Okay, I took the plunge today and bought a F700bt. I also picked up the iPod cable, HD radio tuner, Metra trim kit and harness.

 

I've NEVER installed anything like this but, after looking around here I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm no pro but, I thought I'd do my best at posting a little install dialogue here on this particual vehicle to maybe help others learn from it (hopefully without mistakes).

 

 

Here are some pics of the start of the install. This is what the radio trim area looks like. You have to start and the top corners and pull off the trim. The outter trim is part of the inner black fascia piece and removes as one piece. Work your way down from the top VERY GENTLY. The clips are a bastard and I could imagine this could crack easily. I just used gradual but, constant prying pressure and worked my way down. They pop loose with a bit of a "bang". Also, be careful around the dash area. This area is "painted". A few flecks of paint peeled off some of the grain where my knuckles were pressing against it. There wasn't much pressure here at all either. I'm sure no install is without some kind of casualty but, I'm a little dissapointed at how easy the paint flacked.

 

 

I've marked where the clips are in the photo below. This may help you gauge where and when you need to apply pressure.

 

 

Here is the trim area removed showing the location of the clips. Once all the clips are loose you simply remove the control plugs and the trim comes right out.

 

 

Okay, I didn't get to start this until this morning (Sun). It's a good thing I don't do this for a living because, I would starve. This took a better part of my day and I technically didn't finish it because I ran into a snag with my HD Radio install (another thread).

 

I soldered and shrink-tubed the harness first. This was a great harness. I'm sure most have these options but, it was nice to see they left a ground pigtail to tie off the grounds with and the blue wire will send power to a glass embedded antenna or in my case an amplified antenna. I found this out by calling Metra's Tech Support on Saturday and they actually answered.

 

 

After that I started by running the microphone and GPS antenna wires. On the Jeep Liberty there is a gap between the windshield and the back (or front) of the dash. It has a rubber flap covering it. I pushed a 24" zip tie inside the dash to see if it would pop out the top and it did. I had already tied a string to it and used it to pull the GPS antenna and microphone wires down into the dash.

 

 

I just centered the GPS on the dash near the windshield. It doesn't look too bad there. I don't mind it there and it was very simple to do.

 

 

I did the same thing on the left side of the dash for the microphone. I mounted the microphone up in the headliner above the mirror. I did need a small piece of black foam to use as a spacer to make the clip fit to the headliner tight. I then tucked the wire inside the headliner and down the post and into the dash via the gap. I did cut a series of 1" foam blocks and stuffed them at one foot intervals into the gap of the headliner and post. They expanded and held the wire from falling out. The gap is about 3/8" or more and there is nothing to hold the wire otherwise. The foams tucks deep enough that it cannot be seen.

 

 

I then drilled a hole in the armrest basket for snaking the iPod cable/USB Connect. I trimmed it out with a grommet as to not wear or cut the wire over time.

 

 

Here it is with the tray installed. The tray already had a cutout in it that allowed for the iPod cable to snake right up into the basked.

 

 

I did have to remove two brackets from inside the dash. The AVIC was a touch more the 1/2" taller than the stock radio. The top (metal) bracket could have been bent to accomodate the AVIC but, it barely touched it then and offered no support so, I removed it. The bottom (black plastic) bracket had to be removed because, it didn't allow the AVIC to tilt down for mounting in the dash. The AVIC was sitting on top of the bracket. Once I removed these two the AVIC slid right it and mounted very securely. (The metal bracket removes with three screws and the black plastic cap just snaps up from the front and pulls out.

 

 

Here it is installed and working but, the final trim hasn't been installed. I didn't install the HD Tuner because, I wasn't sure where to pull power from or whether or not I needed a splitter for the FM antenna. Since I'm gonna have to pull this to install the HD I figured I'd wait a day and save myself the hassle of removing the trim a second time. Once I get it all finished I'll post final pics.

 

I hope this helps answer questions for anyone else consider this. I'm sure the the pros are snickering though.

