OT: Truck Radio Follow-Up
Robert Hutchins
>Thanks to all my good friends here at WoodCentral, my old F150 now has a stunning new Kenwood CD/Radio unit. It came from Crutchfield as was recommended. It is the unit with the USB connector that will play MP3 and other digital formats for $129 delivered to my door with an installation kit for my specific model. This unit installed very easily with but one or two minor glitches before completion. So easy a caveman (me) could do it. So easy that my knee surgery of two days ago didn't impede installation.
First, the glitches: 1) There's a lot of wire to cram back into the dash and it took me a while to finesse it so that the head unit fit like it was supposed to. (There is room without reducing the length of the adaptor wires, however.); 2) the DIN sleeve - the instructions tell you to bend tabs up in the DIN sleeve to wedge it into the opening but in this particular case there is so much space that the tabs don't find anyplace to do any wedging (this will vary depending on the vehicle); 3) there is a rear bracket with the installation kit but the directions don't say anything about it. other than to show an illustration, NOR DO THEY INCLUDE THE REQUIRED M4x8MM SCREW REQUIRED TO ATTACH IT. Without being able to use the DIN sleeve to hold the head unit in place, the rear bracket (which slides into a top mounting bracket) is essential to mount the unit securely. The original unit used a similar bracket; otherwise I might have overlooked installing this part and experienced problems later.
Crutchfield delivered the unit in 3 or 4 days from my online order with no shipping charges or tax; and, as mentioned above, it included the installation adaptor kit for my truck. Everything arrived in excellent condition. Instructions were better than average, the major exception noted wrt the rear mounting bracket. The package includes everything needed to install except the M4 screw mentioned above. It even includes parts that I didn't need for my installation and a set of parts to lock the faceplate on.
I called Crutchfield technical support a couple of times to clarify things I wasn't sure about (my understanding and confidence being poor, their instructions are more than adequate). The biggest issue was the screw; however, the rep took the time to search multiple sources to find the screw size and length. Hold time was minimal; CSR's were excellent - knowledgeable, patient, thorough, took their time until I understood their information. Their phone service could be compared with Lee Valley's.
You can, and should, check on the Crutchfield web site to be sure they have an installation adaptor kit for your vehicle. The kit was included at no additional charge and included a wiring harness adaptor and mounting brackets . Being as how I'm older than dirt and remember too well when car radios had vacuum tubes and mechanical push buttons, getting the clock and other settings done took me about as long as installating the radio did.
Too early to tell about its service life or any daily usage issues, but the delivery and installation experience was among the best I've ever had. First time I've dealt with Crutchfield and I'm impressed.