How To Add Heated/Ventelated seats and Heated Wheel to Express/Tradesman

[mjf6175]

I have a Tradesman because I bought a single cab truck. FCA doesn't offer higher trim levels on single cab trucks.
Want heated seats? Navigation? Leather seats? - buy a 4 door.

Some of those items could be ordered as factory installed options (I assume) but the dealers were offering $10k off MSRP (I got $12,500 off MSRP when I bought mine) and it would be stupid to order from the factory, wait for ages and pay full price.

I bought a single cab, 3500 4x4 Cummins with snowplow package, power windows, bedliner, 5th wheel prep, running boards and a bunch of other options for $41,500. It would have been stupid to do it any other way.

Slight correction....you could get one higher trim level above Tradesman in a single cab HD which was SLT in 2017. But everything else you mention is so true, very limited options available.

 

[twizt3dkitty]

The real questions are for the elitists (I guess like myself) that already have a sport but want Laramie options about how difficult it becomes to add them. I'm pondering rear heated seats, already have front but not cooled factory. But I have a buzz color, so I would lose the colored stitching to get the option without a real lot of work. However I dont think there was an option of getting rear heated or vented fronts on the buzz color sports. Could be wrong, but theres a few things I'd like to add to my truck. The list is small, but beggars cant be choosers when it comes to finding the limited edition trucks like I wanted. I'm not a fan of chrome... so alot of the Laramie and limited trims had options i didnt want.

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[PNW-Ram]

Slight correction....you could get one higher trim level above Tradesman in a single cab HD which was SLT in 2017. But everything else you mention is so true, very limited options available.

It's possible that my '17 is an SLT. I didn't care enough to remember, because it had most of the things I wanted.

When I was searching the western states for a truck, even the huge dealerships didn't have many single cabs. The big one in Idaho had 750 2500/3500s on the lot, and 500 of them were 4x4 with a Cummins. None of them had two doors. I found 4 in Oregon and Washington, and bought the one from the most honest dealer I could find.

It's a great truck, but I might put in heated leather some day.

 

[mjf6175]

It's possible that my '17 is an SLT. I didn't care enough to remember, because it had most of the things I wanted.

When I was searching the western states for a truck, even the huge dealerships didn't have many single cabs. The big one in Idaho had 750 2500/3500s on the lot, and 500 of them were 4x4 with a Cummins. None of them had two doors. I found 4 in Oregon and Washington, and bought the one from the most honest dealer I could find.

It's a great truck, but I might put in heated leather some day.

Same experience. So that is why I custom ordered my Ram RC. After getting it I did a ton of modifications and made it the way I would have ordered it from the factory if they allowed all the options I wanted.

 

[Toddbigboytruck]

I have a Tradesman because I bought a single cab truck. FCA doesn't offer higher trim levels on single cab trucks.
Want heated seats? Navigation? Leather seats? - buy a 4 door.

Some of those items could be ordered as factory installed options (I assume) but the dealers were offering $10k off MSRP (I got $12,500 off MSRP when I bought mine) and it would be stupid to order from the factory, wait for ages and pay full price.

I bought a single cab, 3500 4x4 Cummins with snowplow package, power windows, bedliner, 5th wheel prep, running boards and a bunch of other options for $41,500. It would have been stupid to do it any other way.

I can kind of understand however all the work you do would not be covered on any warranty and is I was to do that kind of work I wouldn’t not be able to write off that on my income tax.
I was able to get my Laramie that has all the bells at a great price

 

[GeorgeC]

Thanks!

it did come with a 8.4 radio, not sure UAS or UAQ

There’re 2 connectors under driver side seat, but the grey one connects nothing. Yellow one connect to motors; a yellow connector under passenger side, only 2 wires, route to back but I think it to safe socket.

shall I go with some programmer like alfaobd or something to make changes?
Like activate ATC?

 

[DeereGuy]

Thanks!

it did come with a 8.4 radio, not sure UAS or UAQ

There’re 2 connectors under driver side seat, but the grey one connects nothing. Yellow one connect to motors; a yellow connector under passenger side, only 2 wires, route to back but I think it to safe socket.

shall I go with some programmer like alfaobd or something to make changes?
Like activate ATC?

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View attachment 181107

View attachment 181108

Ah Finally someone with a 19 HD. . No one has attempted a seat swap in a 5th gen that I’m aware of. I’ve been looking at the wiring diagrams for the 19 HDs lately and they have changed some of the wiring including that grey connector that you sent the picture of. Most of the remainder of the wiring seems to be the same as the 4th gens. I’m trying to source that connector to be able to offer 5th gen harnesses. There is also significant differences between the seat wiring of 1500 and HDs at the 5th gen level.