 

 

I finished this last week but, never got around to taking the final install pics. I'm really not impressed with the Metra trim kit. There are some gaps and I'm not really sure why the kit is arched. The OEM radio was arched but, we're not trying to match that and I haven't see any arched LCD screens on aftermarket heads so, I'm not sure what they were doing. From a distance it doesn't look bad but, as you will see in the later pics there are some annoying gaps and fit issues.

 

 

Here is a closeup of the fit issues.

 

Here you can see how the top of the kit is more recessed than the bottom

 

 

Here are the annoying side and bottom gaps. The tim kit should NOT be arched. There is no reason for it. It also restricts the head from coming out a bit further and causes a gap at the bottom and top of the head unit. I think the kit needs to be improved.

Has anyone ever used the Metra XSI-6522-NAV harness or the equivalent for their vehicle? The wiring of this install is the most itimidating part. I got this harness to help eliminate as much of the splicing as possible.

 

Do you just solder up the corresponding wires and plug it in and go?

 

Here are the installation instructions listed with the part:

In the Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep vehicles listed on the backthere are no 12 volt accessory wires in the factory radio harness making the installer run an accessory wire to the fuse box or underneath the steering column when installing an aftermarket radio. The XSVI-6522.NAV is designed to provide a 12 volt 10 amp switched accessory output along with the rest of the wires needed to install an aftermarket radio. The R.A.P. (Retained Accessory Power) funciton is retained by the XSVI-6522.NAV.

The AXVI-6522-NAV also provides essential wires required for aftermarket radios that have navigation. Provided iis VSS (Vehicle Speed Sense), Reverse, and Parking Brake. This cuts down the the installation time since the installer does not have to look for these wires in the vehicle.

 

How is this different from any other harness? Anyone want to give me there cell number so, I can call and get some install tips.

 

Many other harnesses don't give you the reverse/park brake wires in the harness. That will save you much time.

 

Solder the matching colors together, and do the bypass whichever way you prefer. Good to go.

 

Good luck.

Sorry I can't help with the harness (I used a PAC Audio harness in my '08 Nitro). I'm very interested in seeing pics of the fit/finish when you are done. There's a gap at the top and bottom of my unit, because my Metra mounting kit doesn't follow the contour of the radio bezel. Hopefully yours fits better. Please take some close up pics when you finish.

 

Your harness looks similar to the PAC unit I installed. You should be able to just concentrate on one wire at a time, and get it wired up without an issue.

 

Dave

You won't find this in the instructions for the Metra Harness. There is no antenna booster on the harness, so you will need to hook the blue antenna wire from the red power lead. The antenna built into the rear glass require juice to function properly. If you don't the regular AM/FM will be fine, but you will have problems with the digital portion of the HD radio dropping out. Which is quite annoying, because the volume goes down when you loose digital and then pops back up to the normal level when you regain the signal.

 

Sorry I can't help with the harness (I used a PAC Audio harness in my '08 Nitro). I'm very interested in seeing pics of the fit/finish when you are done. There's a gap at the top and bottom of my unit, because my Metra mounting kit doesn't follow the contour of the radio bezel. Hopefully yours fits better. Please take some close up pics when you finish.

 

Your harness looks similar to the PAC unit I installed. You should be able to just concentrate on one wire at a time, and get it wired up without an issue.

 

Dave

If your Nitro has a factory amp (and you are using it) the Metra harness is the better choice. The PAC only has two preamp connections, which causes you to loose the ability to fade. Not a big deal to most people, but if you want to be able to have the people in the back seat watching a DVD while you listen to the radio up front you're SOL. The Metra has 4 preamps, so you won't have that issue.

 

I'm using the Metra CHTO-01 in my '06 Magnum w/Boston Acoustic factory amp.

If your Nitro has a factory amp (and you are using it) the Metra harness is the better choice. The PAC only has two preamp connections, which causes you to loose the ability to fade. Not a big deal to most people, but if you want to be able to have the people in the back seat watching a DVD while you listen to the radio up front you're SOL. The Metra has 4 preamps, so you won't have that issue.

