The Schoshe Dash Kit: Doing it right

I've heard a few complaints about the Schoshe dash kit and at first I wasn't really that happy with mine either. The damn thing fits like a glove but it rattled something fierce in the dash.

But today I set out to fix the problem and I succeeded in that endeavor. I found out it's not a bad kit at all...just misunderstood!

So check out the first picture (please excuse the hand sign) and note all three fingers. Fingers 1 and 3 are pointing to some soft felt that comes on the stock headunit. It's there to keep it from rubbing the dash and making noise. Finger 2 is pointing to what I thought was just a thing to guide the kit into the dash properly. Well upon futher inspection of the stock headunit I realized I could take off those yellow clip pieces and put them on the Schoshe kit! One of those "duh" moments since it's obviously intended to be that way but the instructions I got with the kit never mentioned it so I didn't even stop to think about swapping them over.




So in picture two here we have my double din Eclipse AVN726e mounted in the Schoshe kit. I've put on the 5 yellow clips and added some felt padding under the plastic mounting cage. The felt is green and should be easy to spot there. It fills a little gap between the bottom of the unit and the cage. Works great as some support and some cushion too. Note that I laid down a thin layer of silicone on ALL 4 edges of the kit where it would come in contact with the Tacoma dash. Let the silicone dry first and then reinstall it. Solid as a damn rock now and NO noise whatsoever...even while I was driving through a construction zone with a beat up road!

 

Hopefully this info helps someone!

 

Great write-up! I will have to keep this thread in mind when I upgrade my head unit. Rep for you.

 

Huh that's a pretty good idea actually I didn't even notice the felt on the stock stereo...don't have any felt on hand - I might try to de-stick one side of double sided foam tape and see if that works too.

 

Definietely helpful as I've noticed the same on my dash kit. Time to glue up a little felt. Thanks!

 

I can't tell you how many times I have been sitting there thinking...."hmm...how can I make that better?" This appears to be one of those moments where you did the same thing.

Does the scosche manual say anything about reusing the yellow clips?

 

haha i found the yellow clips right away because with my metra kit, the clips werent on and when i put the kit in it like fell out and i said to myself what am i missing here. compared the two and new the clips needed to be on the new one. great fix for the schoshe kit.

 

See that's the thing. I don't remember it saying anything about reusing them. Of course, it could have been one of "those" moments where I was like...Directions? Pshhh, who needs em!

But seriously, I don't remember reading jack about it. And the thing was I cast the stock stereo aside so damn fast I never even saw the clips to begin with.

 

Don't recall anything in the instructions to move the clips, but I did catch that anyway.

 

I think that may be the reason some have really good luck with the kit and others don't like it. If you realize to move the clips over it's such a "duh" moment you couldn't imagine NOT doing it. Then, you have a great experience with it and it works great. If you didn't know to move them over then it's junk!

 

Instructions are just the manufacturers opinion on how it should be put together

 

So is the Metra kit a bit better than the Scosche or are they basically the same as far as quality goes. Does any one prefer one over the other? I would have to have my head unit installed at best buy or similar because i don't know anything about how to wire for GPS and dvd bypass.

 

It depends. Both use plastic brackets to hold the radio. Metra allows use of the factory metal brackets. On my Kenwood DNX9960 using the metal brackets caused the headunit to sit far forward and exposed the mechaincal parts on the sides for the motorised faceplate. Had to drill new mount holes to move it back a half inch... which created gaps on the top and sides. Kenwoods come with plastic trim pieces to cover from the edge of the radio housing to the trim edge of the Metra. Once those were trimmed to fit and used the install looks great and it does not move much becasue of the stronger metal brackets. The Soche platic trim and brackets are easier to use as is to get a nice clean fit... its just not as strong. Also the top of my dash kit does not fully snap in but I think thats from the constant inerting and removal donr during install. I think new clips wil get th etop to seat fully... not that anyone notices the top not fitting perfect other than me. Everyone says my dash looks factory, even though I painted my dash black.

You can see the slots for mounting the radio fore/aft in the OPs pics... the factory metal brackets are just holes and you need new holes to adjust fit.

 

Thanks for all the info I really appreciate it!

 

BTW, I had to remove my HU just last week to re-position and secure some wiring. While I was in there I added some pieces of the loop side of some velcro to strategic points on the dash kit outer edges. Happy to say most of the rattling and plastic squeaking is now gone.

 

^Nice!

 

I installed the 4200DVD last week, along with the Scosche non-textured grey kit. It's solid as a rock. Period. I used the factory metal brackets, and of course the yellow plastic u-clips. The sucker looks factory.

$29 Scosche TA2053S9B Compatible with 2009-11 Toyota Tacoma ISO Double DIN Dash Kit, Light Metallic Silver

http://www.amazon.com/Scosche-TA205...UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1283576801&sr=8-3-spell

 

I looked into the getting some felt like that came on the OEM radio. I found this site:
http://www.sutherlandfelt.com/poly.htm
I e-mailed them and they are going to send me a free sample of their .35mm adhesive backed felt to try out. I will report back once I try it out. I hope it will add just enough cusion between the dask kit and the dash panel. If not I might try there .5mm felt.

 

I did the Metra kit withe metal brackets on a 3200 only because its what i ended up getting. Solid and tight, no rattles at all. first time. I did not need to felt or silicon anything. Metra seems to be a solid kit. Did the parking brake bypass relay too.