How To: Install a 2018 4C (UAQ/UAS) Radio in 2013 - 2017 RAM

[Jim BB]

Short answer, No. You would need to replace the entire radio with the NAV version, it's not "upgradable". Better off using the nav on your phone with carplay/AA anyway.

.

mtnrider Thank you thats what i thought it sucks but is what it is

 

[Ryanh19]

My UAQ has been giving me issues with the climate control even after upgrading to ATC. I cannot set a temperature without the slider jumping to either "HI" or "LO". Anybody have any suggestions?

Climate Control Issues With UAQ

Hello, I seem to be having trouble with my climate controls after upgrading to a UAQ in my 2013 1500. When adjusting the temperature, the radio does not accurately display what is coming from the vents. For example, it will show full hot, but cool air will still be coming out of the vents. I...

www.ramforum.com

 

[HighShyGuy]

First of all, a big thank you to @Mpgrimm2
I couldn't up done this without his help, harnesses, phone call, and emails.

I have a 2018 2500 Tradesman, 6.7L
I love the power for pulling our trailer (8k 32ft) but it is boring inside compared to our nice loaded 4Runner...

With Mike's help and harnesses I was able to install -
A new (eBay find) Ram 8.4 1500 68331631AM Radio
ATC Bezel (from the below 2017, 1500 donor), 7 Spd fan mod, and Single zone ATC mod.
I did have Mike add the dual-zone option as that will be done when it's nicer out.
I opted to use the dual zone bezel as that's what I'll end up with eventually.

At the same time, I swapped out the front and rear seats (and jump seat) for a complete set from a 2017 1500 sport, leather heated/cooled etc.
Also, the center console, which I used Mike's harness and a USB hub from a compass.

I attempted to take my 2018 jumpseat harness and swap it into the 2017 center console, but that was a no-go.
The 2017 center console harness (assuming center consoles in general) had a junction in the rear so I couldn't use my 2018 jumpseat harness with my 2017 console.
Mike's conversion harness was the answer.

It's so nice having comfy seats, AUTO HVAC, and Android Auto.

 

[HighShyGuy]

My UAQ has been giving me issues with the climate control even after upgrading to ATC. I cannot set a temperature without the slider jumping to either "HI" or "LO". Anybody have any suggestions?

Climate Control Issues With UAQ

Hello, I seem to be having trouble with my climate controls after upgrading to a UAQ in my 2013 1500. When adjusting the temperature, the radio does not accurately display what is coming from the vents. For example, it will show full hot, but cool air will still be coming out of the vents. I...

www.ramforum.com

Mine originally did this, You may need to re-set Alfa to Single Zone.
Or you may need to set it back to manual and start over.

I was able to re- re-set mine to Single zone ATC in Alfa and it took.

 

[Jsne0244]

How do I do the update on an upgraded (newer head unit) I have the unlock code but not the vin number it’s registered to?

Thanks in advance for your time and assistance.

Jayson

 

[BMagik426]

Hello everyone,

I want to start off by saying this forum is very informative (maybe a little too much). Can anyone 3d print a "faceplate" for the compass USB hub? The gap on the sides is visually unappealing to me lol. I'll pay for it. I'm not sure if one has already been posted in the 369 pages, so please direct me in that way.

 

[NYMustang50]

Morning All,
I purchased the 68461699AC and installed it in my 2017 Ram 2500 that had the 8.4 with NAV previously. I installed it back in June and its worked great, Android auto and all. But with it getting colder now I'm noticing 1 issue.
Its not showing that my heated steering wheel is on. It only shows the front seats (drive and passenger) anyone else experience this issue? The heated steering wheel works and I can turn it on and off from the controls menu but the symbol that is usually up on the top right of the display is not coming up. Any ideas why or how to fix?
Also I noticed the backup camera image is a bit darker than when it was connected to the previous radio. Any ideas if that's just the new radio causing that?