 

I'm using the Metra CHTO-01 in my '06 Magnum w/Boston Acoustic factory amp.

 

I have a base model nitro that doesn't have an amp, so that wasn't a concern for me (head unit is driving speakers directly). That's very good info, though! I have a 300C SRT8 with the Kicker System (and an AVIC-Z2). I'm currently unable to fade with it, as I am using a PAC unit in that vehicle as well. I'll have to look into the Metras and see if it's worth an upgrade down the road. I did the 300 almost 2 years ago, so I don't think the Metra unit with fading capability was available at that time.

 

Thanks,

Dave

There is no antenna booster on the harness, so you will need to hook the blue antenna wire from the red power lead.

 

Moonstreaker, I'm sure you mean "hook the blue wire to the red power lead" correct?

 

In the Pioneer instructions regarding the blue wire it states:

If he vehicle has a glass antenna, connect to the antenna booster power control termnal (max. 300 mA 12 V DC).

 

Before my following comments I want to reiterate that I'm totally new to this stuff and I'm sure I'm over thinking it and making it more complicated than it is so, forgive my ignorant questions.

 

The Metra harness has a blue wire too so, do I tie them together and connect them to the power lead or just one? If just one which one, the Pioneer or the Metra? Are there any amperage concerns doing that?

 

How do I know if I have a glass antenna? I thought I had an external antenna. It's on the top rear of my Jeep. Is that the Sirius antenna?

 

Here is the antenna.

 

There is no antenna booster on the harness, so you will need to hook the blue antenna wire from the red power lead.

 

Moonstreaker, I'm sure you mean "hook the blue wire to the red power lead" correct?

 

In the Pioneer instructions regarding the blue wire it states:

If he vehicle has a glass antenna, connect to the antenna booster power control termnal (max. 300 mA 12 V DC).

 

Before my following comments I want to reiterate that I'm totally new to this stuff and I'm sure I'm over thinking it and making it more complicated than it is so, forgive my ignorant questions.

 

The Metra harness has a blue wire too so, do I tie them together and connect them to the power lead or just one? If just one which one, the Pioneer or the Metra? Are there any amperage concerns doing that?

 

How do I know if I have a glass antenna? I thought I had an external antenna. It's on the top rear of my Jeep. Is that the Sirius antenna?

 

Here is the antenna.

 

Sorry about that...I edited that post 10x as I was writing it, and it came out a mess.

 

I meant to connect the red power lead from the Metra harness to the blue antenna wire from the Pioneer harness. I believe the spare blue wire you are referring to is used for the amp turn on if you are installing it in a Dodge Caliber. You can try using that one, and if it doesn't work then just use the red power wire. You will only need to hook the wire from the Pioneer unit to one or the other...not both. The best test of whether or not your antenna is getting enough power is to try tuning in AM. If it's not getting enough power you'll probably only be able to get 1 or 2 stations to come in.

Well, according to Metra's tech support the blue wire on this particular model harness is for controlling a power atenna. It does supply power when the unit is turned on. Therefore he told me I could run their blue wire to the blue wire on the Pioneer harness and that should power my amplified antenna. There is a setting in the AVIC that allows you to determine if that is done when the key is turned or the unit/radio is powered on.

 

I wired it this way and I haven't noticed any reception problems from the antenna. I did at the very first start-up of the HD unit get some weird fading and dropping occuring when it was mixing the digital and analog but, that went away and for the last day or so it's been operating flawlessly. I tried the AM thing this morning and after locking in 10-12 AM stations I figured it must be working fine.

 

I can also lock in HD presets which I've read many complaining that they couldn't. It must be a settings difference because, at first I couldn't either. I'm not sure what I changed but, last night I was able to lock in 6 presets in HD.

*BUMP*

 

Just bumping the thread up since updating the original post with completed pics.