front seat and the subs are under the rear seats. As far as I can tell, the amp is connected to the battery directly and the amp seems to only control the subs, the 4 factory speakers still run to the radio.

And final question, will the wiring be as simple as matching the colors and combining since it's the stock radio for the truck, or is there going to be more to it?

Again, thanks for the help

If u add a line output converter and tap into rear speakers lines a factory radio can send signal to an amp...as for controlling sub level, ur not gonna with factory unit besides just bass setting. If your amp has a bass knob ur all good, if not u can get a LOC with a bass knob or put a LC1 between loc and amp, that is the cheapest way to go. Any audio questions or need wiring diagrams , feel free to pm me, a mecp certified installer with over 25 years experience and literally 1000s of installs worth of experience.

 

[Erin]

If you're gonna spend the money, you ought to get one that is retrofitted with Bluetooth and an Aux input jack lol.

I read somewhere the Bluetooth addition only works for playing music from the phone, not for making or answering calls. Is that so? I have an aftermarket unit but my stock radio is still in the truck, and I have the CDM stored away. I’m considering going back to the stock radio myself.