 

[mtnrider]

Morning All,
I purchased the 68461699AC and installed it in my 2017 Ram 2500 that had the 8.4 with NAV previously. I installed it back in June and its worked great, Android auto and all. But with it getting colder now I'm noticing 1 issue.
Its not showing that my heated steering wheel is on. It only shows the front seats (drive and passenger) anyone else experience this issue? The heated steering wheel works and I can turn it on and off from the controls menu but the symbol that is usually up on the top right of the display is not coming up. Any ideas why or how to fix?
Also I noticed the backup camera image is a bit darker than when it was connected to the previous radio. Any ideas if that's just the new radio causing that?

I'll check on that status icon when I get off work and let you know (2016 2500). The dark backup camera is a known issue, if you read back through this thread you will see several posts on it. You can try a "new" tailgate camera but given the price and availability right now I have just been living with the darker camera.

.

 

[18harvest]

Jayson,the latest update is 39.6 you're on 39.5.if you aren't having any issues I would leave it.no vin needed for update but there is always a risk when updating.bricking not to common but can happen.but mostly loss of some apps.39.5 seems to be a pretty decent application.

 

[mtnrider]

Morning All,
I purchased the 68461699AC and installed it in my 2017 Ram 2500 that had the 8.4 with NAV previously. I installed it back in June and its worked great, Android auto and all. But with it getting colder now I'm noticing 1 issue.
Its not showing that my heated steering wheel is on. It only shows the front seats (drive and passenger) anyone else experience this issue? The heated steering wheel works and I can turn it on and off from the controls menu but the symbol that is usually up on the top right of the display is not coming up. Any ideas why or how to fix?
Also I noticed the backup camera image is a bit darker than when it was connected to the previous radio. Any ideas if that's just the new radio causing that?

Just to follow up, I do have the steering wheel heat "on" icon.

.

 

[COtto1984]

This will be somewhat long-winded, but I wanted to post an update on my installation on my 2015 Ram 3500 with hopes of this helping someone else or even getting some feedback for my own situation. My truck had VP4 nav radio with factory cargo camera along with reverse camera in mirror.

I ordered UAQ 4c Nav P/N 68461699Ax (for 2020 1500 Classic) radio, reverse camera re-route, the Chrysler 200 hub, hub conversion harness, Customtronix Enzo & Carlinkit Wireless CarPlay Adapter. (Note I previously had Customtronix jailbreak with harness on my VP4 for extra video inputs and other features so I was trying to keep as much of that functionality as possible.)

I first installed camera re-route and new radio to ensure I had all of that working. It took a few hours for the radio to "pickup" settings from truck. Until that happened, I had no audio and functionality was very limited. Once radio picked up settings and was mostly working, I checked heated seat buttons in radio. No dice on those including heated seats, heated steering wheel or vented seats. All buttons were greyed out. As I knew this was very much a real possibility, I proceeded with Customtronix Enzo installation which is supposed to help solve that issue.

Installation of the Enzo was fairly straightforward. I had it up and working fairly quickly. Not only that, my heated seats, steering wheel and vented seat buttons appeared to be working (more on that later). I should add that Customtronix would initially not even sale me the Enzo due to configuration of my truck. They said it 100% not compatible if you have reverse camera in mirror. I argued that I was installing reverse camera reroute and retrofitting with Panasonic UAQ radio. They still were persistant that it would not work due to signals from BCM / truck to the radio. So then it dawned on me to ask them what would happen if I turned off cargo cam via AlfaOBD (logic here is truck would then think the reverse camera is in the radio). They agreed that should work so we proceeded forward and they accepted my order.

I decided to install Enzo without first making any changes to BCM and I'm happy to report that all is working, including the additional video inputs Enzo provides (I reported this feedback to Customtronix and they think it works because of the UAQ retrofit). I have a front camera installed along with two additional video inputs I can make use of. I have used a Firestick or AppleTV on one of the additional inputs previously. I will add that the Enzo did not play nice with my existing HDMI to composite video converter, so I ordered the video converter Customtronix offers which should be delivered any day.

