So I'm about to order a new head unit for my 2002 Blazer so I can migrate my subs and iPod from my car to my Blazer. My Blazer's stock stereo says RDS and I've read up on the special harness with the door chime hookup that is RDS specific. The free harness that comes bundled with the stereo from crutchfield is the same as the non-RDS one. I found the special harness for the door chime at my local wal-mart and according to the listing on the back it's only for the 2003-2004 Blazer, is the 2002 w/RDS the special year that doesn't require the door chime harness? I read on a thread that if your door chimes come from the speakers then you need the special harness. I'm a little confused because my door chimes come from the dash but not from any of the speakers there. So do I need the special harness because If I do I would like to know before I pry into my dash to install the radio. I also read from another thread about stereo's with RDS not having switchable power so a power wire needs to be run from the ignition. If this is true then I'm probably just going to not bother with it and buy an FM transmitter and live with being unhappy because my new memphis 10's aren't in the back. I've also read that you may have to cut out a support bracket for the factory radio to fit an aftermarket one. Is it possible to just bend the support because I would like to put the stock radio back in if I sell the blazer off in the future. I'm hoping someone can please clarify all this for me

 

It's been my experience that none of the actual blazer's/jimmy's have the RDS in them, at least that I've run across yet and my 2001 Jimmy doesn't either. If you hear your chimes out of the dash then you don't have it anyway and even if you did if you used the non-RDS harness the only thing that happens is that you don't have the chimes. My little brother's 2004 Trailblazer has the RDS, but it's a whole different animal.

As far as the brace behind the HU, I can't remember. It's been about 2 years since I threw my HU in. I can't recall exactly what I ran into behind the HU on it. Even if there's a brace that needs a little trimming to get the aftermarket unit installed, it's well worth your trouble and can be done quickly with a dremel tool or a die grinder.

 

Okay, I found on the other forums that as long as the chimes come from the dash then im all clear from having to run a power wire. Well I dont have a dremel so hopefully I will be able to just bend the support bracket. If its not extremely thick then I think that im just going to try to bend it. I've never used a dremel before, If i do have to end up using one what kind of bit do I need to use for it because I dont want to cause any spark potentially burning up anything under the dash.

 

Just a reinforced cut-off wheel will work just fine. Anything that cuts steel at a high speed is going to emit some sparks, the carbon in the steel causes that. There won't be enough sparks off of something like that to worry about though so you'll be fine. I've done the same thing inside the dash of dozens of vehicles with no issues. Hopefully it will clear without having to do any modifications though. I sure wish I could remember if I had to on my truck or not.

 

So last night I got my Sony dsx-s200x in, wired the harness in preparation for the install. This morning I got the dash out was to the point of plugging the new harness in and realized they weren't the same. Went to my local audio shop where they told me more than likely my Blazer is a mid 2002 production which believe it or not makes a difference, and as a result Crutchfield had sent me the wrong harness because of this. I'm pissed because when I checked their website they didn't even carry the correct harness. I did end up needing to wire a switchable power wire from the stereo to the ignition. Since I am no mechanic or car stereo expert and never installed a stereo that required this I opted to let them install it. Its in and I'm loving it just sad that I had to shell out a good chunk of change to get it installed.