[Theneon]

Hey folks, my light tester ished the bed so I need a lil assistance. I searched Google but found nothin' in the first five pages and gave up.

We recently purchased a very cool 1985 Dodge Ram D100 Miser with the /6 and a 4 speed manual as a general duty work truck. Spring cleaning is around the corner (so I say to convince the wife ). I'd love to install a decent Pioneer cd player for our highway journeys but the mess the previous owner made of the original harness has left me scratching my head a lil. Tape deck was wired direct without the use of connectors. A lot of extensions were made and poorly executed. The gentleman didn't even use butt connectors. Just the ole twist and tape method. A lot of wires were confusingly taped together... so I have no idea which was which.

I have solid RED, GREY (has fusible link or diode, I can't tell which), BROWN, and ORANGE wires. I have the speaker wires identified, which was easy enough since there were only two factory ones

 

[ImperialCrown]

See if this matches what you are looking at:


1985 Dodge Ram Charger Car Stereo Wiring Diagram
Car Radio Battery Constant 12v+ Wire: Gray
Car Radio Accessory Switched 12v+ Wire: Red
Car Radio Ground Wire: Chassis
Car Radio Illumination Wire: Orange
Car Stereo Dimmer Wire: Red

 

[Theneon]

See if this matches what you are looking at:


1985 Dodge Ram Charger Car Stereo Wiring Diagram
Car Radio Battery Constant 12v+ Wire: Gray
Car Radio Accessory Switched 12v+ Wire: Red
Car Radio Ground Wire: Chassis
Car Radio Illumination Wire: Orange
Car Stereo Dimmer Wire: Red

This helps greatly but I'm really curious as to what the solid BROWN wire is for. I guess I really only need to get constant and switched power to it to get it to work

Once again Allpar proves its a fantastic resource. Every question I've posted has been answered within a day.

Thanks again Imperial!!!!

 

[ImperialCrown]

Actually a Brown wire is used for the LR+ speaker, but that didn't make sense to me on a 2 door speaker Miser.
Is the Brown wire in the vehicle harness or may someone have added it or is it for something other than the radio? Maybe see if it is a power or ground?
This is the website I used for the wire color info:
http://www.modifiedlife.com/1985-dodge-ram-charger-car-radio-wiring-diagram/