Up to this point, I have everything installed except the new Customtronix video converter and Chrysler 200 hub, which has been on backorder for many months. I was originally told it would be delivered by mid-August. Now they are estimating mid-December at best. I wanted the Chrysler hub so minimal modifications would have to be made to my center console. In the mean-time I ordered a cheap non-genuine Compass hub on eBay for $25. This thing damn near appears to be OEM. In fact, the part number is scratched off the plastic making me think it came from the OEM production line, but couldn't be sold that way (I really don't know). Anyways, got it installed and everything appears to be working including CarPlay. So until I find a Chrysler 200 hub, I've just got the hub conversion harness, Compass hub and wireless CarPlay adapter laying in my center console tray. Now onto issues that have risen...

My Panasonic radio came with firmware 34.5.0. I found via another forum here that 39.6 was the latest version and proceeded to "upgrade". Have no idea if it is related, but I have lost heated seats, steering wheel and vented seat buttons functionality. I know they were working at one point with 34.5 firmware, but can't confirm if that is what broke them. These buttons are fairly important to me as I don't have hard buttons since I have the auxiliary switch panel. Thus I have reached out to Customtronix for support (I have a fairly long history in dealing with these guys so they have allowed me test some of their products in the past and have provided excellent support). Without saying too much, they are sending me a different harness to try for testing purposes that will temporarily replace the Enzo. If my buttons come back, we can turn our focus to the Enzo to further troubleshoot. I should be receiving the harness Customtronix wants me to try later today.

I've also lost connection to CarPlay once thus far since I finished new hub installation about 24 hour ago, but I hoping that was just a rare anomaly related to the wireless adapter.

While I still don't have 100% functionality, but want to give a special thanks to everyone that has contributed to this thread with special thanks to @Mpgrimm2 for talking me through and making sense of most of it. Hopefully remaining issues (soft buttons) can be resolved soon.

Long overdue, but wanted to share update to my previous post. The Customtronix HDMI to composite video converter is installed and works perfect. Secondly, Customtronix worked with me on the heated seats, steering wheel and vented seat buttons. They put me in touch with one of their software engineers and I made a custom harness to monitor the CANBUS for them. They were able to utilize the CANBUS log to figure out a solution and wrote me a custom firmware for the Enzo. Being that my truck is tuned, not sure if that was part of the issue, but Customtronix figured it out none-the-less!

 

[NYMustang50]

Just to follow up, I do have the steering wheel heat "on" icon.

.

Really.. Hmm anyone have any ideas on how I can get it to work/show on mine?

 

[John Wauters]

Where can I get a media center adapter cable?

 

[18harvest]

m2 mods in the vendor forum if you're talking about the media hub adaptor harness

 

[Mpgrimm2]

Message sent

 

[Ryanh19]

Mine originally did this, You may need to re-set Alfa to Single Zone.
Or you may need to set it back to manual and start over.

I was able to re- re-set mine to Single zone ATC in Alfa and it took.

Thanks I was able to set successfully to ATC after swapping back in my old radio first. I’m running into an issue now with not being able to change the units on the radio itself. I have the menu option to select US units but the selection doesn’t stay it just goes back to metric. If I do set it to metric, the temp sliders work correctly but when I try to set it to US, it no longer shows the temp on the radio.

Anybody know how to get it to stay on US units?

 

[crash]

RADIO: 68331631AH (UAQ) or 68331635AH (UAS)
MEDIA HUB: 68328704AC (RAM) or 5XG28DX9AC (Compass)
MEDIA HUB CONVERSION HARNESS

where is a good (safe) place to get one of the 2018 UAQ radios and required media hub? this is one of the last things (other than sub upgrade on the alpine system) that I wish to do to my 2015 Ram Longhorn. I'm in Canada so finding said parts are near impossible. thank you so much DeereGuy and all contributors for such a thourough post/thread.

 

[gingione juice]

For the 2018 model year RAMS, the 8.4 Radios were changed from the previous VP3/VP4 Harman radios to the 4C/4C-Nav radios made by Panasonic. The biggest advantage of these new 4C Radios is the support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The radios themselves fit the same mount as 2013-2017 RAMS and the radios require no special programming to work. They read the BCM of the truck just like the VP3s/VP4s. However there are some known issues and components that need to be changed to make it work 100%.

