I've read the threads on this topic but I can't seem to find a straight answer. My friend has a 2016 Road Glide Ultra with a GT Radio. He has a chance to purchase a GTS radio from 2023 Road Glide Limited. What does he need to look for as far as model numbers (A vs. non-A part numbers), and what else will he have to do (flashing, etc.)? Thanks in advance for the help. He is not on the forum so I'm doing some leg work for him.

 

Road glide to road glide - he should be OK. Plus, the GTS from the 2023 is already updated.

Plug and play

 

What he said ^
The "A" or not... is a revision letter on the head unit's part number... one without a revision letter came out of the factory with software before they were made backwards compatible, and if buying one for an older bike you would want to be sure it has had its software updated before it was removed from the bike it was taken out of... even still there are ways to update the software if it had not been, its just a bit of a pain in the ***. No revision letter would indicated it was a first year GTS... so the maps for the Nav are probably going to be 6+years old....

With a revision letter (A,B,C,D,etc) would indicate the radio's factory software was the updated software making it backwards compatible. But after the install is done, I would also update the radio's software anyway to the last one that came out if it isn't already updated to it, because that update finally fixed the info screen to show the correct status of the bike's EITMS on the older bikes, Before that update, on the older bikes, the GTS's Info screen would always show EITMS as "Disabled" even if it was actually enabled or active, not a big deal but its something that was actually fixed in an update
But I would be looking for one with the highest revision letter I could find, that indicates it's newer and the maps wouldn't be as old as others. I think the '23's had a revision letter "D".

When I did my '16 RGU I put the GTS in using the GTS's Navigation puck and changed out the "Info" switch cover to the "Back" switch cover on the bike's right switch pack.... everything else was what had been being used on/with the GT. I had a CB and it worked the same with the GTS, I had the SiriusXM module in the GT and slid it right in the GTS and it worked great in it (I had the Traffic & Weather package and it worked the same in the GTS), and I used the USB cable that was already on the bike for the GT, with the new GTS and it also worked great.

Install is a piece of cake, take the outer fairing off, then its take out the 4 bolts that hold the GT in and unplug everything from the back of the GT and lift the GT out of the bike, move the bracket on the top of the GT over to the GTS, put the GTS in the bike and bolt it down with the 4 bolts and hook all the wires back up to the GTS... and put the fairing back on... install is done.

You may have to take it to somebody to have it programmed for the new bikes actual configuration (amp(s), number of speakers, CB, etc)... but you may also get lucky and it be all ready to go out of the box, so to speak. Depends on how the donor bike and the new bike compare... I'd plan on having to have it programmed/set up for the new bike, you won't know until your done and start checking things out... like does the Nav work, does the fader work, are the passenger controls working... check it all out. If you have to take it to somebody, its pretty easy and should be whatever their minimum charge is (1/2 hour or 1 hour, some have a flat rate for doing it).