New radio for my elderly Ford Ranger

[DWalt]

My original Ford truck radio died on me about two weeks ago. No warning, just no sound and the display went dark. Probably something in the radio power supply circuitry. First thing I checked was the fuse, but that was OK. Fortunately, radio removal on most older Fords is a piece of cake, so I removed it and thought it would be easy to find a junkyard recovery as a drop-in replacement. No luck locally finding an identical version. There were some on the internet, but those I found were all priced between $100-$250, and that just seemed too much for something that could easily roll over within a month or so, too risky. Repairing the old one was not really an option, as no one locally repairs radios, at least not that I could find. There are internet radio repair services, but they will not give a cost estimate until they examine the radio. And I had no idea how much that expense might be.

Meandering through the internet, I saw many comments that Crutchfield was THE place to go for car audio systems, and I can confirm that. I got on their website, entered the vital statistics of my Ranger, and up popped about thirty suggestions, including mounting hardware. So I picked a JVC with an all-in cost of about $150. I ordered it on Friday and it arrived yesterday (Monday was Memorial Day). Nothing was missing, and it took me about two hours to install it. Most of that time was spent connecting the wiring to the extension plugs (red to red, yellow to yellow, etc.). The system popped right into place without a snag, and it worked as soon as I turned it on. I spent most of another hour or so figuring out how to program the clock, pre-set the AM and FM stations, etc., and that is something you have to use the instruction manual to do, as there are so many settings to make. In addition to sounding great with volume to spare, much better than the original Ford radio, it has several other features I really like, such as having a USB port you can charge your cel phone with, and you can also plug into it a USB drive with music files (MP3 or WAV) for nonstop music. It also has Bluetooth capability so you can use your iPhone hands free through the radio and a microphone you can talk to Alexa with. I have not yet used either of those features but I will try to figure out how to tomorrow.

The point of all this is that if you plan to buy a car audio system, I recommend looking at Crutchfield’s website.

 

[crstrode]

If your original Ford radio had a display, your Ford was not elderly.

 

[Secundius]

If you replaced all the original lighting on your truck with LED lighting that might also be the cause! In 2018 the USCG came out with a report that showed that LED lighting can play havoc on other Electronics with a ship, and recent reports show that LED lighting will all effect AM/FM/VHF and CB radios…


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[DWalt]

2003 XLT. That is elderly to me. The same basic Ford radio as mine was used back in the 1990s. Except back then they came with cassette tape players. Mine that died had a CD player. The new radio has no CD player, but neither do the sound systems in new cars. I don’t need a CD player as I prefer using a USB drive. I have all my favorite driving music copied to thumb drives.

No LED on my Ranger.

 

[Kenna]

Thanks for the tip. Mine died in my 2010 f250. Will definitely check them out.

 

[Chuck24]

Very first new car I ever bought was a 75 Ford. The manual for the sound system in my 2018 Tundra is twice the size of the 75 manual for the whole car.

 

[DWalt]

There are many videos about radio removal and replacement on YouTube that might be helpful. Crutchfield supplies fairly detailed how-to instructions, but one good video is worth a thousand words. It does seem that most Ford pickups of all sizes pre-2012 are very similar in how their radios are mounted and removed, but there may be some differences in mounting hardware. Crutchfield will supply the correct mounting, if one is needed, for your vehicle’s specific model and year when you buy a radio. Radios that use standard DIN mounts are fairly simple to install, and probably won’t even require any screws. A wire stripper, if you have one, will come in handy for joining the wiring adaptors together. Crutchfield will do that for an additional $25, but it is not difficult to do yourself, it just takes awhile to do. Speaker replacement is more complicated, but I just used the factory original speakers that were already mounted in the truck cab as there was nothing wrong with them.

 

[lihpster]

I remember spending a couple hours upside down in a Volvo installing a stereo and amp one freezing cold night. If it wasn't for the naked 100 watt bulb I was using to blind mysel.... er, see, I would have frozen to death. I wish I had known about Crutchfield's install kits then.

 

[TX-Dennis]

Yep, Crutchfield is the go to place for anything audio related whether it's for a vehicle or your home. They have it all. My son and I added a touchscreen system to his 2001 Dodge truck so he could have bluetooth for his phone and Android Auto. Crutchfield supplied everything including the wiring kit for a very reasonable price.

Then we added an Alpine system to his 2011 Jeep Wrangler with bluetooth, a bigger touchscreen, and much better sound plus a subwoofer. That was not inexpensive, but again Crutchfield had it all at the lowest possible price including all necessary wiring adapters.

 

[rwsmith]

Yeah, I was thinking.....

If your original Ford radio had a display, your Ford was not elderly.

....of something with just an AM dial.

 

[LoadedRound]

Crutchfield is always a good choice

I recently used Crutchfield when replacing the audio in my 2010 F150.

From helping me select the hardware to support during installation , it was a great experience.

Now my old truck has hands free, carplay and a backup camera. The installation looks great.

Very good seller.

 

[Telecaster]

I almost never use my car radio, but I’m not ready to give it up yet. I’d be fine with an old dial and needle radio as long as I could plug my iPhone in somehow for amplified streaming audio.

 

[DWalt]

AM only would be ancient, not elderly. The first car I actually owned was a ‘52 Chevy I bought around 1962-63 from the proverbial little old lady. It had no radio so I later installed an aftermarket one, which was AM/FM. As I remember it wasn’t an easy job as I also had to install speaker(s). Pretty sure, but not certain, that the radio had both transistors and tubes which was a novelty at the time. That was the car I drove all through college. Back then for most new cars, a radio was an extra cost option and was not a particularly cheap one.

I also remember when Chrysler cars offered a car turntable which played special disc records.That was sometime in the mid-50s. I once saw one of those. No tape cassettes or 8-tracks then. I installed an 8-track under-dash player in my ‘77 Ford LTD, it worked well. It had some way of sending a signal to the car radio, but I don’t remember how it worked. Anyway, you needed to set the car radio frequency to some value to hear anything. I still have a radio receiver with a built-in 8-track recorder. I also put a CB radio in that same car, but used it very little. I wonder whatever happened to CB?

I have read that some car manufacturers are now talking about dropping AM capability from radios. Too much conservative propaganda and hate speech on AM.

 

[KAC]

Replaced the radio in my 2006 F150 a couple years ago. Bought the new one from Crutchfield also. Instructions were very complete and installation was easy. Only downside was the add-on to allow the volume, etc., to be controlled by the steering wheel buttons couldn't be hooked up, was not compatible with my truck. Didn't really matter as I seldom used that with the old radio.

 

[mtgianni]

My former employer went away from AM only radios in 2005 when it cost more to order them that way than the standard package. Yea, they really loved their workers.

 

[H Richard]

I recall those memories of laying upside down under the dash installing a radio. Last one was a 1956 Chevy. It was a Bit** as there were too many crossbeams etc in the way. It was still an AM only with no push-buttons. Don't plan to do that again.

 

[wuluf]

Fond memories of drooling over the Crutchfield catalog as a younger person..

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[grover99]

Crutchfield is the gold standard in sound systems. Many years ago I went to a Best Buy to see about up grading my car radio. The salesman hauled out a Crutchfield catalog to see what would fit my car.

 

[tinkerer]

My 1976 F150 had no radio from the factory.
Mounted a radio from a Caddy in a box with speakers and a digital clock. Ratchet strap around the seat kept it in place.

 

[DWalt]

I thought about plugging a small AC radio, which I have, into an AC inverter, which I also have, and setting both on the passenger seat. But that would be taking economizing a few paces too far. I am not that poor, except maybe morally.