Thanks to MPGRIMM2, RICKS RAM, 00R/T, and STDECO for volunteering to test these radios in their trucks. As a result, we have had them working in a 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 trucks. We have tested seats, backup cameras, cargo cameras, android auto, apple car play, and most of the radio's standard functionality in these models.

View attachment 397333

There are two distinct versions of the radio. The 4C (Sales Code: UAS) and the 4C-Nav (Sales Code: UAQ). The only difference between the radios is that the UAS does not have built in navigation and the UAQ does. Both units support CarPlay and Android Auto. However, unlike the previous VP3 radios, Built in navigation cannot be purchased and added to the 4C radio.


Components Needed

RADIO: 68331631AH (UAQ) or 68331635AH (UAS)
MEDIA HUB: 68328704AC (RAM) or 5XG28DX9AC (Compass)
MEDIA HUB CONVERSION HARNESS

RADIO
It is important that you get a radio that has the correct mount as the mount is now forged as part of the radio housing. Even though a radio out of an 18 Charger/300/Durango/etc will technically function the same as the RAM radio, the mount will not fit the RAM. Can these radios be modified to fit in a RAM.. Maybe, but I wouldn't recommend it. I broke a screen trying to transplant a UAQ radio into an existing VP4 mount.

It is also important that you get a MY18 radio. All MY18 radio part numbers start with 683.... The RAM themes are only available on MY18 year radios and the firmware must be at least version 18. There is a round colored dot on the top of each radio that has a number in it that reflects the firmware version that the radio had on it when it shipped from the factory. Anything less than 18.7 may have functional problems. It is possible to upgrade radios with older versions of software (I have upgraded to 18.14 all the way from 15.5 on one radio) but I also had one fail the upgrade process. Be wary of "AA" revision radios as they are really a crapshoot of what you are actually going to get.

As of now the radio can be purchased brand new from FCA. The cost is around $1200 for the UAQ, and about $100 for the hub.

View attachment 397334

View attachment 397335

MEDIA HUB

The media hubs in pre 2018 RAMs will not work with the 2018 Radios. Unfortunately RAM changed the form factor of the media hub in the 2018 RAM Trucks. The 2018 hubs are oblong in shape compared to the square 2013 - 2017 hubs. The closest compatible hub that will fit the existing opening is the compass hub. It is not an exact fit, but it generally fits. Changing the hub in a center console truck is easier than changing it in a jumpseat equipped truck.

2018 RAM HUB

View attachment 397336

View attachment 397337


The connector on the rear of the media hub is also different, so a conversion harness will need to be built to adapt the current 6 pin connector to the 8 pin on the new hubs.

View attachment 397338

View attachment 397339


Jump Seat Insert Replacement
Trucks that have a jump seat can order part number 68376066AA which is the insert with the correct cutout for the 18 RAM USB Hub. The cost is around $95. MPGrimm2 has recorded several videos showing how to change the insert.

See his full post here: Jump Seat Insert Replacement.


Known Issues

Radio Soft Keys for the Heated/Vented Seats and Heated Wheel will not work on 2013 and 2014 trucks (They will be on the screen but will be grayed out).

Radio Soft Keys for the Heated/Vented Seats will be missing on trucks that added factory heated/vented seats.

Settings menu may not reflect correct setting options on 2013 trucks.

Backup Camera button may be missing on 2016 and 2017 trucks. (Camera will work when in reverse, button on radio is missing).

There is no way to factory reset a radio.

Hi Deereguy

For the 2018 model year RAMS, the 8.4 Radios were changed from the previous VP3/VP4 Harman radios to the 4C/4C-Nav radios made by Panasonic. The biggest advantage of these new 4C Radios is the support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The radios themselves fit the same mount as 2013-2017 RAMS and the radios require no special programming to work. They read the BCM of the truck just like the VP3s/VP4s. However there are some known issues and components that need to be changed to make it work 100%.

