How to install stereo in Tacoma?

$50!? That sounds like a pretty good price, especially if it includes any necessary adapters.

Jody

Go back to Best Buy and remind them that they match competitors ads. Circuit City is always doing free install on all radios that cost $100 or more purchased at their store. I'm assuming that you bought a good stereo from Best Buy. Mike

hi try this link, it's very easy , it took me less then a hour to do the install, good luck.

If it was like in my '94 4Rnr - $50 is a bargin for parts/labor. It takes well over an hour to remove and replace all the dash pieces that have to come off. The parts are probably $25 of that (adapter plug and pocket).

If he's never done it before, $50 is a great deal. Wire nuts have no place in a moving vehicle, and solder only belongs at the terminals of door speakers. High quality crimp connectors are the only way to go. By the time he invests in a REAL crimper and the necessary terminals, $50 bucks will sound just right.

After soldering it, what would you wrap the solder joints with? Electrical tape? That's asking for trouble. Heat shrink tubing? You can't do that right with matches or a lighter. It really requires a heat gun. Besides being pricey, it's hard to get the thing into the dash, and you risk overheating other wires. Crimps are the best way without question. Use male & female connectors if it's likely the aftermarket radio will be removed when the vehicle is sold. That way, the factory plug can be plugged back onto the dash harness. Or, use barrel crimp connectors. A good industrial supply house will carry high-quality stuff, but often in quantities way too large for anyone but a factory building thousands of whatever. For the rest of us, the nicest crimp connectors I've seen were at Home Depot.

Crimp connectors are the quick and easy way, soldering is the correct and reliable way to do it. I would rather solder and use a lighter to shrink the heat shrink. There are special adaptors for heat guns just for doing shrink wrap, it allows the heat to all sides. If you know how to work a heat gun, and can use common sense, no damage will be done to other wires. If you manage to damage other wires, chances are you also are damaging the wire you are splicing.

Do you know the proper crimping methods? Do you have the proper tools? The $10 crimper/stripper/cutter isn't the proper tool for the job. A decent and proper tool can be quite expensive. I hate the crimp connectors with the plastic over the crimp surface, it is really hard to verify the quality of the connection.

With all that being said, either method will do. There are goods about both, and issues with both. I personally only do crimp connectors when I am too lazy, or not concerned about the long term reliability.

The best method is to buy the adapter plug for $14 and solder it with shrink tubing to the new aftermarket radio --- then its a direct plugin to the factory wiring harnes. Its easy to do a good wiring on the new radio on the work bench. Not wise to ever gut into the factory harness.

Right. You need a compound crimping tool, preferably one made by the company that manufacturers the crimps you're using. With the right combination of tool and connectors, you'll find it's impossible to yank the wires out of the connectors unless you're pulling with MUCH more force than they'll ever be subjected to in the dashboard.

But the other issue that you don't address is the wires over time breaking right at the end of the crimp, plus the copper can corrode inside the crimp.

Never seen it happen, and this includes an installation on my boat which is exposed constantly to moisture, and an installation a car I owned a few years back, where crimps were fine after a total of 7 years.

you buy one at

the instructions, (its ez to do) and a plug in wite harness, now even gramma can do this,, and you are done.

Having been an electronics technician and Ham Radio licensee since the middle 60's, I can say I'd rather solder than use a crimp connector, however, I can also say I've seen trailer light connectors installed with crimp connectors as well as scotchlocks (The splicers you place around the wire then squeeze with a pair of pliers) that have worked fine after many years of launching boats and other kinds of abuse. I've always figured you use what's convenient and will do the job...

Tom...

I agree, but it depends on where the joint is to be made. I've seen solder joints with sharp edges that have poked through heat shrink tubing eventually. Obviously, good soldering techniques will minimize this, but if the thing you're trying to solder is 6" behind a dash opening, because the car manufacturer couldn't afford a little more wire, it's kind of tough to make a perfect solder joint.

Now, Scothloks....those are an abomination. :-)

Have to agree with you about the short leads up behind the dash. As to the Scotch locks, yes, they are a pain, but, as I mentioned, I've seen them still working after years of abuse. Personally, I have only used them on my model railroad layout to tap power off of a bus wire... :>))

Tom - Vista, CA

Wump,

I put a Kenwood in my 96'. The wiring harness cost $15 from Circuit city. It just plugs into the old radio harness and the other end into the stereo. You just have to pull off the face plate over the AC control (pull the two knobs and then snap off the face plate). Doing the job twice only took me 1 hour (I did it twice, because the CD player was bad and I had to take it back to Circuit City). The Haynes manual on the Tacoma and the radio instructs should be all you need. Good luck.

Roxy