2007 GMC Sierra Stereo w/Bluetooth in a 2005?

bigskot · October 2, 2020

I have a used 2005 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE crew cab with the OEM stereo. I have the SWC for Onstar and I found out it doesn’t support Bluetooth.

My question is can I purchase the stock OEM stereo for a 2007 Sierra 1500 that has Bluetooth and the larger display and wire it to the 2005 harness so I can have that support?

I use XM Radio and would like the additional real estate on the screen for the tracks that are playing as well as Bluetooth.

Thanks!

davester · October 2, 2020

I can't tell you one way or the other, but:

1) at least some of the oem radio's in the GMT800 trucks are VIN-locked, so just swapping used radio's typically involves extra expense unlocking the radio so it works in the new truck

2) it's more likely to work if the '07 radio is from an '07 "classic" truck (so, same body style as your '05).

bigskot · October 2, 2020

Oh sure. Makes sense. I could certainly put in an aftermarket head unit but I honestly like the temp/compass in the rear view mirror.

davester · October 2, 2020

I've got the temp/compass in my rear view mirror ('04 sierra 3500), and they still work after replacing the radio with an aftermarket radio...

bigskot · October 5, 2020

On 10/2/2020 at 6:57 PM, davester said:

I've got the temp/compass in my rear view mirror ('04 sierra 3500), and they still work after replacing the radio with an aftermarket radio...

No kidding?! I was looking at aftermarket units on Crutchfield and there was a big warning about not having that functionality after replacing the stock stereo.

Do you think I that would be the case for any aftermarket stereo? Or do I have to purchase something extra to retain steering wheel controls etc?

Do you mind sharing what brand/model you put in? Thanks

davester · October 6, 2020

I initially installed a Pioneer AVH4000NEX radio, using a PAC-Audio RP3-GM11 harness adapter (chimes, RAP, reverse & parking brake signals, and enough switched power to run the radio) to connect it to the truck's harness (so, no hacking up the truck harness at all, it just plugs into the original harness, and it's trivial to reverse back to the original radio. And that radio crapped out this year, I replaced it with an Alpine ILX-W650 using the same harness. Neither of the radios had anything to do with the compass/temp display in the rear view mirror.

It's been a long time since I researched the harnesses, some had direct SWC support (as in, part of the harness so you didn't need to buy anything else), and others it was a plug-in option.

I would suggest first figuring out what radio you want, so you know what it needs for signals (how much power it needs, reverse signal for backup camera, parking brake for A/V support), then what features of the truck you want (RAP, SWC, chimes, possibly other things?), then talk to a supplier about the right harness to get for it. I've heard crutchfield is pretty good about helping out with picking the right components, but I haven't dealt with them myself.

When I bought my stuff (the original setup), I got a reasonably good deal from https://www.sonicelectronix.com/

The only stupid thing about them was that they automatically included a really basic harness that would have required hacking up the truck's harness anyway (that I have packed up somewhere, I bought/used the RP3-GM11 harness instead).