Now that Project Off-Road Toyota has upgraded suspension, we plan on taking many trips far from civilization. What’s a downside of that? Very few of the areas we plan on taking it off-road have many radio stations especially in Mexico. Down there, even if you can pick up a station, you won’t be able to understand it. The Toyota Pickup doesn’t even have a cassette player in it from the factory; so many times we would have to resign to listening to the sound of the motor. This is fine sometimes, but gets a little tiring.

            In order to fix this problem, I decided on a new Kenwood head unit with CD, MP3, iPod, Bluetooth, and Satellite radio abilities. I think the best way to start out the search for a new head unit is to decide how much you are willing to pay, and what features you have to have. It is very easy to get caught up in all the features of the more expensive units. I wanted to be able to play CD’s, along with  MP3 CD’s that I had created on my own, and I also wanted to be able to plug in my iPod and directly control it from the head unit. I was then narrowed down to 5 or 6 choices, and I pretty much just had to decide what brand I trusted the most.

Removal of Old Unit
            Luckily, when you purchase from Crutchfield.com, most orders come with very detailed instructions on how to remove the factory unit. Mine also came with instructions for removing all of the different speakers in the truck just in case I was doing that too. Even with these instructions, all the pieces of the dash were kind of tricky to get out. They do have to be removed in the order that they say, and don’t be afraid to use a little pressure to get some of it off. Everything from the glove box to the pieces under the steering wheel had to be removed to get to the unit. In this vehicle, there was a variety of plastic clips and metal screws holding them on. Most were easy to find and remove.

Factory head unit

            Four screws then held the head unit in. Once those were out, it slid right out far enough to unplug it. In this truck, there is a tray sort of thing below the factory unit. If you wanted, you could install a 4” receiver instead of using the tray where as the factory one is only 2”. I decided to stick with a 2” unit and keep the tray.

Wiring
            The wiring for a new receiver is much simpler then it used to be, but still not simple! This unit came with the plug that goes into the back of the new receiver with wires attached to it. Then, there was a plug that went into the factory harness and had another set of wires coming from it. The wires coming from the plugs had to be stripped and crimped together. All together, I had to strip and crimp about 10 sets of wires, but you never have to cut into the factory harness which is good. The kit does not come with the connectors to crimp the wires together. I used butt connectors, but you can use whatever you feel is best.

Wiring partly finished

iPod Interface
            As I said, I also wanted to be able to control my iPod directly from the unit. The iPod interface gives a better quality sound than a transmitter, and you don’t have to worry about fumbling with the actual iPod while driving. The interface plugs into the back of the unit, and then is recommended that it is stuck somewhere behind the glove box. Then another wire runs from it to wherever you want to plug the iPod in. If you plan on plugging it in and leaving it connected for long periods of time, you can run the wire directly into the glove box and it can be stored there. I chose to run the cable out by the gear shift so it was easier to access. If you wanted, you could lift the carpet so the cable isn’t on the floorboard and in the way.

iPod Interface controller

Conclusion
            All together, this could be a fairly quick install if you know what you are doing. It took me the majority of a day because of problems with removing the dash pieces and not having the wire connectors. The wiring is not complicated, but you do have to have a general idea what to do to connect the wires. I was really happy with the product, although I still haven’t figured out how to use all the features. The instructions were much better than most products we receive, and that made it much easier on me!

Cost
(From crutchfield.com)
Receiver: $150
iPod Interface: $50