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[Ricks Ram]

I can kind of understand however all the work you do would not be covered on any warranty and is I was to do that kind of work I wouldn’t not be able to write off that on my income tax.
I was able to get my Laramie that has all the bells at a great price

Different people have different reasons. I wanted a particular type of truck for reasons I won't fully get into but one of them was I wanted the 44-45 transfer case and it wasn't available on the higher trim level trucks in 14 when I bought my Express. I have added pretty much every option I could ever want to my truck except park assist because I don't care enough about it to add it. I have all the bells and whistles and more and I haven't spent nearly as much as you might think I have and I have an excellent understanding of my truck and how it works because I installed it. I have met people along the way on this forum who I now consider friends and we actually talk often and enjoy figuring things out and sharing our ideas. When I think of my truck I don't say hey I'm not going to do that because it's not a deduction on my taxes. It's my personal truck and I like customizing it just the way I like it. It is pretty much a one of a kind That's just my two cents. I don't care what anyone decides to do to their truck or what truck they buy. Everyone has their own reasons.

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[big daddys house]

Different people have different reasons. I wanted a particular type of truck for reasons I won't fully get into but one of them was I wanted the 44-45 transfer case and it wasn't available on the higher trim level trucks in 14 when I bought my Express. I have added pretty much every option I could ever want to my truck except park assist because I don't care enough about it to add it. I have all the bells and whistles and more and I haven't spent nearly as much as you might think I have and I have an excellent understanding of my truck and how it works because I installed it. I have met people along the way on this forum who I now consider friends and we actually talk often and enjoy figuring things out and sharing our ideas. When I think of my truck I don't say hey I'm not going to do that because it's not a deduction on my taxes. It's my personal truck and I like customizing it just the way I like it. It is pretty much a one of a kind That's just my two cents. I don't care what anyone decides to to to their truck or what truck they buy. Everyone has their own reasons.

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I second this! [emoji6]

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[Nick45l]

Ah Finally someone with a 19 HD. . No one has attempted a seat swap in a 5th gen that I’m aware of. I’ve been looking at the wiring diagrams for the 19 HDs lately and they have changed some of the wiring including that grey connector that you sent the picture of. Most of the remainder of the wiring seems to be the same as the 4th gens. I’m trying to source that connector to be able to offer 5th gen harnesses. There is also significant differences between the seat wiring of 1500 and HDs at the 5th gen level.


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Nice to see I’m not the only one working on a solve for the 5th gen! I have a 19 2500 tradesman, and I just bought a full set of sport leather seats to put in. I was lucky to have received the truck side pigtail still connected to the seat plug (cut). I verified that getting the power functions to work requires only the red power wire and black ground wires to be connected, but the rest of the wiring looks like a headache. As you mentioned, the plugs are very different between the tradesman and the sport/Laramie trim. Let me know if you have any thoughts on getting this to work like factory. Until I am able to get a factory harness, I will probably re-pin the Laramie harness with the wires from the tradesman pigtail.

 

[Nick45l]

Thanks!

it did come with a 8.4 radio, not sure UAS or UAQ

There’re 2 connectors under driver side seat, but the grey one connects nothing. Yellow one connect to motors; a yellow connector under passenger side, only 2 wires, route to back but I think it to safe socket.

shall I go with some programmer like alfaobd or something to make changes?
Like activate ATC?

View attachment 181106

View attachment 181107

View attachment 181108

Your connector looks the same as mine in my tradesman, which is different from the Laramie seats I have sitting in my garage

 

[DeereGuy]

Nice to see I’m not the only one working on a solve for the 5th gen! I have a 19 2500 tradesman, and I just bought a full set of sport leather seats to put in. I was lucky to have received the truck side pigtail still connected to the seat plug (cut). I verified that getting the power functions to work requires only the red power wire and black ground wires to be connected, but the rest of the wiring looks like a headache. As you mentioned, the plugs are very different between the tradesman and the sport/Laramie trim. Let me know if you have any thoughts on getting this to work like factory. Until I am able to get a factory harness, I will probably re-pin the Laramie harness with the wires from the tradesman pigtail.

So the laramie seats that you have are out of a 19 1500 and your truck is the 2500. I don't think you will be able to replace the harness. They seem to be wired completely differently between the models now. I haven't had a chance to really dig into the wiring differences or module information to see if the seats can be switched between the models.

