Hi...

I decided to upgrade my failing stereo... a couple of the speakers have failed, and I want to add an aftermarket stereo that has a USB port to play music off flash drives...... and the memory circuit will drain the battery over the course of two/three days so the previous owner removed that fuse.... you can still use the stereo, but everytime you start the Chevy, you have to tune from the default station to whatever you prefer.... . so I have been investigating the OEM speaker sizes at Crutchfield and will order four new speakers... I already own a new stereo "head" unit and ordered the kit to install it. Then I went to watch the intstallation/replacement video on YouTube and this past summer I went out and tried to remove the dash facing.... and that is where the problems began and I wonder if anyone with a 1995 era c1500 WITHOUT a tilt steering wheel has tried to remove the facing? Simply, the video was well done, and straight forward.... the kid pulled the front loose and I did too.... Then he pulled the shift lever out of park and down into LOW... so the shift lever would be out of the way... but there was still a hinderance that prevented the dash face panel to be removed or at least moved out of way to remove the existing OEM stereo... so the next step was to tilt the steering wheel down.... and I understand that.... but the problem is that my 1995 is a Work Truck model and there is NO tilt option on it... and I cannot get that dash face to move far enough to remove the stereo... Now, my options are to cut part of the facing and I need to figure that out but before I start cutting I thought I would ask if anyone has found another solution??? something that does not involve cutting the dash facing and cobbling in the stereo..... Any ideas would be appreciated....

 

Wish I could help you, but I can confirm from the many times I've worked on the dash on a 1996 C1500 that I cannot remove that dash face panel unless I tilt the steering wheel down. Otherwise, you just can't tip the panel up and out of the way.

I wonder if you need to somehow loosen the steering column so that it is not supported. If you could drop the steering column an inch or two, it would probably make the job easier. I've never looked at that though. And if you do mess with the steering wheel or column, be sure to disconnect the battery if there is an airbag in the steering wheel...

 

Good afternoon.. I got out to the shop early this morning and got a ton done and then later in the morning, I went out to the driveway and for laughs I tried to remove the face facade.... to see if I could angle it enough to get the clearance I needed and also to see what exactly was preventing it from just sliding up and out... It soon became apparent that the four way flasher button was part of the problem and then I looked at the top of the facade that more/less is above the speedometer glass..... and that is quite deep... so I looked into getting out the cutoff wheel and cutting the back part of that about an inch or so to get the clearance needed to lift it up... and although it was just about freezing I pressed on the plastic top enough to where, for whatever reason, it cleared... and was "out" and free... EXCEPT now I got to try to disconnect the two electrical connectors and that didn't go well... pretty brittle and my hands/fingers aren't as strong as they used to be so I got out the small bladed screwdriver and finally got them to release and then cleaned up the area... lots of dead insects...and the vents were gross... Took the facade into the shop and detailed that too .... and then looked at the plastic connection spots and two of them were broken... I might try to glue in a couple wood shims and then used two self drilling screws to hold that entire face/facade in place tightly because the rattle is annoying.... Anyway.. this made my day and the mail just came with the installation kit for the stereo... My goal is to get the Dual stereo in place that has a USB input so I can play music off my flash drives... Also, I might need help with the wiring ..... The dual stereo wires I cleaned up and stripped out new ends and they have cute labels... The YouTube video guy also listed off the color codes but that does not matter because the installation kit comes with a new harness plug as well... The problem with this stereo, as I was told by the previous owner, was that this stereo was notorious for draining the battery because it has two hot leads... one switched and one unswitched... the unswitched lead is for the "memory" and that is the one that does the damage... so the fuse to the memory is removed... but then you have to tune the radio each time you start up the truck.... annoying.... but with the new stereo I am going to slap in the fuse for the memory too... The terminogy I am going to have to figure out for switched and unswitched... but I think both have a red wire that says batt on them so ???? I will figure it out... and I am not going to button this up until I have it right... I also want to experiment with the existing four speakers... and make sure that they sound OK or I will toss two pricey 6x9s behind the seat... I built the enclosers for them this morning too so they are ready if needed.... Also... snow now so I will switch to "lugger wheels" in the back and winter tires in the front.... maybe tomorrow... it's an adventure..

Thanks for the help and suggestions... IF I get to a probelm with the wiring I will be asking a question or two about that... I already screwed that up installing a new stereo in my sports car...

Take care...

 

Glad you got it out without actually cutting anything. My 1996 has the memory feature for the radio stations, but I've gone months at a time without driving the vehicle, and not had it drain the battery. You may want to put that fuse back in and just see how bad things are with the new radio.

I'm debating a new stereo at some point on my 1996, but no one makes a good 1.5 DIN unit anymore. Used to be a lot nicer ones available in that oddball mid 90's size that GM used. Now it's either single DIN or double DIN, and nothing in between aside from some retro 1.5 DIN units I found on Crutchfield. My AM/FM/Cassette AC/Delco stereo is already as retro as it gets, haha.

 

I still remember installing a ton of eight tracks.... with the removable plate so you could pull the entire unit out and put it in the trunk....

I do plan on putting the fuse back in the vehicle for the memory after the new stereo is installed, hopefully today. I never tried to install the fuse prior to this and believed the owner, but I also know this truck had an electrical gremlin in it that might have been the reason for the battery drain, and not caused by the stereo memory. That gremlin was found at a high cost (positive battery cable short). But I believed the previous owner, and even went to an auto recycler who had several of these for sale on the shelf... $25 I believe.. and I almost bought one....and this certainly is not a big deal.. If I don't even have any kind of stereo in the thing it would not be a big deal.... the 1995 C1500 W/T only has 81,000 miles on it and runs flawlessly now.... and it pulls my fishing boat five miles to the lake... so music/news is not important for this... but, I have this aftermarket stereo that I used in my sports car to get the USB flash drive capability so I just figured for that reason and the supposed memory fuse short problem, that I would try to do something.... who knows if this is a bridge too far or the right alternative... This could be easy or a nightmare... always seems to be that way.. I am NOT expecting a Plan B moment today but it wouldn't surprise me either.... Will let everyone know what happens.... I am hoping to get this done today with no bad language being shouted.... Thanks again...

 

For the most part, the new stereo install fought all the way.... and I had to test the original plug to make sure the two power wires were right.... and to do that, i needed to use a test light and ground... now, try finding a ground somewhere in a mostly plastic dash..... the only problem that I could not work through was the antenna.... the GM antenna was a mini plug antenna... looked for an adapter... 2 for $1 from China but over $10 for the adapter at any/all parts stores... so I grabbed the marine antenna I was using in the sports car and that worked great... got it all together, tested, and perfect... now to replace the dash facade... and there literally are no plastic connectors left... they are all broken... so I will figure out something... velcro? Now I have the fuse in for the memory too.. so will see what happens... glad I don't install car stereos for a living..