Installed An Inexpensive Under-Dash CD Player

[Old Moparz]

Like the title says, I installed an inexpensive CD player in my new truck. 

Back in March I finally bought a newer, 2024 truck to replace my 2004 truck. There have been many changes to vehicles over that last 20 years, including the lack of options for ways of listening to music. My 2013 Chrysler 300C has a CD player, the 2004 Dodge Ram had the AM/FM/CD/Cassette stereo. My new truck only has an AM/FM radio with the Sirius/XM satellite option.

I did have Sirius/XM for a while in the 300 but they changed the format & moved the only station I listened to to a higher number that wasn't available on my stereo.  The rest of the stations suck to the point where I refuse to pay a monthly fee for crap. My wife felt the same way using it in her car so we cancelled it.

This got me to start looking at what Ram offered in these trucks a few years ago, a CD player that was mounted under the front, center, jumpseat in the storage compartment. It's not the most convenient place, but it was better than nothing especially on the long trip. After reading more about it I decided that I wasn't going to start splicing into the harness & scrapped the idea.

This led me to what we used to do way back in the 70's & 80's which was to mount an under-dash unit in the vehicle. The small storage shelf & change holder is in the lower, center part of the dashboard on my truck. The CD player is small enough to fit in there & not protrude & be in the way. It uses a simple USB cable for both powering the unit & to feed the signal to the stock stereo that also controls the CD player.

It came with the adhesive backed velcro to mount it & a few other cables for different applications. I did notice that the adhesive is starting to slip so I have to press it upward every now & then. I'm not sure what you'd need to do in order to tie it to an old car like our Chargers, but it doesn't seem too difficult to figure out. Controlling the CD player can be done with the remote control.

For $35 & free shipping I wasn't expecting much, but it actually sounds really good & has worked flawlessly. 

eBay link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/168623727703