Yes, I did a search and came up with a nice post from asinatra about wiring the audio controls on the steering wheel to the radio. I emailed and posted but I got ignored on both accounts

(https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...steering+wheel)

So again I ask for the community help on this. How can I wire the steering wheel controls to the radio?

Thanks again. Hopefully someone will chime in this time.

JC
El Paso TX

 

If you have an aftermarket HU, you'll need to get the PAC SWI-X and program it for your stereo. The instructions that come with it are easy to follow. I got mine from Crutchfield.

 

no aftermarket HU yet...

 

I have been looking into this. I posted some wiring diagrams on the forum a few months ago...its the entire wiring diagram book for our trucks from ford.

I don't think the wires are present on trucks without it installed. Wire would need to be added from the steering column to the radio. According to the schematic, it doesn't run through any computers or the cluster or anything. It goes from the steering wheel right to the radio. I checked with ford and they only made one clock spring for the trucks, so the biggest challenge looks like ripping the steering column apart to add the wires to the radio. One day I will try this, but it may not be for a month or two. If you want to give it a try yourself, search for the wiring diagrams I posted.

The diagrams are on pages 130-1 thru 130-6 for the radio. The book also tells you wire colors so you can see if they are currently present and also breakdowns of every connector so you can see exactly where the wires go in the wire connector.

Hope this helps a little.

 

The switches are fairly expensive, around 100bucks. It is just the matter of getting one wire to the radio, i dont see how this could be hard. Your just adding a wire to an existing system. I dont see what questions need to be answered, its like asking what color is my black dog.

 

i just put a pac swi-x in today and it works great the instructions said not to put the eye in the mounting kit but i did anyway and it works flawlessly. theres is a half a second or so delay from when you push the button to when the radio changes but it was doin that when i just held it in front of the radio when i was testing it. other than the switched and ground there was only one wire to hook up, it was the number 18 position and i think it was light blue with a red tracer (dont hold me to that though). i got mine for $50 but i work at a car stereo shop so i got it for cost

 

Anthony, the thing with that is, where does the wire start and end? I have the plugs on both ends (the steering wheel I got does have the controls already) and so this is where I get lost. Where does my wire connect

 

Caimakale:

once again thanks greatly for your help. I will look for the diagrams you mentioned. It was the same thing as the cluster, where does the wire go into what connector.

Thanks.

 

The pin in the radio connector goes in space 18 and 19 I think, but it's not a traditional connector. That's where the wiring diagram with the connectors helps alot.

Like you though, I am not sure about the other end. I will look into it, but it could be awhile before I do.

 

Same thing here Caimakale, looked at it yesterday and it does seem weird. Im at a loss...

 

Where does this wire need to come from(switch)? to where(radio)? Pin numbers? Wire colors? I used to do electrical work at a local ford dealership, so I can do this, I just dont have the information available to know which pins and such, EVTM. If you could post a copy of those pages, that would be helpful.

 

well, you need to run a wire (any color) from the radio to the steering wheel. The plug on the radio is the main one (remember there are three, the main harness, the antenna and the subwoofer plug). The question is where does the other end goes.

Look for pages 130-1 thru 130-6 here: https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...2&page=3&pp=15

 

Sorry, you have to download the huge-*** PDFs first.

 

I did this tonight and it was pretty easy. You need to run two wires. They go in Pin 18 & 19 on your radio harness. If you can read the wiring diagram and understand the connectors this will be easy. The pages I used in the wiring diagram were 194, 250, & 269. Those show the wiring diagram and the two connectors. (the one behind the radio and the one in the steering column) To get to the harness on the column, I took off the steering wheel. You don't need to do this, you need to take off the bottom cover however on the steering column. at the very bottom there were two harnesses plugged in and a space for a third harness to plug in, but nothing was there. (this probably sounds confusing, but once you look at it you will understand what I am saying). The harness you need is the 6-pin harness in the middle plug. In the plug there are 4 wires currently with six spaces. One of the wires you need is already in this harness, you will have to tap into it and run it to the radio. The other wire you need goes in one of those empty spaces. Read the diagram to figure out which one.

I know this doesn't help a whole lot, but I don't have time to do a huge thorough write up right now. My goal was to shed some light on where the harnesses were and how easy this actually is.

BTW....use 20 guage wire.

 

Caimakale, its because of people like you that I live in this forum.

Thanks alot! I truly appreciate it.

Joab