Cory D
Junior Member
Hey there!!
So, I'm fixing up my sister-in-law's 2011 Ram 1500 Laramie 'Big Horn' 5.7 which had a few issues... most have been straightened out, but the stock radio problem has been bugging me.
It has an 'RES' head unit (WITH Sirius sat and the Alpine upgrade with extra speakers and rear under-seat sub-woofer) and it kinda/sorta works, except the digital display on the head unit is most often very faint, if not completely black.
You have to rely on the current radio station display in the infotainment display in the instrument cluster if you want to see what station you're listening to, which isn't exactly a selling point for potential buyers. At first I thought I'd just find a direct replacement RES for cheap and call it a day, but they're not exactly plentiful in my area, and they fetch around $150 for a used one in 'okay' condition.
So I'm thinking, maybe it's worth it to spend a few more $ to purchase a used Nav head unit that was offered as an upgrade, but I'm not quite sure which one will work, if anything?
The stock RES head unit in there now has the standard 'wide' connector in the rear, as well as 2 antenna hook ups: one for the radio, and one for the sirius sat. A quick search on ebay seems to show that some stock Ram nav head units have similar connections (eg: REN), but others often have extra plugs that I have no idea what they're for, or how crucial they are.. (Some RHR, for example)
In short, is there a head unit with the Nav upgrade that will be plug and play(more or less) with the current RES w/Sat, or should I just resign myself to replacing it with an overpriced (imo) beat up used unit?
So, I'm fixing up my sister-in-law's 2011 Ram 1500 Laramie 'Big Horn' 5.7 which had a few issues... most have been straightened out, but the stock radio problem has been bugging me.
It has an 'RES' head unit (WITH Sirius sat and the Alpine upgrade with extra speakers and rear under-seat sub-woofer) and it kinda/sorta works, except the digital display on the head unit is most often very faint, if not completely black.
You have to rely on the current radio station display in the infotainment display in the instrument cluster if you want to see what station you're listening to, which isn't exactly a selling point for potential buyers. At first I thought I'd just find a direct replacement RES for cheap and call it a day, but they're not exactly plentiful in my area, and they fetch around $150 for a used one in 'okay' condition.
So I'm thinking, maybe it's worth it to spend a few more $ to purchase a used Nav head unit that was offered as an upgrade, but I'm not quite sure which one will work, if anything?
The stock RES head unit in there now has the standard 'wide' connector in the rear, as well as 2 antenna hook ups: one for the radio, and one for the sirius sat. A quick search on ebay seems to show that some stock Ram nav head units have similar connections (eg: REN), but others often have extra plugs that I have no idea what they're for, or how crucial they are.. (Some RHR, for example)
In short, is there a head unit with the Nav upgrade that will be plug and play(more or less) with the current RES w/Sat, or should I just resign myself to replacing it with an overpriced (imo) beat up used unit?
