Kenwood 5140 + SWI-JACK - installed w/custom Metra kit - QUESTIONS & PICS

Last night I replaced my much "lesser" aftermarket HU with a Kenwood 5140 and integrated a PAC SWI-JACK to get back my steering wheel controls.

It took 4+ hours! Admittedly, I'm very detail-oriented and particular when doing this kind of work. I soldered/heat-shrunk all connections, and used bullet connectors wherever I spliced into factory wiring for the SWI-JACK. It would have probably been ~1.5 hours if I just threw it all together

I purchased the Metra dash kit, but was really displeased with out-of-the-box quality. They hadn't done a good job of trimming off the excess plastic after molding it, and the paint seemed light in the upper left hand corner area. I also didn't really like the silver color. It's not an exact match to any of the silver already in the truck, and I'm not a big fan of silver to begin with. So, I trimmed the excess plastic they missed, and picked up a can of charcoal colored spray paint with a slight texture to it, and re-sprayed. I'd prefer if the color was a little darker, but it looks 5x better than the silver in my opinion.

Overall, the 5140 is great, but I do have a few problems:

1) It "wobbles" a bit when i hit bumps on the road, etc. I'm 100% positive everything is tight, but the Toyota metal brackets are just too thin.

2) There is lag when using the steering wheel audio controls. It's about half a second, but it means it's very difficult to flip through tracks quickly, or make small adjustments to the volume. The controls all consistently work, they just all consistently lag, which is annoying

3) The volume on the 5140 cannot be adjusted while it's "busy" doing other stuff, like loading the full interface for playing MP3's, or reading ID3 tags. This is frustrating since, everytime you change a track if you're playing mp3's from a USB stick, it reads the ID3 tag for song info and album art. This means you can't adjust the volume for the first 3-10 seconds of the song. If the song is too loud when it first starts playing, you can sit there turning the knob until you're blue in the face, it won't adjust the volume until it finishes reading all the tag info.


I'm curious to hear if anyone/everyone else is having any of these problems, and if you've done anything to resolve. I'm guessing 2 and 3, are just normal and I'll need to live with them, but the wobble will drive me crazy. . The roads in Northeast PA are all bumpy






-Rich

 

Does the swi jack illuminate the steering wheel controls?

Is it worth it, with the lag?

I'm thinking about getting one. I lost that functionality when I upgraded my HU.

Thanks,

 

Yes, my controls are illuminated when headlights are turned on, and yes I'd say it's still worth it. I programmed the button-most button on the steering wheel controls to mute the audio, which alone is almost worth the cost of the whole SWI-JACK to me. . I really need to be able to quickly mute it to answer calls, etc.

 

Nice and Clean, good work. I was disssatisfied with the Metra as well, seemed chincy. Currently looking for replacement.

 

Great tune

 

1. mine too but be glad you dont have the schoche kit, it sucks in comparison to the metra

2. you get used to the lag, my lag seems to be miliseconds though (i have the 5120 though)

3. I dont have this problem, My 5120 reads my ipod seamlessly. I have never read from a thumb drive though to know if there is a diff.

 

Looks great! Almost exactly like mine but I've got the 512 only. You should of just got the black Metra dash kit, I'm also not a fan of silver in the truck so I went with the black install kit. I should of just used the mode button for the mute too instead of using it for the source select, not really helpful if you have to go through 15 sources just to jump from DVD/CD to the tuner.

 

At first I thought my Scosche sucked but now that I have had it in a couple of weeks it isn't that bad. My head unit sits in there solid despite the cheesy plastic brackets. The color match is a little off but I hardly notice it anymore.

 

I had a sosche kit. It sucked. The place brakets to hold the HU in place doesn't offer any security at all.. if somone want your HU they just have to rip it out. My Metra kit doesn't wiggle or wabble or move. The quality is much better the sosche and if someone wants my head unit, they have to unbolt it from the truck.

If you don't like the metra kit, then you won't be happy with any kit.

 

Zero complaints or issues with the Scosche kit. Using the DNX -512.

 

When I first installed my scosche dash kit I thought it was flimsy with the plastic brackets after I finished installing it... but after messing with it for a bit, I realized that I didn't install it correctly (I didn't clip the front trim piece into the side brackets). After installing this kit correctly, it snapped in and was totally SOLID before I even put the bolts back in.

I know a lot of people bash Scosche on this forum, but if you install the kit correctly... it is a solid kit for double din stereos.

The biggest downside is that the color doesn't quite match.

 

mine is installed correctly. I didnt mean to bash on the scoche kit IMHO I thought the scoche kit was not made as well as the metra after having worked with both on a couple occasions. I do get a little wiggle with mine but nothing to worry about.

 

The plastic brackets had me worried at first but it hasn't been an issue. The metra kit allows for the use of oem metal brackets right?

 

I have a 5120 and mine has zero movement...not sure which dash kit as I had an installer do it. ANd yes, my steering wheel controls have about a .5 sec delay. Better than not having it. You get used to it. Nice install

 

i have the same setup and mine doesnt move at all