When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The factory CD player in my truck ate a few CDs. A friend gave me a new stereo as a gift. The Ford wiring harness is not as simple as 'power, ground, speakers...'
What year is your truck? With most vehicles nowadays you can by a factory wiring harness adapter. Worth every penny if you ask me. No butchering of factory wiring. Just a thought. You can pick one up at wal-mart or circuit city or anyplace like that.
Ahhh... as I said - the simplicity of the solution. I notice that there isn't an emoticon for 'Duhhh.'
Thank you gentlemen. I did notice on the forwarded .pdf that the diagram for my truck ('96 with amplification), still doesn't show wiring detail so - a wiring adapter is the ONLY way to go...
I got a stereo from Crutchfield a year or so ago, and got a wiring harness from them at the same time. The only problem I had was that Ford had switched the order of the speaker wires on the harness, so I was not getting stereo, but one call to Crutchfield tech support, and a look in the Haynes' manual, and it was all figured out. All I had to do was switch two wires on the Ford factory wiring harness (no cutting, just released the connectors from the plug) and I was all set. I would definitely recommend using a wiring harness, you can solder the wires from the stereo to the harness, and then go outside and just plug it in, instead of working in the confines of the dash. And if you ever want to sell the truck and keep the stereo, you can just unplug it and plug the factory one back in.
Highly HIGHLY recommend Crutchfield for all your car audio needs if/when you have further needs. They supply the adapter free IIRC, I've bought many stereos and speakers from them thru the years and their cus support is fantastic. Prices are great also. I believe they are also online at this point.
The harness is the ONLY way to go in this day and age.
How well I remember having to trace wires out and 'butcher' the factory wiring harness, BAD OLD DAYS!! lol
trust me get the harness, I clipped mine and then hooked up my pioneer
hmmmm what are these extra wires for. That night I found out when I needed my dome light to come on
obidan
Don't sweat the amplifier - you just need to dig deeper into your dash. The amp is mounted vertically kinda flat against the firewall just above the gas pedal. The same connectors that are used on the NON-amp radios are plugged into the amp harness, which runs up to the amplified CD player. You can see it in pic #13 here:
http://www.webphotos.com/list_photos.asp?mi=3&smi=1&a=13181
The adapter you'll be buying will fit the standard connectors before the amp, so plan on removing it.