Railroad_Jim

Glad to hear that you found a local shop with the equipment to do it! You'll love having the steering wheel controls. Years ago on my 2000 Silverado, I installed the factory fog light kit myself, but needed to have a dealer enable the fog lights in the BCM for the switch to work. Luckily, I was able to find a Chevy dealer who would do it, but I did have to pay half an hour of labor to get the five minute procedure completed.

Oh man, I just went and read the description on the WAMS website for the newer "Global B" series trucks, and sure enough, you need somebody with GM Techline Connect to perform some kind of "marriage" of your new equipment! On our older "Global A" trucks like my 2020, we did not need any dealer programming to be performed. Hopefully you can find a dealer willing to help you, as I know that some dealerships don't like to do things like that.

Hey Binny, I'm not sure what sort of programming you would need to get done in order to add the steering wheel controls if you ordered everything from WAMS. You basically just install the new steering wheel, add the new harness doctor LIN bus wire from the clockspring to the gauge cluster, and install your new gauges from WAMS. Unless something changed with the 2025 Custom Trail-Boss, you should not need any programming from the dealership. (Maybe if you wanted to keep your engine hours to match your old gauge cluster, they could do that, but it didn't seem worth the cost of dealer programming to me!) After reading your post, I went to the Chevrolet website to look at the 2025 Custom Trail Boss and was honestly surprised to still see the same steering wheel and gauge cluster that I had in my 2020. I guess only the up-model trucks were upgraded to the fancy new dash. Good luck! It's an awesome modification to improve livability of the truck.

Well, it happened again and I think I found the root cause. I popped the top plastic cover off of the steering wheel column and the problem still existed. (No horn is easy to check!) I wiggled the wires on back of the yellow connector that plugs into the clockspring and ta-da, functional horn again. I started looked at the wires and noticed that the ones of the left seemed to be pulled pretty tight. I slid the red locking tab out and then removed the connector. It appears that when I added the new wire to get the updated gauge cluster to work, I accidentally twisted the entire assembly around once before plugging the connector back in. I untwisted the cable once and all of the wires looked much more relaxed. I plugged it in back in and everything worked, and the wires no longer look to be pulled tight. Let's hope that I didn't do any long term damage by having that much stress on the wires/connectors. Here's when it was twisted: Here's the more relaxed orientation: (different angle)

In typical vehicle fashion, after work, I went out to diagnose my truck after letting it sit all day. I had printed out all of the pages of the GM upfitter electronic schematics that dealt with the horn and steering wheel controls, so I had connector and pin information that I'd need. I took off the plastic cover on the top of the steering column and before I started poking around, I decided to try the horn again, and of course it works now.... I put the key in and all of the buttons on the steering wheel also worked. I didn't see/feel anything lose, but did push on all of the connectors in there. My Pontiac G8 GT will sometimes do something similar where the radio buttons on the steering wheel stop working, but completely turning off the car (including opening/closing the door to kill the Retained Accessory Power) will make them start to work again. After looking at the schematic of the horn circuit: I'm guessing that the BCM had some sort of hiccup. Oh well, at least everything is working again!

Well, three years after installing my new gauges and steering wheel, my truck developed a random steering wheel related problem yesterday... I went to blow the horn and it didn't work, and then I noticed the the radio controls and the right side buttons no longer work either! The cruise control buttons do still work. And when I lock the truck with the remote control, the horn still honks. I don't see an airbag warning light, so hopefully that is still functional. I didn't have time to diagnose it yet, but will be pulling the top cover off of the steering wheel to inspect the connectors, and checking my fuse panels. You guys think that I have a faulty clockspring? Maybe a connector just came loose? Is there a single fuse that controls that stuff? Thanks!

Okay, maybe I just forgot how to operate my IOR stereo system, as the card reader worked for me yesterday. I went to the screen which shows the buttons on the left for AM, FM, XM, etc, and when I inserted the SD card, one labeled "USB" showed up. I clicked it, and the MP3s from my SD card started playing. Sweet!

As an update to this, the SD card reader seems to have stopped working.... The USB-A and USB-C ports still work great, and I have my wireless Android Auto adapter plugged into the USB-C port all of the time. I had an SD card inserted for over a year, without using it for probably that long. When I went to play music from the card, the stereo didn't see the card. I brought the card into the house and it worked fine on a computer. I tried a different SD card and it to didn't work in the Silverado. Weird. Maybe it broke, or maybe I changed some settings in the stereo somewhere and don't recall doing it!

