First gen with a third gen radio possible?

Hey everyone I have a 2004 first gen Tacoma and my buddy has a 3rd gen I’ve been thinking of upgrading my radio and I really like the 3rd gen Tacoma radio look it just looks really high quality more than the aftermarket stuff out there and I’m curious if there’s maybe a way to instal a 3rd gen’s radio in my first gen any information or suggestions would be appreciated

 

Unfortunately the third gen radio screen while nice sit too high in the dash to work. When you take out the OEM radio and try to fit it in it will sit in there and most of the plugs will fit it and it should power on. But you can’t bolt it in unless you cut out the part of the upper inner dash to move it up to clear the heater A/C controls. Plus the fact nobody makes a surround for it and you can’t modify any on the market to make it fit. Been there done it you are also restricted to a 2016 to 2019 radio as after that Toyota changed the radio and wiring. Your better off with an aftermarket radio that has phone support and a surround that will fit.

 

sorry, no, it's never going to work.

the '04 has a standard double-din 4"x 7" opening. the 3rd gen has a much larger opening, so the display won't fit within the confines of your current dashboard without a ton of custom work.

for reference, here's my double din radio stack within the opening size of the 3rd gen

 

I get that but I plan on having a buddy of mine do some custom pieces that should make it a bit more clean looking but one problem I have is I can find the radio and some of the wiring but as for wireing harness that’s where I hit a brick wall I can only find ones for installing a aftermarket in a 3rd gen so idk if anyone knows where I could find one but thank you for the advice of you can post some pics of yours so Ik a bit more about how it would look if you have any but for the radio and the wiring it’s only about 200 bucks so I figure I can at least try and if it doesn’t work out I can turn around a resale it for the same price as long as I don’t damage it plus you can also lower where it it’s as well there is a entire inch or inch and half of plastic between the radio and the ashtray and cigarette lighter

 

Yes but I have done custom work to it before and it’s something I do but the thing is I can’t find a wiring harnesses or diagram anywhere on the web I just needed to know it would work Ik it would require custom work to the dash and where to find the wiring harnesses for it

 

i see.

the majority of the connections, they make 'car-side' or 'into-factory-radio' connectors.

this metra kit is what you need for basic power, ground, and speaker outputs for the radio.
http://metraonline.com/part/71-1761

what that won't get you is the antenna, or backup camera connections. also, i believe the gps antenna is in the roof-mounted shark fin, so a solution would be needed for that as well if you want full functionality.

this harness will break out the camera connections, though is the main communication/steering wheel harness, so most of it won't be used in your case.
http://metraonline.com/part/AXBUCH-T36V

 

That all makes sense the only main thing I would want to use is the gps which the shark fins are easy to find and wire up and there small enough I could hide somewhere underneath or in the engine bay and still receive a good or decent signal but the radio signal could just go through the shark fin (which would be hidden somewhere) and uninstall my default one but then I would have a hole next to my hood but I might be able to find something to patch it with or just leave it and never use it

 

If you can make it fit in the dash and figure out the wiring a late 2nd gen radio should work, 3rd gen radios were on the CAN bus so I'm not sure if they would function properly on a non CAN bus vehicle.

 

it should just be vehicle data transfer that's needed for the canbus. my truck works fine without the radio, so the radio ought to work fine without the truck.

 

As I indicated in the terminal diagram you only need terminal R30 and R29 for the power and the speakers. Possibly an adapter for the antenna, you don’t need to hack into the vehicle to put in a shark fin. You can get a gps antenna off Amazon or eBay and just tuck it under the dash. If your current wiring won’t plug into the radio Wolf sells plug ins that fit the radio then you splice into your current wiring off Amazon. I purchased this to test bed Toyota radios that I am currently fixing.

 

On mine in a Rav4 (basic 3rd gen toyota headunit) you have to subscribe (and pay) to get nav. There's allot of radios I'd pick before going to any trouble to install Toyota's factory system, even if it was free.

 

Just grab an aftermarket unit and get a custom wired harness. Dont try to reinvent the wheel with upgrading to a third gen stock radio.