I need to replace the factory stereo in the jeep and I would like to do it myself.

The stock one has stopped playing any cd and doesnt eject them anymore.. I still have 1 stuck in there I hope to get out once its pulled

Has anyone done this before? Any tips on removing it without destroying the dash?

Pry off the defroster duct cover, remove the ashtray, remove the 2 screws underneath the defrost cover, and one screw behind the ashtray, give it a good tug, and the bezel will come righ toff. Then there's two hex head screws that hold the stock stereo in place, remove stereo, wire up your adapter harness and plug it in, put new stereo in new adapter plate, bolt it all back together.

To get that cd out, you can try using a pair of tweezers to pull it out. It worked for me with my old Sony cd player.

If you're looking for a new head unit, I recommend Alpine.

In my '02 there was a coat hanger looking metal piece screwed into the back of the stereo and connected to 2 bolts in the top of the dash behind it....I didn't see it until I had both feet on the dash trying to pry the radio out of there and thought I would check behind it. I stuck my head in the glove box and saw it was held in there with the big metal piece. Seems like a good idea....I couldn't steal it if I wanted to!

Both of our 01 TJs CD players stopped working at about the same time some 6 months ago. They stopped ejecting CDs. We had them replaced under warranty. We were able to get the CDs out buy pushing them back in the player and pressing eject until they came out. We used a credit card to push the edge of the CD back in. If you have the same problem as we did, it just might work. It's seems that they get caught on the upper dust guard.