Well, not so much a mod, but three weeks ago, I finally towed something with my 2020 Custom Trail Boss for the first time. My son and I made a trip from Eastern PA up to NH to pick up a project car. (2014 Caprice PPV former police car) We left at 2:30am, paid for the car, picked up the reserved u-haul trailer, then went to the maintenance building and got the car. Loaded it up and headed back home, arriving around 12:30am. Way too much traffic on that entire trip! The 5.3/6L80E in my truck did better that I expected towing a 4000+ pound car. The surge brakes on the trailer were a little weird, but I got used to them. I was able to maintain highway speeds without problem, but once I got on Route 15 in CT with the steeper hills and sharper turns (and construction narrowed lanes....) it was putting more pressure on the truck. In tow haul mode, it was really winding up the RPMs coming down a few hills. But all in all, I was impressed as it did much better than I expected. That said, I understand why people who tow frequently get a 2500 with the diesel engine. As for mods, I picked up some aftermarket fog lights for my Trail Boss which have cool looking daytime running lights and turn signals built into them. Unfortunately, they are not "plug and play" as advertised. Well, they are plug and play with my factory fog lights for the fog light functionality, but I'm going to have to tap into a few wires to get the DRLs and turn signals working in them. Maybe somebody makes a harness that I could buy?

Well, I'm apparently a bit of a slacker, as I've done nothing towards this project yet.... I looked at some aftermarket kits, and again looked at the factory heating elements and associated cables. Paralysis by analysis as they say. I'm enjoying the remote start and having the truck warm for me when I get in, so that heated seats aren't as much of an issue, but I would like to have them.

I've been thinking about adding the OEM seat heating pads to my 2020 Custom Trail Boss which didn't have the heated seat option. I wanted to use an aftermarket controller, but I have the same questions that you did about the wiring. Did you ever figure out how to wire them up? I have a feeling that I'm going to be installing an aftermarket kit for the heaters and the controller....

Thanks for trying this! I was really curious if just adding that wire would get the steering wheel heater to work. Bummer to hear that it didn't work. Thanks for telling us where the HVAC Control Module is located. I ended up going with the steering wheel that doesn't have the steering wheel heater, as that was the only one that I could find in stock.

Does anyone know where to purchase a Canny7 these days? With the "situation" in Ukraine, it appears that the Canny products can no longer be purchased outside of Russia....

Hey nolte. I saw how the other person said that their phone wasn't really charging via the USB port after installing this, but that hasn't been my experience. It's such as low cost modification, I figured that I didn't have much to lose! Plus I keep an SD card (ejected) in the slot with some tunes on it, as a backup music option. I finally bought a USB-C to USB-C cable to try, and I've had no problems with charging my phone via the USB-A or USB-C ports on this adapter. And my ancient LG V20 is a battery sucker, so I'd know if it wasn't putting out enough. (But it has a user removable battery and an IR blaster and I can't find a new phone with these features....) Last weekend, I had my phone hooked to the USB-A port and my son attached his new Motorola phone to the USB-C port and it seemed to let either one of us launch Android Auto! It was sort of confusing though, as I think the bluetooth connection was to my phone, but the screen attached to his phone.... And if you haven't seen this thread, it's possible to add the steering wheel controls to your truck too!

You guys are making me feel better about going for the "mid-level" cluster instead of the "hi-country" digital package. I was having slight buyers remorse for not getting the fancier gauge cluster before I installed it, but have been completely happy afterwards. My only complaint is that with the steering column being tilt only, I can't adjust it so that I can properly still see the top gauges and also have a good angle of the wheel (and still drive with my knees when needed). I have it adjusted so I can mostly see the top gauge needles, but I wish the column had more adjustability to get it how I really like it. I'm 6'3" but that's not that tall. They sell the columns with tilt and telescope: https://www.gmpartsbin.com/a/Chevrolet_2020_Silverado-1500-LT-Trail-Boss-Crew-Cab-Pickup-Fleetside-53L-EcoTec3-V8-AT-4WD/_50018_7626396/STEERING-COLUMN-ASSEMBLY/GH19405.html I'm not sure which to get being that I only have the six speed automatic, with old-fashioned key ignition (which I like!) but it looks like this one would work: https://www.gmpartsbin.com/p/Chevrolet_2020_Silverado-1500-LT-Trail-Boss-Crew-Cab-Pickup-Fleetside-53L-EcoTec3-V8-AT-4WD/Column-ASSEMBLY-Steering-Column/94506339/84800780.html I wonder how tough the installation would be? My wife likes to remind me that maybe I should have purchased the more expensive model of my truck.

Thanks Mac! I appreciate the comments, and am really happy how well it turned out. I like the look of the "real" gauges, and they have a really nice back-lighting glow to them that the factory gauges that my Custom Trail Boss didn't have. I just drove the truck for back-to-back weekend trips of over 600 miles each, and the leather wheel and extra control buttons made the trips much more enjoyable.

I'm curious if you finished up mount the CB Antenna onto the GM Accessories Sport Bar? I'd love to see some pictures if you did, as I also have the Sport Bar and was thinking that would be a pretty cool place to mount a CB antenna. On my 2000 Silverado, I fabricated a custom mount for the front stake hole (since like this truck, I had a tonneau cover which left the stake holes open) and it worked well, but was difficult to access when building/installing.

