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kirkpal1 · 05-27-2020, 01:19 PM

I have a 2012 Open Road with Ford F53 chassis. I want to upgrade my radio. Problem is my choice of vendor is Crutchfield and they do not list the F53 in there system. Would the F550 or other medium duty trucks have the same wiring for the radio as the F53. I am looking for the wiring harness to install a Alpine Blue tooth radio. Thanks in advance.

tderonne · 05-27-2020, 01:21 PM

The F53 doesn't come with any radio wiring. There's a blunt cut harness bundle with radio and memory power, but that's it.

Tiffin would have installed the radio, they may or may have used the Ford wires designated for radio power. They added all the speaker wiring.

Glennabbott1 · 05-27-2020, 01:42 PM

You will probably have to splice the wiring like the MH manufacturer did. If you look up your current radio on line, you can get the pin out. Look up the radio you plan to buy and get that pin out. Many radio manufacturers use a “standard” color code for switched hot, ground, memory/keep alive, ignition sense. Speaker wiring not so much in my experience.

95f5334j · 05-27-2020, 07:23 PM

My F53 Bounder had a Ford radio. I used the wire harness for an F550 when I changed to a Pioneer headset, everything matched except the power antenna wire on the radio. Maybe send a photo of the plug from the coach side to Crutchfield and ask if they can match it

l1v3fr33ord1 · 05-28-2020, 03:30 AM

kirkpal1-

What are the make and model of the existing radio? A picture or two would help, too.

Tiffin should be able to help you with that information, also.

It is probably not a Ford radio on a coach as new as yours.

You would be looking at swapping between something like a JVC/Kenwood/Pioneer and whatever model you decided to buy from Crutchfield. At best, you would be able to get a plug-and-play harness for the swap. At worst, you would cut the wires at the old radio and splice onto them. In all cases, do not cut off the Ford/Tiffin-to-existing radio connector.

Are you having a problem with the radio, or do you just want a feature upgrade?

Lastly, I suggest you add a "signature" to your profile. It contains whatever info you want; most people put info about their coach there, so they don't have to type it into each message. Instructions for adding a signature are here.

153stars · 05-28-2020, 06:04 AM

The radio harness colors have gotten pretty universal. When I spliced the wife's Ford kit to radio harness every wire was color to same color from kit to new radio wires. The only issue was what orange color to dim/brighten face none of three would dim the face with lights or dash light dimmer wheel. I could have ran a wire to a dash light to cause a it to dim a given amount but it wasn't too bright to drive.Hopefully they left you a decent amount of length to get er done.