Thanks to MPGRIMM2, RICKS RAM, 00R/T, and STDECO for volunteering to test these radios in their trucks. As a result, we have had them working in a 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 trucks. We have tested seats, backup cameras, cargo cameras, android auto, apple car play, and most of the radio's standard functionality in these models.

View attachment 397333

There are two distinct versions of the radio. The 4C (Sales Code: UAS) and the 4C-Nav (Sales Code: UAQ). The only difference between the radios is that the UAS does not have built in navigation and the UAQ does. Both units support CarPlay and Android Auto. However, unlike the previous VP3 radios, Built in navigation cannot be purchased and added to the 4C radio.


Components Needed

RADIO: 68331631AH (UAQ) or 68331635AH (UAS)
MEDIA HUB: 68328704AC (RAM) or 5XG28DX9AC (Compass)
MEDIA HUB CONVERSION HARNESS

RADIO
It is important that you get a radio that has the correct mount as the mount is now forged as part of the radio housing. Even though a radio out of an 18 Charger/300/Durango/etc will technically function the same as the RAM radio, the mount will not fit the RAM. Can these radios be modified to fit in a RAM.. Maybe, but I wouldn't recommend it. I broke a screen trying to transplant a UAQ radio into an existing VP4 mount.

It is also important that you get a MY18 radio. All MY18 radio part numbers start with 683.... The RAM themes are only available on MY18 year radios and the firmware must be at least version 18. There is a round colored dot on the top of each radio that has a number in it that reflects the firmware version that the radio had on it when it shipped from the factory. Anything less than 18.7 may have functional problems. It is possible to upgrade radios with older versions of software (I have upgraded to 18.14 all the way from 15.5 on one radio) but I also had one fail the upgrade process. Be wary of "AA" revision radios as they are really a crapshoot of what you are actually going to get.

As of now the radio can be purchased brand new from FCA. The cost is around $1200 for the UAQ, and about $100 for the hub.

View attachment 397334

View attachment 397335

MEDIA HUB

The media hubs in pre 2018 RAMs will not work with the 2018 Radios. Unfortunately RAM changed the form factor of the media hub in the 2018 RAM Trucks. The 2018 hubs are oblong in shape compared to the square 2013 - 2017 hubs. The closest compatible hub that will fit the existing opening is the compass hub. It is not an exact fit, but it generally fits. Changing the hub in a center console truck is easier than changing it in a jumpseat equipped truck.

2018 RAM HUB

View attachment 397336

View attachment 397337


The connector on the rear of the media hub is also different, so a conversion harness will need to be built to adapt the current 6 pin connector to the 8 pin on the new hubs.

View attachment 397338

View attachment 397339


Jump Seat Insert Replacement
Trucks that have a jump seat can order part number 68376066AA which is the insert with the correct cutout for the 18 RAM USB Hub. The cost is around $95. MPGrimm2 has recorded several videos showing how to change the insert.

See his full post here: Jump Seat Insert Replacement.


Known Issues

Radio Soft Keys for the Heated/Vented Seats and Heated Wheel will not work on 2013 and 2014 trucks (They will be on the screen but will be grayed out).

Radio Soft Keys for the Heated/Vented Seats will be missing on trucks that added factory heated/vented seats.

Settings menu may not reflect correct setting options on 2013 trucks.

Backup Camera button may be missing on 2016 and 2017 trucks. (Camera will work when in reverse, button on radio is missing).

There is no way to factory reset a radio.

Hi DeereGuy, I'm new to the forum. My name is gingione juice, I just posted a question on the forum, would you be able to take a look and see if you could help me out please? I would greatly appreciate it, thanks in advance.

 

[crash]

where is a good (safe) place to get one of the 2018 UAQ radios and required media hub? this is one of the last things (other than sub upgrade on the alpine system) that I wish to do to my 2015 Ram Longhorn. I'm in Canada so finding said parts are near impossible. thank you so much DeereGuy and all contributors for such a thorough post/thread.

I have a line on a 68312543AD sounds like it may work for me?

 

[Mpgrimm2]

I have a line on a 68312543AD sounds like it may work for me?

Nope.. 2018 Harmon Ra4 VP4-NA Nav
No AA or CP