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Head Unit is dead and I would like to the replace it. I'm not looking for anything fancy but Bluetooth capability would be a plus...
Any suggestions?
Any suggestions?
04 Tundra JBL System
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6 Posts
I installed a Kenwood off of Crutchfield and I've been happy with it. It's certainly better than the OEM unit and I can stream podcasts wirelessly, which was my main goal.
Sky is the limit with electronics, so just read reviews or talk to Crutchfield's support staff and figure out which options are important. They're really informative and easy to work with.
Side note, that looks like a cool canoe shot in your avatar!
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
Sky is the limit with electronics, so just read reviews or talk to Crutchfield's support staff and figure out which options are important. They're really informative and easy to work with.
Side note, that looks like a cool canoe shot in your avatar!
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
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20 Posts
I've got a JBL Navigation Headunit that I pulled out of my 2008 Sequoia, not sure if it would work for you but I'd love to see it get a nice new home.
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11 Posts
Ditto on the Kenwood. In early December I put a Kenwood DPX593BT in my '00 Tundra SR5, non-JBL. Truck only has 81,000 on it so I didn't replace speakers as mine are still in nice shape. I love this thing. Even on my stock speakers it sounds twice as good as the factory head unit (and it has around twice the wattage both average and peak). The display can be tough to read in direct sunlight, but it does have a dimmer which I keep on about 1/2 all the time so you can tell how much it really bothers me. When I have the radio on, or my Bluetooth from my iPhone for that matter, I don't find the need to read the screen much anyway. The Bluetooth is great and can store 2 phones, and it automatically detects mine as soon as I get in the truck and switch it on. It also has a USB and regular aux hookup both of which can receive sound.
I have heard great things about Crutchfield's service but I purchased the head unit, as well as the little Metro brand wiring harness adapter, from Amazon to save about $20. I didn't need any specialized instructions anyway--there are one or two YouTube videos that show some of the tricky parts and otherwise it's pretty straight forward. Remove the trim (5 screws), remove the head unit (a couple 10mm's), remove the factory amp (a couple screws), take the Kenwood inside and match all the wires to the ones on the adapter, then plug and play. Removing the factory amp was the hardest part, because it's tricky to get a screwdriver on it with enough pressure to turn the screws out (they were tight). That took the most fiddling. Also, regarding the electrical, I'm talented with a soldering iron so I opted to use that and heatshrink tubing to do my wiring, but you could use little crimp connectors like most people do. The project took me a handful of hours one afternoon/evening but I am really OCD about doing things right and making sure everything is perfect, nothing gets scratched, etc. Overall not that hard though, just a little tedious.
Edit: the whole package was around $120 for me, and I already had all the tools, heatshrink, solder, etc. that I needed. Add a few bucks for a pack of crimp connectors if you want to go that route. I think Crutchfield would be more like $140 but you get custom instructions to your vehicle, I believe.
I have heard great things about Crutchfield's service but I purchased the head unit, as well as the little Metro brand wiring harness adapter, from Amazon to save about $20. I didn't need any specialized instructions anyway--there are one or two YouTube videos that show some of the tricky parts and otherwise it's pretty straight forward. Remove the trim (5 screws), remove the head unit (a couple 10mm's), remove the factory amp (a couple screws), take the Kenwood inside and match all the wires to the ones on the adapter, then plug and play. Removing the factory amp was the hardest part, because it's tricky to get a screwdriver on it with enough pressure to turn the screws out (they were tight). That took the most fiddling. Also, regarding the electrical, I'm talented with a soldering iron so I opted to use that and heatshrink tubing to do my wiring, but you could use little crimp connectors like most people do. The project took me a handful of hours one afternoon/evening but I am really OCD about doing things right and making sure everything is perfect, nothing gets scratched, etc. Overall not that hard though, just a little tedious.
Edit: the whole package was around $120 for me, and I already had all the tools, heatshrink, solder, etc. that I needed. Add a few bucks for a pack of crimp connectors if you want to go that route. I think Crutchfield would be more like $140 but you get custom instructions to your vehicle, I believe.
I put in a Pioneer head unit in my 2003 and it works great! It wasn't too expensive and it doesn't have a Disc or cassette player but it plays the music off my iPhone. Model is a Pioneer MVH-AV290BT and it was $189.00 from Crutchfield. Things I don't like is no round volume control, touch screen slider instead. Also put Polk speakers in the front doors!
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