12-22-2008, 07:54 AM
About a year ago, my girlfriend's truck was broken into, and the bastard(s) stole the faceplate for her radio (among other things). I've been telling her since February that she should either (a) figure out what radio it is and get a replacement faceplate, or (b) just replace the radio. Her sister has actually been using the truck most of the time for her hour-plus commute, and I understand that this has been quite trying, sans radio and all.
I finally convinced my gf to get a new radio, and I told her I'd install it. Well, the only time I could sneakily install it (so as to be a surprise for her sister) was this evening, in a rather dark garage, with no flashlight. The interwebitubes helped me figure out how to dismantle the Toyota Tacoma's dash, and I set to work. I almost immediately lost one screw to the netherlands inside the truck, and I later lost another to the same place.
It wasn't until I got the old radio out and started unpackaging the new one that I had the stark realization that I had no idea if the harness was going to match between the two. Luckily, the radios were identical in form (thank you standardization!), so it worked out. The hard part (which took the majority of the time) was getting all those damn screws back in, in the dark. Not fun. Oh, and the dash didn't want to go back together properly, but I eventually figured it out. Phew.
I left the radio on a rock station, and we can't wait to hear what her sister says. Her sister's boyfriend is actually taking the truck in the morning, and I've written a note for him not to tell her, either (he'll be quite shocked, too, I'm sure, as he has an hour commute tomorrow morning and was planning on singing to himself, I guess). Fun, fun, fun.
I finally convinced my gf to get a new radio, and I told her I'd install it. Well, the only time I could sneakily install it (so as to be a surprise for her sister) was this evening, in a rather dark garage, with no flashlight. The interwebitubes helped me figure out how to dismantle the Toyota Tacoma's dash, and I set to work. I almost immediately lost one screw to the netherlands inside the truck, and I later lost another to the same place.
It wasn't until I got the old radio out and started unpackaging the new one that I had the stark realization that I had no idea if the harness was going to match between the two. Luckily, the radios were identical in form (thank you standardization!), so it worked out. The hard part (which took the majority of the time) was getting all those damn screws back in, in the dark. Not fun. Oh, and the dash didn't want to go back together properly, but I eventually figured it out. Phew.
I left the radio on a rock station, and we can't wait to hear what her sister says. Her sister's boyfriend is actually taking the truck in the morning, and I've written a note for him not to tell her, either (he'll be quite shocked, too, I'm sure, as he has an hour commute tomorrow morning and was planning on singing to himself, I guess). Fun, fun, fun.