I just wanted to update the thread on how this upgrade has improved the daily "quality of life" when driving my 2020 Custom Trail Boss. Instead of feeling that crappy foam steering wheel (and the defect/nub I had on the back of mine at the 12 o'clock position) in my hands, I now have a nice leather wrapped wheel and it makes a big difference when driving the truck. The trim color on the steering wheel that I chose, seems to match the factory trim around the radio quite well. What surprised me most is how much I like the new color gauge display in the center. I didn't realize how lame the Custom's monochrome display was until getting this. When using the cruise control, seeing the symbol in green lets me immediately know that cruise control is enabled, which wasn't so easy to see on the old display. Just having the time displayed there makes it so much nicer than looking at the stereo, trying to find the time, especially when android auto is running. I wish that there was a way to also display the outside temperature next to the time, but there doesn't appear to be a way to do that. While I didn't get the mostly digital high-country display, the display that I got is quite nice, and I like the shiny trim around the physical gauges. And of course the buttons are what I was most looking forward to, and I'm not disappointed. Being able to hit the microphone to bring up the android assistant, instead taking my eyes off of the road, to look at the bottom right corner of the android auto screen is so much better. And my pet peeve of not being able to easily change radio presets while running android auto has been addressed. It's a great upgrade and thank you so much for those that found out how to do this, and those vendors who sell the parts that I needed to make it work!

Oh wow, I didn't realize that they changed the available options for 2021. Pretty neat! I should go through the configuration again sometime.

Sadly, that package isn't available to order on the Custom series of trucks, or I would have gotten it! Chevrolet definitely made a decision to limit features to the Custom series, in order to drive customers up to the higher trim levels. You couldn't even order fog lights on the Custom! (And we won't talk about the non-functional center console that so many of us have replaced....)

Upgrade complete on my 2020 Custom Trail Boss! With the help of the Harness Dr's instructions, I was able to figure out how to get the wires landed where they needed to be. Unlike everyone else that I saw post on here, I didn't go with the full-digital High Country gauges, instead, I went with the more traditional (and cheaper) gauges setup that has the color LCD in the center, and the four physical gauges up top. I like the physical gauges, and the silver trim on this cluster looks nice. Overall, I'm blow away by how much this upgrade improves the feel of the truck. The cheap foam steering wheel with the big blank panel on the right (instead of buttons) just screamed cheap, as did the monochome LCD in the center of the gauge cluster. The look and feel of the leather wheel is awesome, and I'm surprised how much better the gauge cluster looks. The wider display and the addition of color makes it look so much nicer! The trim on the steering wheel and the new gauge cluster trim looks good with the silver trim around the radio. But the main reason that I did this was, was to get the steering wheel buttons, and I'm not disappointed. The microphone button is great to bring up my Google assistant, even when I'm not running Android Auto, and my biggest pet peeve with the IOR radio before was that when I was in Android Auto and listening to the radio, there was no easy way to change between my presets. I had to hit the home button, and navigate back to audio and press the new preset button on the top of the screen, then press and hold the home button to get back to Android Auot! Now, I just press the buttons behind the left side of my steering wheel. And just activating the Google assistant required reaching all the way over to the right, and pressing the microphone icon, which pretty much made you take you eyes off of the road. Special thanks to WAMS for making this possible. My 2020 Custom Trail Boss with 5.3 and without start/stop indeed works with the "2021 US Spec GAS - Chevrolet - NO AUTO STOP" gauge cluster that he had me order. Anyways, here are two pictures. One comparing the stock wheel with the new one, and one with the new wheel and gauge cluster showing. I did record a series of videos with a digital camera while doing the installation, and maybe I'll try to put together a youtube video of it sometime, if the footage looks okay.

He got back to me via Messenger and sent me the link to the instructions. Those definitely contain the level of detail that I was looking for!

Thanks for the info about the QR code. I opened up a messenger session on his website asking him about instructions. Hopefully I'll get a response soon.

Yes, I purchased the wire from Harness Dr back on March 21. When I opened the ziplock bag last night, there was only the wire with the labeled tags on which position to put the wire ends into which connectors. I just was looking for instructions on how to open up the connectors to get the wires in. Were there other instructions that I removed when I first got the wire?

Okay, I managed to get everything apart last night, before running out of time and energy at midnight. Yes, I had to use my big impact gun on the T-50 bolt. I tried my 18V ryobi impact, and then just a long ratchet, but I decided to get the big electric impact out and it broke it loose right away. I was a bit concerned as my T-50 bit wasn't impact rated, but nothing broke. Oddly, when I removed the bolt, it was covered with blue thread locker, which was somehow still wet! The dash wasn't too hard to get apart, and after figuring out how to snap apart the plastic around the steering wheel, I was able to remove the top part of that trim, which was connected via the rubber flap to the gauge front trim. I now need to add the LIN bus wire to the two connectors and am not sure how to do that. Any tips? It looks like the yellow clockspring connector has a black plastic bar which lifts up a bit. Do I just lift that and slide the new pin in? And what about the odd connector that goes into the gauge cluster? Is there a pin/block to raise on that connector too? I've attached a picture of both connectors, and the diagrams from the gmupfitter wiring diagram. I need to get this together tonight, as I plan on taking my truck on a 600+ mile trip this weekend.