 

[Nick45l]

So the laramie seats that you have are out of a 19 1500 and your truck is the 2500. I don't think you will be able to replace the harness. They seem to be wired completely differently between the models now. I haven't had a chance to really dig into the wiring differences or module information to see if the seats can be switched between the models.

Well, I may have to visit my dealer and take a peek under the seats of the 1500’s and 2500’s to see what the differences are... I’m pretty happy just having power seats, the heater/ventilation isn’t a huge deal right now. Might change my mind when it gets cold though. I’ll have to see if the wires appear to at least be color coded the same for the seat airbags in the meantime. This is the current plug I have vs the one on the new seats. If you have any future interest, I’d be happy to put our heads together to work out a solution. As an aside, what source do you use for the wiring diagrams on the 19’s, as I seem to be having difficulty locating one.

 

[DeereGuy]

Here are the pinouts for the different models. The seat modules are also different part numbers between 1500 and the HDs.

 

[Nick45l]

Here are the pinouts for the different models. The seat modules are also different part numbers between 1500 and the HDs.

Thank you for that, I’ll take a look at it and let you know what I come up with.

 

[GeorgeC]

Interesting!

Don't understand they change the wires for same functions seat. Make it harder for us

Well, I may have to visit my dealer and take a peek under the seats of the 1500’s and 2500’s to see what the differences are... I’m pretty happy just having power seats, the heater/ventilation isn’t a huge deal right now. Might change my mind when it gets cold though. I’ll have to see if the wires appear to at least be color coded the same for the seat airbags in the meantime. This is the current plug I have vs the one on the new seats. If you have any future interest, I’d be happy to put our heads together to work out a solution. As an aside, what source do you use for the wiring diagrams on the 19’s, as I seem to be having difficulty locating one.

 

[PNW-Ram]

I can kind of understand however all the work you do would not be covered on any warranty and is I was to do that kind of work I wouldn’t not be able to write off that on my income tax.
I was able to get my Laramie that has all the bells at a great price

It's great that you were able to buy a single cab 3500 Laramie. Those aren't available where i live.

 

[Nick45l]

Interesting!

Don't understand they change the wires for same functions seat. Make it harder for us

Well, I found out why the wiring is different. It seems that the entire seat is different including the wiring and the mounting locations between the 1500 and the HD trucks. When I looked closer, the 1500’s actually have a slightly larger cab and different body lines - the HD’s have the cab size and body lines of the 10-18 trucks. That being said, I have a complete set of bucket seats and rear seats from a 1500 sport that I don’t have a use for anymore . Lessons learned I guess. I’m sure it could be done with some seat bracket fabrication, but that’s more than I want to tackle right now.

 

[Ricks Ram]

Well, I found out why the wiring is different. It seems that the entire seat is different including the wiring and the mounting locations between the 1500 and the HD trucks. When I looked closer, the 1500’s actually have a slightly larger cab and different body lines - the HD’s have the cab size and body lines of the 10-18 trucks. That being said, I have a complete set of bucket seats and rear seats from a 1500 sport that I don’t have a use for anymore . Lessons learned I guess. I’m sure it could be done with some seat bracket fabrication, but that’s more than I want to tackle right now.

That sucks! Unfortunately it's's all part of the learning process. We went through similar issues with the 4th gen trucks before we got it all figured out. The wiring was a little different in the trucks themselves but the seats and the seat harnesses were the same. Hopefully you got a good deal on them and are able to recoup your money and get the correct ones for your truck. I feel if the alfa developer adds the 5th gen trucks to the tool so the correct codes can be enabled that this upgrade will be very doable. Good luck and keep us posted.

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[Canadian Mopar]

Well, I found out why the wiring is different. It seems that the entire seat is different including the wiring and the mounting locations between the 1500 and the HD trucks. When I looked closer, the 1500’s actually have a slightly larger cab and different body lines - the HD’s have the cab size and body lines of the 10-18 trucks. That being said, I have a complete set of bucket seats and rear seats from a 1500 sport that I don’t have a use for anymore . Lessons learned I guess. I’m sure it could be done with some seat bracket fabrication, but that’s more than I want to tackle right now.

Yes, not sure why people are calling the 19 HDs "5th gens", they're a heavily refreshed 4th gen and still use model codes "DJ" (2500) and "D2" (3500). Like in 06-07 with the 3rd gens. Same cab, box, etc as 09-18 trucks (DS - 1500's, DJ - 2500's, & D2 -3500's). So I'm thinking (hoping) most of the interior should be able to be swapped into the older trucks and vice versa.
The true 5th gen HDs are a few years out with the same box and cab as the 19+ 1500 "DT" trucks.