plug ugly

I installed my Kenwood DNX 6960 the other night. Aside from being pretty cold, the install went smoothly and took 6 Racer 5 Pale Ales. Along with it, I installed the bluetooth microphone, a new sirius tuner, steering wheel control module and the navigation antenna. I apologize for not taking better/more pics, but it really is pretty self explanatory. All parts were purchased from Sonic Electronix, who had the best price by far (a few hundred bucks)


Here it is installed with an American International install kit and the requisite navigation bezel. Its not as clean as i would like, there are some gaps around the install kit which bug me.





I bench topped most of the wiring. made soldering everything much easier sitting at the kitchen table where it was warm. The wiring harness made it quite simple once i figured out all the wiring colors and what I didnt or did need. I used a PAC Audio Can bus adapter C2R-CHY and SWI-JACK. This eliminated the need for the SWI-CAN and those two basically just plug together. I wired the head unit into the stock infiniti amp for now, until I can afford the Focal speakers i want.

Of note, i ground the parking wire to a ground hidden behind the lower dash panel (see pics). Once you remove the plastic piece, there is a splatter shield of sorts, that can be removed. This makes installing all wiring much easier. i can now use DVD and all Nav functions while driving.

Look at the little red thing behind the dash piece above the brake controller


This is a close up but lousy pic of the ground wiring location. It required a 10mm wrench


For the sirius tuner, i removed the factory unit (needs a 10mm wrench), and used velcro to mount the new tuner in place. By mounting it in the stock location I was able to use the factory antenna. **** You need to pry the little red cap off the factory antenna plug, which gives you access to a tab that locks the antenna plug into the pea green colored plastic piece. Once removed from the plastic piece, just plug the stock antenna into the sirius tuner.

I put the blue tooth mic here, again requiring 10 mm wrench for removal of the a pillar. Go ahead and remove both pillars, so the front dash piece can be pulled up, giving access to the speakers and top of the dash. The wife reports good sound from this location




with the dash piece up, I fished the nav antenna wire down. Its a little tight, but i used some household 3 wire romic to fish it down through a hole near the center speaker. you can see in the pic my one (and only) screw up. I filed down the edge of the dash piece for the antenna wire to sit in. This was one of the last things I did, and was apparently 6 beers into this. I filed the wrong side to start. Luckily, you dont really see it when its mounted. i put a similar file mark on the other side to route the wire through. i trimmed the sticker magnet down so you dont see it, just the antenna





Final thoughts: Really easy, but i do a lot of fab/auto stuff and have installed a few stereos. This was my first double din, and it took some dumb questions on my part to figure out how it mounted.



Links to

Stereo
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...n-DNX6960.html

Install kit
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...l-CD-K650.html

Pac Audio Stuff
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...2R-CHY4v1.html

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-SWI-JACK.html

Ipod Cable
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...10-Models.html

Antenna Adapter
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-CRAB-CRA.html

BroncoAZ

I thought the SWI-CAN was still required to interpret the signals from the steering wheel controls to feed the SWI-JACK. That's great that it works without it. I installed the Avic Z110BT in the wife's Jetta and put all three PAC boxes in to make it work. I've purchased the steering wheel buttons for the Dodge and had the dealer activate the option code, but I haven't installed it yet.

Dave88LX

Good stuff. Working on piecing everything together for my install right now as well. I'm bummed to hear about the gap around the AI trim ring. I was hoping to get away from the double-ring look of the Metra kit. Grrr. I ordered the AI kit already.

We can add the steering wheel buttons? I didn't know that.

BroncoAZ

There is a huge thread over an another forum about adding the steering wheel controls.

http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/show...20#post3615420

The next time I buy a truck I'll make sure I just buy the loaded one rather than trying to add bits and pieces later. I do miss the power pedals, heated seats, sliding rear window, etc. that my Titan had. The previous trucks I've had (Ford and Nissan) were much easier to add options to than these CANBUS Dodge trucks.

bucknasty

Plug, so....the factory Sirius Antenna has a normal looking Sirius antenna plug inside the green connector?

BTW, I tried two different nav bezels and both fit equally as crappy. Overall looks good and nice write up.

plug ugly

yeah buck, just pry off the red sliding cap, and there is a little tab that can be pried back to release the inner plug. That plug will slide right into a normal tuner.

I also tried a Scoshe install kit, and it had a 1/16 or so gap around it too. I think they are all the same that way.