I'm looking to upgrade the head unit in the X, something with a big screen, navigation, input for backup camera, etc. But, I want to retain the ability to use the steering wheel controls and the factory dvd system in the back. How can I accomplish this? Any recommended head units?

 

Well I was going to run a search since this has been covered a plethora of times, however the advanced search seems to be glitching out on my tablet.

Since the Excursion has been out for a hot minute, there are plenty of aftermarket conversion harnesses (you'll need one anyway for an aftermarket unit) that should hook into your existing harness and serve as a bridge adapter to carry a lot of the features over to an aftermarket stereo deck.

If I can find where my laptop went to, I'll see if the search is working on there. Or you can run one yourself, there's a lot of threads covering this already with tons of great information

 

Ok, thanks. I tried searching but the results returned weren't relevant.

 

Another thought it giving Crutchfueld's customer service a call, they're quite knowledgeable and usually bang-on with helping you find what you're looking for plus answering tech questions.

 

I googled the titled of your thread plus excursion and turned up this old post which should have what you're looking for.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-retained.html

 

Here is a write up and video. Had it saved in my favorites.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-retained.html

 

Here is the best I have found while searching. I am not sure why its not in the Tech Folder.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...llation-3.html

 

This is the video I followed to install a new deck in our Ex.

 

Thanks for the thread references. I'll read through them and try to plan my upgrade.

 

There is a diffrence in factory DVD and dealer installed dvd. Mine hade the dealer installed and the wiring was totally diffrent for power and sound for the dvd.