TruckersSon
Active Member
On a semi, if you're going to install a new one, do you have to get a heavy duty one or can you buy a regular one from WalMart?
Semi Radios
- Thread starter TruckersSon
- Start date
Rigjockey
In Gord we trust!
In all honesty, i have given up on peeking and tuning my radio's . I have given up on my dream of owning a Galaxy or a General Lee ( i could have bought both with the money I have spent over the years). I stick with the stock Cobra 29. 100 buck and change. No one is really on the radio like they where before. Years ago that was a major tool in the box. Today we have other technology and a different breed or mindset of truckers out there.
The same jackasses that think the C.B. Is a toy rather than a tool kind of killed it. Professionalism has gone out the window. I dread the day an airline pilot whispers i aint got no panties on into their radio.
TruckersSon
Active Member
Thanks, it's going towards my Dad's semi, who's CD player is out. He needs a new one, so it's a good Father's Day gift. Just didn't know if it had it be a special kind because it might be a little bit rougher
Rigjockey
In Gord we trust!
Oh you meant an AM/FM CD.MP3 type of radio. MY bad.
TruckersSon
Active Member
It's alright
colohayhauler
Clutch Monkey
Both of mine have regular radio's in them. They are fine
Southern Fried
Well-Known Member
Whatever you get, try to avoid the "cool" ones with all the "adjustments".... eg all the tiny little buttons. Outside the fact that they're annoying, they can be dangerously distracting. Having to "look down" just to change a station is double dangerous in a big rig.
TruckersSon
Active Member
The problem with that is, he has the stock radio in his semi. Which has no aux port, cassette player, and a broken CD reader. Hence time for a good father's day gift. Hoping it'll come out around $100 dollars when I'm all done
Rigjockey
In Gord we trust!
If it is only a C Note. Your Dad is not going to wait around till June with no tunes. He is going to get one on his own. We are talking a c note here. Buy the ol man a radio. And gift it to him. Then buy him a Fathers day present in June.
TruckersSon
Active Member
The radio still works, so it's not like he has no radio
TruckersSon
Active Member
Finding the model shouldn't be a problem, it's installing it w/o him knowing that's going to be the issue
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Find out the make/model/year of the truck & go to the appropriate truck dealership & talk to them. They'll sell you an overpriced wiring harness that will plug into the stereo & fit the truck's wiring harness so you don't have to cut any of the truck's wires.
Don't cut any of the truck's wires. Might be better to have Best Buy's Geek Squad come out to where the truck is parked & install it themselves. Make sure you have the keys to the truck though.
If you can install a radio in a car, you can install one in a truck. Have someone take him out fishing or something.
TruckersSon
Active Member
He doesn't fish...he just works. It's going to have to be an all night job!
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Well I don't know what your level of expertise is, since (on here) you're just words on a screen posted from somewhere on the internet. So don't take offense if any of these posts seem unnecessarily "dumbed down". Google will index this thread so it'll eventually come up in searches by people with the same question too.
Trucks run on the same kind of 12 volt negative ground systems cars do. The only major difference is 4 batteries instead of one, wired in parallel to maintain the same voltage but quadruple the amperage to supply the massive power required for the starter.
But just like cars, each make has their own wiring harnesses for the stereos which requires an adapter harness. Without the adapter harness you'd have to cut the factory wires. DO NOT CUT THE FACTORY WIRES in your dad's truck.
At Walmart they sell those adapters, but they're for cars. They have one for Ford, they have one for pre-2004 GM, one for 2004 & newer GM, one for Chrysler, one for Jap-mobiles, etc. You'll have to go to a truck dealer to get the right one for the truck.
If you haven't bought a car stereo for the truck yet, take a look at the ones sold at the dealership. They are designed to pop right in there & hook up to the truck's wiring harness without needing an adapter. They'll be fewer choices & they'll be more expensive though. But at least take a look at them & consider one. Maybe you can just take a look at them, pick one you like, and write down it's brand name & model number & get online & see if you can find one cheaper somewhere else.
TruckersSon
Active Member
I understand, guess it's time to do some shopping.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Volvo and Kenworth trucks built in the last 5 or 6 years or so have some decent "factory" option stereos available. Volvo has one with an AUX input & a USB port located elsewhere on the dash, near your right knee next to the steering column. Those Volvo truck stereos are also incredibly easy to remove/replace. You just take these things that look like giant staples, push them into the holes on the left & right edges of the unit, and it pops right out. I used to slip-seat Volvo trucks & every time I'd get in a different truck, back before 2007 when they were just AM/FM/CD, I'd pull them out & pop in a Panasonic stereo I bought at a Volvo dealer that had an AUX input for my MP3 player. It would take me like 5 minutes to swap them out, then 5 minutes to swap them back when I got out of the truck.
Kenworth has one with the USB and AUX inputs right on the stereo unit itself and they have good power & sound as well.
Kenworth & Peterbilt are both owned by PACCAR, so it's possible that the Kenworth stereo might hook up in a Pete with no adapter harness required ... maybe.
Kenworth has one with the USB and AUX inputs right on the stereo unit itself and they have good power & sound as well.
Kenworth & Peterbilt are both owned by PACCAR, so it's possible that the Kenworth stereo might hook up in a Pete with no adapter harness required ... maybe.
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