Radio accessories

[Matt Todd]

This is totally a rookie question I’m sure but I don’t believe I have EVER bought an aftermarket radio. So I’m looking at aftermarket double din radios for my 09 1509 and it’s not just the radio cost it seems, they want me to by additional stuff like modules, antennas, harnesses and whatnot to retain factory functions, steering wheel controls, etc...first of all I don’t have steering wheel controls right now, secondly are those additional things really necessary or are they just trying to sell more items? Doesn’t the radio already come with the appropriate things to hook right up to the truck out of the box?

PS I’m shopping at both Best Buy and crutchfield and both places require those additional things.

 

[Matt Todd]

Here’s another list of things they want me to buy

 

[joshuaeb09]

No aftermarket radio comes with the required connections as all major OE's are different and have different systems. They will come with their wiring harness and on something old enough you can do a little cut and splice if you're lucky enough to have standard din mounting, no CAN integration, and a generic Motorola antenna plug. Just about everything will require an adapter harness, antenna adapter and dash trim minimum. Crutchfield is pretty good about picking the right harness setup so it's a matter of what features your truck has factory and if you wish to retain them.

Consider yourself lucky you don't have one of the newer trucks and want to retain your 8" evic. The iDatalink meastro makes that a much more expensive operation.

 

[Matt Todd]

Thanks for the feedback

 

[joshuaeb09]

Just reread your OP. Since you do not have steering wheel controls the package on the right from Crutchfield has everything you need. Honestly not a bad price for the truck side harness/CAN box, the antenna adapter, and the trim bits.

If you're not comfortable with doing the wiring it's also worth paying crutchfield the extra $25 to assemble the harnesses. A buddy of mine did that since I was going to charge him liquor for my time/parts(I'm not a cheap date if I'm doing "free" work) and the quality of the harness wasn't half bad at all. In his case made it pretty plug and play other than finding a location for his GPS antenna and BT mic.

 

[Matt Todd]

Just reread your OP. Since you do not have steering wheel controls the package on the right from Crutchfield has everything you need. Honestly not a bad price for the truck side harness/CAN box, the antenna adapter, and the trim bits.

If you're not comfortable with doing the wiring it's also worth paying crutchfield the extra $25 to assemble the harnesses. A buddy of mine did that since I was going to charge him liquor for my time/parts(I'm not a cheap date if I'm doing "free" work) and the quality of the harness wasn't half bad at all. In his case made it pretty plug and play other than finding a location for his GPS antenna and BT mic.

Yeah I just noticed that 25$ add on for them to assemble the wires...I guess that makes it pretty much plug and play. I would say that’s worth it for me since I’m not a total expert at this thing.