95 cassette player to CD Player

[sfhighroller]

I have a 1995 EB Explorer 4 door and am trying to take the cassette player out and put in a CD player. I went to best buy to get the head unit and was planning on installing it myself because i have done alot of friends and figured it would be easy. The guy at best buy said the if i have a retractable radio antenna i have to keep my stock radio and hide it somewhere in the dash or something because my power windows and door locks run off of that. Then i would put the aftermarket in but kep that power to the old radio as well. or something like that. This doesnt make much since to me but if you have a answer about how to get around this or if this is even true please post, Thanks.

 

[cobrajeff]

Your profile says you have an XLT, but your note says you have an EB. If you have an Eddie Bauer Explorer, you cannot easily change the radio. Most EB Explorers have the Ford JBL system, which, in model years 1995 through 1997, had a unique "distributed architecture". In that system, the guts of your radio are not in the head unit - they are in the back of the truck, attached to the SW housing.

You can tell by looking at the head unit - if you have a "DSP" button, you have the Ford JBL system. If you do not have a DSP button, then your head unit should have a base part number of -19B165- (the JBL one would be -18C852-), and you could swap it for a Ranger single CD radio (base part number -18C815-). A single CD out of a '97-'98 Lincoln Mark VIII will work also, but you would lose your clock function and Rear Seat Controls.

If you have the JBL system, everything, including the wiring and antenna lead routing would have to be changed (the antenna plugs in at the back of the truck with JBL).

regards,

cobrajeff