snowjay
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- Aug 12, 2009
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It was relatively painless. The longest part of the job was figuring out where to mount the unit and route the cables so they wouldn't interfere with the glove box closing.
If you have the XM receiver all you need to do is release the glove box so it swings down out of the way and then all your connections are right in front of you. Installation at that point basically involves unplugging the XM reciever, plugging a the USASpec harness into the XM reciever and then the original cable into the other end of the USASpec harness. After that the harness gets plugged into the control unit and another cable comes out of that that you plug into your iPod/iPhone.
After surveying a bunch of mounting locations for the control box (maybe the size of two decks of cards stacked and very light) I put some 3M auto tape on the back side and stuck it to the top of the HVAC units housing. It's far out o the way there and I was able to route the cable from the XM unit up and around the metal dash backbone and zip tie it in place.
Then I ran the iPod cable to behind the console under the radio and have it peeking out from under the climate controls which allows me to plug in my iPhone and leave it in the storage tray.
I've been toying about getting an auto only iPod and leaving it in the glove box so if thats the case I'll just reroute the cable there. I've been thinking about it since my last car so it isn't a real priority. LOL
To gain access to the iPod you set a shortcut to XM253 (older units were XM99) and then it just works. using the CAT button you can get to Artists, Playlists, Albums, Songs, Random and Direct (for direct control of iPod). Artist & song name also scroll across the display screen.
Steering wheel controls also work.
XM still works as well w/o needing to be reprogrammed with a Tech2 like the GM PAL requires.
I'll take photos if anyone is interested although there is not much to see.
I got it from Crutchfield for $149. It's $169 but I found a $20 off coupon.
If you don't have an XM receiver then I believe you need a separate cable to plug into the back of the stereo.
I do have two open issues that I need to contact USASpec about.
1. It appears that the iPod stays charging even when the truck is off. Now maybe thats just because of remote power and that will stop after a certain time.
2. There looked to be a ground wire coming out of the filter box on the cable between the XM and controller. There was no mention of this in the instructions and the unit works fine with no noise w/o it. So I taped it off for now since I'm not sure where it was meant to go.
If you have the XM receiver all you need to do is release the glove box so it swings down out of the way and then all your connections are right in front of you. Installation at that point basically involves unplugging the XM reciever, plugging a the USASpec harness into the XM reciever and then the original cable into the other end of the USASpec harness. After that the harness gets plugged into the control unit and another cable comes out of that that you plug into your iPod/iPhone.
After surveying a bunch of mounting locations for the control box (maybe the size of two decks of cards stacked and very light) I put some 3M auto tape on the back side and stuck it to the top of the HVAC units housing. It's far out o the way there and I was able to route the cable from the XM unit up and around the metal dash backbone and zip tie it in place.
Then I ran the iPod cable to behind the console under the radio and have it peeking out from under the climate controls which allows me to plug in my iPhone and leave it in the storage tray.
I've been toying about getting an auto only iPod and leaving it in the glove box so if thats the case I'll just reroute the cable there. I've been thinking about it since my last car so it isn't a real priority. LOL
To gain access to the iPod you set a shortcut to XM253 (older units were XM99) and then it just works. using the CAT button you can get to Artists, Playlists, Albums, Songs, Random and Direct (for direct control of iPod). Artist & song name also scroll across the display screen.
Steering wheel controls also work.
XM still works as well w/o needing to be reprogrammed with a Tech2 like the GM PAL requires.
I'll take photos if anyone is interested although there is not much to see.
I got it from Crutchfield for $149. It's $169 but I found a $20 off coupon.
If you don't have an XM receiver then I believe you need a separate cable to plug into the back of the stereo.
I do have two open issues that I need to contact USASpec about.
1. It appears that the iPod stays charging even when the truck is off. Now maybe thats just because of remote power and that will stop after a certain time.
2. There looked to be a ground wire coming out of the filter box on the cable between the XM and controller. There was no mention of this in the instructions and the unit works fine with no noise w/o it. So I taped it off for now since I'm not sure where it was meant to go.