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Aftermarket Radio

Pruitt146

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Guys I have a 2020 Classic Tradesman. It has the plain Jane 3.0 with no XM, no amp and no steering wheel controls. I’m going to install a new touch screen with the wireless CarPlay option. Can anyone tell me what wiring harness I need? All the ones I see on Crutchfield and Amazon say they maintain all those fancy options but I don’t have that to begin with. Also is there anyway to make the camera that’s in the rear view show up on the touch screen I’m going to install?
 

RJS

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Talk to Crutchfield's technical folks, they are usually pretty knowledgeable about these installs.
 

spike2c

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Guys I have a 2020 Classic Tradesman. It has the plain Jane 3.0 with no XM, no amp and no steering wheel controls. I’m going to install a new touch screen with the wireless CarPlay option. Can anyone tell me what wiring harness I need? All the ones I see on Crutchfield and Amazon say they maintain all those fancy options but I don’t have that to begin with. Also is there anyway to make the camera that’s in the rear view show up on the touch screen I’m going to install?
You should do the 12.1 upgrade
 

JimD007

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I used this wiring kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DSQBQ7E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 to install this radio: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BSNLH96/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I also bought the physical install kit and a parking brake bypass and an antenna adapter. I am very happy with the result. My tradesman's only option is the paint. So it had the same crummy radio you apparently have. My new radio has wireless Android Auto and Apple Carplay, plays DVDs, and interfaces with my phone well for phone calls. It is not super easy to install. I had to cut out a sheet metal bracket behind the stock radio. There are a bunch of wires to solder in but then you just plug the new radio in. The only thing that did not work was the backup light signal which I effectively bypassed. My screen is not quite as large as even the middle sized Ram but I think it has good features overall. I wanted Garmin navigation which is why I went with the Kenwood. If you do not want Navigation there are lots of cheaper touch screen radios out there. Whatever you get, I would look for a kit from Metra, I think they do a good job with their pieces. My only disappointment with the Kenwood is it apparently has badly out of date and/or very limited maps. I tried an upgrade from Garmin but that did not work, possibly because I had some music on the SD card I tried to use for the upgrade. Recently, for instance, my Kenwood/Garmin would not find my hotel in Mount Pleasant SC. It is not a new hotel and is a big chain hotel. But I just used Android Auto to get there. I am a lot more used to using a Garmin (I have one in my convertible) but Android Auto will work in a pinch.

I did not try to re-route the backup camera. I like having it in the rear view mirror. My guess is the signal is not compatible with my aftermarket radio. It is, of course, possible to buy another backup camera to tie into the radio.
 

Pruitt146

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I used that same wiring kit and I did get the install kit from Metra. I would think you could easily split the signal and have it on the rear view mirror and in the radio. I did that last week with my pioneer and it works perfectly.
 

dsweet2010

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I used this wiring kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DSQBQ7E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 to install this radio: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BSNLH96/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I also bought the physical install kit and a parking brake bypass and an antenna adapter. I am very happy with the result. My tradesman's only option is the paint. So it had the same crummy radio you apparently have. My new radio has wireless Android Auto and Apple Carplay, plays DVDs, and interfaces with my phone well for phone calls. It is not super easy to install. I had to cut out a sheet metal bracket behind the stock radio. There are a bunch of wires to solder in but then you just plug the new radio in. The only thing that did not work was the backup light signal which I effectively bypassed. My screen is not quite as large as even the middle sized Ram but I think it has good features overall. I wanted Garmin navigation which is why I went with the Kenwood. If you do not want Navigation there are lots of cheaper touch screen radios out there. Whatever you get, I would look for a kit from Metra, I think they do a good job with their pieces. My only disappointment with the Kenwood is it apparently has badly out of date and/or very limited maps. I tried an upgrade from Garmin but that did not work, possibly because I had some music on the SD card I tried to use for the upgrade. Recently, for instance, my Kenwood/Garmin would not find my hotel in Mount Pleasant SC. It is not a new hotel and is a big chain hotel. But I just used Android Auto to get there. I am a lot more used to using a Garmin (I have one in my convertible) but Android Auto will work in a pinch.

I did not try to re-route the backup camera. I like having it in the rear view mirror. My guess is the signal is not compatible with my aftermarket radio. It is, of course, possible to buy another backup camera to tie into the radio.
Do you have pics of your setup?
 

dsweet2010

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I used that same wiring kit and I did get the install kit from Metra. I would think you could easily split the signal and have it on the rear view mirror and in the radio. I did that last week with my pioneer and it works perfectly.
Do you have pics of your setup in the dash?
 

Hockeygod1225

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You should do the 12.1 upgrade
Absolutley not. I have the 12.1 and aftermarket radios I have installed from pioneer, alpine, kenwood blow it out of the water in both sound quality, connectivity, and features.
 

Pruitt146

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All I did was install the trim piece that comes in the Metra kit....works perfectly and fits great.
 

JimD007

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Sorry I haven't been following this but Pruitt146 pictures look just like mine except it looks like he has a Pioneer and I put in a Kenwood. I also did no trimming. All my passengers think it came from the factory with my Kenwood.

(Mine looks the same but no backup camera image on the radio in my case)
 

JMGesling

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So, to be accurate, you got your after market radio in there, and you didn't have to do anything to keep the rear camera in the Mirror? If this is the case, that's awesome. my 2019 1500 Classic looks the exact same, with the uConnect 3.0 RA1 base radio.
 

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