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Audio Controls

11K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  TALLA 
#1 ·
First I'd like to say thank you to sherped at DodgeTalk all credit of this information and pictures goes to him and thanks to all the other guys who chimed in to help.

Starting off you need to decide if you are going to 1, buy a steering wheel with radio controls in it (like I did off of Ebay, mine actually came from a '06 Durango) or 2, buy the switches/harnesses and install them in your current steering wheel (as sherdep did)

If you want to buy the harnesses for existing start at step #1

If you are going to buy a steering wheel with controls, put the new one on there will be 2 open spots that you will plug the harness in and you are all set for that step. Start at step #1-4, then jump down to #9 to finish the install. Because I did not have any extra wire as sherdep did, I went out and bought 18 gauge wire from my local car place.

Here are the steps that sherdep had, I added in a few links but that is all.

These instructions are for a 2004-2008 SLT (it may work in 02/03, but no one had tried on the other site and I am not sure if audio controls were even an option those two years)


First, if you are going to buy the harnesses from the dealer ship here is all the info that you need (thanks again to sherdep)

3 parts needed for this mod, he bought from the dealer.

The Harness Part # 56042934AA List $24.50 (I paid $16.17)
Left Switch Part # 4685728 AB List $14.10 (I paid $9.30)
Right Switch 4685729 AB List $16.45 (I paid $10.84)
I took a piece of card board and seperated it to use as a template, I also took the switches apart carefully not to break any clips and made the cardboard fit snug around the switch piece.



1- First things first, take the ground off of the battery and let the truck sit for 10 minutes, to allow the capacitor for the Air bag to drain.
2- Then I took apart the dash pieces, took apart the clam shell around the steering wheel shaft,
3- then used a 10 mm socket to take the air bag off of the steering wheel, make sure you touch the truck with bare hands to make yourself the same so you dont make any electricity between you and the truck,
4- then carefully take the airbag out and un-clip the connector and the horn and set aside.
5- now you will see two philips screws for the cruise control modules and then you will see two more philips screws for the back cover to prepare for the dremel of the holes for the switches,
6- Now with a marker take your piece of card board that you are gonna use as a template for the switch holes and trace out the holes so you have an idea where you are gonna dremel your holes for the switches.
7- Use the dremel and carefully cut out on your lines, this is where patients comes into play, take your time and dont rush this part, you may need to take the piece and check it a few time before you get this part right.
8- Now comes the fun part Hooking up the wires, once you take the Harness apart that you bought from the dealer carefully take the harness apart you will need to save the pieces you dont use for later in the install. the piece you will be using for now has 3 connectors on it for the Radio control harness,
now you will need to modify the connectors and snip the tops piece off and the switch ends need the center bars cut to make them mate together, after you are done with all the wiring it may be a good idea to put a small dab of silicone over these two connectors to keep them from coming apart and possibly shorting to anything.
9- you will see a white connector next to the neon yellow connector .. you are gonna use the white connector on the under side of the steering column, there will will be two empty holes for you to plug the cable ends into,
10- this is where you use the pieces from the harness that you were to put aside, the outer connector will go to ground (I used the red with green stripe for this wire)
11- you will need to gain access to behind the cluster so pretty much the dash needs to come apart and allow you access to the back of the gauge cluster.

Link on youtube that shows you how the dash come apart (real easy)

04-05:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0_ma1ZSB_U

06-08:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV-4-9aIgB0

12- the inner connector goes to C2 (smaller of the two grey connectors) pin12 (should be empty) behind the gauge cluster.
13- you will need to shove something in the hole next to it to push the white bar down to allow you to insert your wire from the saved harness, I used the blue with black stripe for this one cause I was able to keep it long enough to reach back to the Clock spring harness connector. Watch to make sure other wires dont come out of the connector while inserting this wire end.
14- I had to use a splice connector to lengthen my red with green stripe for the ground wire, I added a lug connector and placed it under a screw that had a metal tab under it for a good ground.
15- plug your harness'es back into the back of the gauge cluster,
16- next I put the ground wire back on the truck to test the switches,
17- put the key into the accessory (pulling back not forward)
18- if it doesn work get a multimeter and set it to VDC and check the clock spring in the center of the steering wheel where the radio control harness plugs into.. ... the ground lead should go to a good ground or piece of metal under the dash and the red lead should go to the connector on the clock spring there should be +5vdc (cant remember which side but I think it is the left side)
(The left side is the correct one with the +5vdc power)
if there isnt take the battery cable off and recheck your plugs in the back of the gauges to make sure they are seated properly ( I made this mistake)
19- it should be working now for the radio controls if not refer back to prior steps to make sure your wiring is correct.
20- it should be working now so you need to unplug the ground wire on the battery.
21- resecure your gauge cluster and the plastic pieces on the dash.
22- now you will need to reinstall the air bag
23- now you will reinstall the clam shell that goes around the back half of the steering.
24- button the rest of the panels up if you havent already
25- re-connect the negative battery cable and tighten the clamp.


Now you are ready for steering radio controls for model years 04-05. 06-08, the truck computer has to be programmed at the dealer (This I think was $65 or $75 to do).

You may want to have it programmed before you start, that way you know your truck is ready for it when you do the project and not get all done, go up the dealer and have it not work and you have to go back home and re adjust the wires.

Took me about 3 hrs
Feel free to ask any questions.



The Steering Wheel I got

Parts Sherped got:







The install:





 
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#7 · (Edited)
First, if you are going to buy the harnesses from the dealer ship here is all the info that you need (thanks again to sherdep)

3 parts needed for this mod, he bought from the dealer.

The Harness Part # 56042934AA List $24.50 (I paid $16.17)
Left Switch Part # 4685728 AB List $14.10 (I paid $9.30)
Right Switch 4685729 AB List $16.45 (I paid $10.84)
Rocky the harness part number for me shows a harness thats over 100 dollars. I have everything ready and was going to just solder my wires to the switches/clockspring and put a disconnect inbetween but i would like to get my hands on the harness so i can pin in correctly from the bottom of the clockspring to the cluster. Anyone buy this harness yet that can post a pic up? i would think you could get just the radio button harness by itself but i dont want to pay 130 dollars for four wires!
 
#14 ·
The clockspring to the steering wheel is already there. I bought a steering wheel with the controls, that plugged into the inside of the clock spring. From the other side of the clock spring I ran my wires, one to the cluster, the other I grounded out. Pm me with any other ?'s I can get back faster with that.
 
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