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91 K5 - Has anyone ever swapped the stereo and heater controls?

Jessie James

Jessie James

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My one gripe about my truck is that I can't see my stereo which would be really nice. The climate controls, which I can see, don't really need my undivided attention because I can operate them by feel.

So has anyone ever swapped the stereo and heat controls? Is it possible? Easy?

Where's the write-up? :whistle:
 
Nope. :laugh:

You wanted a stock, unmolested truck - you went to great length to explain how to get one of those, what to look for, etc. :rolleyes: :laugh:

You also now get to hack it up all by yourself :D if you want something different.
 
Take the dash apart and make some measurements. Whether or not there is enough depth may depend on the head unit you're using.

I've actually been thinking of something similar lately - to put the heater controls where the radio went and then cut the HVAC controls and vent into a single opening to mount a touchscreen in portrait orientation. It might be possible to clean up the cut plastic openig with fiberglass and paint.
 
jms said:
Nope. :laugh:

You wanted a stock, unmolested truck - you went to great length to explain how to get one of those, what to look for, etc. :rolleyes: :laugh:

You also now get to hack it up all by yourself :D if you want something different.
Click to expand...
Hey, I want to ruin my own truck, not one that someone else has already had the pleasure of ruining! :haha:
 
Your biggest issue will be the cable actuators for everything.

I'd guess it would be easier to cut the center of the dash,and put a single Din flip out monitor in there, than it would be to move this control.
 
I think there is just one cable - for the blend door. As long as this is a sleeved type cable (not sure) it should be easy to relocate within a short distance. Everything else is vacuum lines. The wiring for the blower switch and A/C should also be easy to move within a short distance.
 
Jessie James said:
My one gripe about my truck is that I can't see my stereo which would be really nice. The climate controls, which I can see, don't really need my undivided attention because I can operate them by feel.

So has anyone ever swapped the stereo and heat controls? Is it possible? Easy?

Where's the write-up? :whistle:
Click to expand...

Your undivided attention should be on the road and traffic while driving anyways.

anyways, learn your stereo face, you do everything by touch. Or do like mine, get a remote capable stereo unit. :D
 
I suppose you could, and pushing a button or turning a knob to select heat and fan speed might work well.
But sliding those leavers to select stations on the radio are gong to be a pain, and then you will only have a few set volume settings with that fan switch...........


Actually, of course, like others have said, the main limiting factor is going to be space behind the dash and if the cables will reach.
The other options, which are probably too much trouble, would be to try to convert the heat system to a vacuum controlled system like the newer ones.
Then the vacuum hoses can be extended to anywhere.
But I'm pretty sure that the actuators off a newer truck will not adapt to the old cable style, but if you pulled a couple off a junker you could try to see they could be made to adapt.

Given my field of expertise, I naturally tend to think of a second option. Go electronic.
All the blend doors and what have you can easily be controlled by some kind of electrical actuator.
They make some RC actuators that are pretty strong, but if not, then full size stepper motors can be gotten strong enough to move about anything.

Once you got the actuators mounted, then the controls can be anywhere in the truck, freeing up the whole area for radio mounting.

You could even go wireless control, or add a cheap PLC and a couple of temperature sensors and have climate control

I'm pretty sure that some of the newer trucks have electric actuators, you might be able to adapt the whole system.
Its a lot easier to extend and move wires than control cables.
 
Hang on a minute. This is a 91? Did they use the manual cables in 91? I thought they were vacuum or electric by then??
 
dhcomp said:
Your biggest issue will be the cable actuators for everything.

I'd guess it would be easier to cut the center of the dash,and put a single Din flip out monitor in there, than it would be to move this control.
Click to expand...
I thought about that, but I am loathe to cut holes in sheetmetal. Besides, if I recall, there is an air duct going behind the dash, so that would be an obstacle I don't want to deal with.

Blue85 said:
I think there is just one cable - for the blend door. As long as this is a sleeved type cable (not sure) it should be easy to relocate within a short distance. Everything else is vacuum lines. The wiring for the blower switch and A/C should also be easy to move within a short distance.
Click to expand...
There are two cables actually - blend door and temp. But otherwise you're right.

4xcrazy said:
Your undivided attention should be on the road and traffic while driving anyways.

anyways, learn your stereo face, you do everything by touch. Or do like mine, get a remote capable stereo unit. :D
Click to expand...
My stereo face is impossible to use, and while it does have a remote, the buttons don't always do the corresponding function from the remote to the head unit. For example, I often want to hit "shuffle" which is (tiny, unreadable, in the middle of 8 buttons in a row, hidden behind the shift lever) button #4 on my head unit. Well, while there is a #4 button on my remote, pressing it does nothing! So stupid....

I think the solution would be to make a new dash panel face, and then see what I can do...

Now I just have to wait for all my stereo parts to arrive.
 
Fordum said:
I suppose you could, and pushing a button or turning a knob to select heat and fan speed might work well.

But sliding those leavers to select stations on the radio are gong to be a pain, and then you will only have a few set volume settings with that fan switch...........
Click to expand...

This made me :haha:
 
Hey, it could be worse. I thought about swapping in a '92 or a '95 dash ... :D
 
Jessie James said:
Hey, it could be worse. I thought about swapping in a '92 or a '95 dash ... :D
Click to expand...

Theres photos on here somewhere of someone that swapped a 96-99 style dash. Did a good job, too.

Fiberglass work to mate the the round column, and filled in the gauge area, and cut for round style autometers.

Like the 96-99 dash a lot.....the center console, not so much.
 
Really? Oooooh you should not have told me that. Now I'm going to have to find it and see how hard it is to do...

Shame on you!
 
Jessie James said:
Really? Oooooh you should not have told me that. Now I'm going to have to find it and see how hard it is to do...

Shame on you!
Click to expand...

Definitely not easy! Cut out dash metal, weld in newer style dash support brackets.

No idea how they converted the HVAC controls.

Big job for sure, but looked pretty sweet.

That being said....i like our interiors! :waytogo:
 
I found the thread ... waaay to much work for little old me. I'm going to stick with my dash because I'm a wimp. Haha
 
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