Tpp4's No Nonsense Guide to Kicker Key T-Harness (16-19)

After completing the wiring and install myself from the materials found elsewhere on the forum, I wanted to make a consolidated guide to help members through the process so they wouldn't have to search hundreds of pages on various threads to get it right. I decided to make the guide that I wish I had when I was doing this project.

Big shoutout to @destin_meeks for the knowledge he has dumped on the forum that I have merely pieced together here.

I have drafted a wiring schematic of the connectors to simplify the process, but I will also be writing out a detailed guide for those that find the diagrams confusing. The connectors in the figures are shown from the side where the wires enter, not the pin side.

SCHEMATICS:

*The blue wire on the small connector is the tail that is cut from the pinned loop of the larger connector. While the physical color of this wire is Blue, we are treating it as a orange/black wire to ground the dimmer for the radio*




Parts List:

$8 Metra 70-1761 Radio Wiring Harness Fits Select 1987-UP Toyota Vehicles Power + 4 Speaker (Packaging May Vary)

Metra 70-1761

$12 Metra 71-1761 87-94 Toyota Vehicle Harness

Metra 71-1761
Kicker Key 180.4
Tesa Tape
Heatshrink

Tools:
Soldering Iron
Solder
Wire Strippers
Small Flathead Screwdriver
Heatgun/Hair Dryer
Wire Cutters

STEP BY STEP GUIDE:

Step 1:
Let's first start with the Metra 70-1761 (female set). This will serve as the input to the harness receiving the factory wiring connectors. As with the other harnesses, there are two different connectors, one large and one small.



On the large connector, there is a Blue looped wire that jumps two pins together. We are going to start by removing it. The picture below shows a side profile of the pin locking mechanism.



To remove the pin, insert the small screwdriver from the pin side, and lift up on the white locking tab. While holding the tab out of place, gently pull on the wire to separate it from the connector. If you don't get it at first, keep at it. It becomes much easier the 2nd time. It requires very little effort to remove it after the pin is unlocked. You should end up with something like this.



After you have removed both pins, take a pair of wire cutters, and cut the jumper pin free. Cut it closer to the pin with two wires so that you essentially end up with two separate wires with a pin attached. Save the short Blue pinned wire that you just created. The pin with the two wires on it (one is a nub) will be reinserted into the large female connector in the original location. This means there is no longer a pin beside the Orange/White wire. Make sure you have the pin orientation correct before inserting it. It only goes in one way.



The newly created Blue wire with the pin is going to be reused to complete the circuit for the dimmer ground. Pick up the smaller female connector and insert the pin beside the Green/Black wire. For all intents and purposes, this wire is now Orange/Black.



Step 2:
We are going to move on to the smaller male connector of the kicker key amp. This connector serves as the input signals for the amp.



It comes setup for RCA inputs, but we since we want to create a wiring harness using factory connectors, we need to remove them. Using your wire cutters, cut the RCA connectors off. Then gently pull the wires back so that you can work with each one independently. You should have something like this:



Step 3:
We are going to move on to the Metra 70-1761 (male set). This will serve as the output from the T-harness going to the factory head unit. We are going to start with the smaller male connector and match the corresponding wires to those of the smaller kicker key amp connector. Note that one of each pair (Green and Violet) have a Black stripe down them. I suggest taping your wires together first to ensure you get the harness correct before soldering. But it's your harness, so do as you wish.

Next we will take the small connector from the Metra 71-1761 (female set), and connect the Blue wire we added to the Orange/Black wire. You should have something like this:



Step 4:
Now we are going to take the large male connector from the kicker key amp and connect the matching wires to those on the smaller female connector of the Metra 71-1761. Again, note that there is one wire in each pair (Green and Violet) that has a black stripe down it. You should have something like this:



Step 5:
Gather the two larger Metra connectors, and connect the two Red wires together and the two Orange/White wires together. You should have something like this:



Step 6:
With the two larger Metra connectors together in front of you, locate the larger male connector from the Kicker Key amp. We are going to wire up the remote turn on wire to signal the amp to power on. We will be connecting the three Blue wires and one Blue/White wire together, making a bundle of four. One Blue wire comes from the larger female Metra connector, one Blue wire comes from the larger male Metra connector, one Blue/White wire comes from the larger male Metra connector, and one blue wire comes from the larger Kicker Key amp connector.

Now we will connect the chassis ground for the amp. Take the pair of Black wires pre-soldered together and bundle them with the other two black wires, one from each of the Metra connectors.

Finally, we are going to wire the 12V constant power to the amp. This is achieved by connecting the two Yellow wires from the Metra connectors to the pair of the Red wires pre-soldered together. Double check your connections with the picture below:



Your connections made during this step should resemble this:



Step 7:
Next we are going to finish connecting the wires from the larger kicker key amp connector. Find the larger female Metra connector and connect the Greys to the Greys and the Whites to the Whites. Again, be sure to pay attention when you connect the wires, as one of each pair has a black stripe. That should give you something resembling this:



Step 8:
Finally, we are going to connect the other pairs of Greys and Whites together. You should be connecting the smaller kicker key amp connector to the larger male Metra connector. Upon completing this step, your harness connections should be complete and resemble this:



Step 9:
Add heatshrink tubing to one side of each set to be soldered. Solder your connections. If you forget the heatshrink, you can cheat by depinning the wire, adding the heatshrink, and reinserting the pin. You don't need a heat gun to use heatshrink, a hair dryer works just fine.

Step 10:
Bundle your strands together and use either electrical tape or tesa tape. I used tesa tape because it doesn't get sticky like electrical tape, it's much easier to work with, and it holds up to heat much better. Electrical tape is fine if that floats your boat, again it's your harness. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of my taped harness that is now residing in my dash. If, more like when, I remove the amp to adjust it again, I will snap a pic of my taped harness.

Feel free to comment with any suggestions/corrections, and I will gladly mend them. It's almost 7AM as I am finishing this guide, so I'm sure there is a mistake somewhere.

 

just wanted to thank you for putting this awesome guide together. I just picked up my amp, will build the T-harness this weekend!

 

Not a problem. Let me know if anything looks different on the 2020 model, I may need to make an additional reference guide.

 

I think the 2020 uses a totally different harness.

edit* yeah it’s definitely different (at least for the 8” entune”

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/kicker-key-in-a-2020-with-8-entune.641008/#post-22145143

 

@beetledude, it looks like your harness is going to be different from the one in this guide. After conferring with @destin_meeks, we have come to the conclusion that Toyota changed the connectors entirely. They actually made the connections more simple it seems, routing the power and speakers separately. It has not been confirmed yet, but he bet that the 2020 will require these instead: Metra 70-1765 and Metra 71-1765. If you would like to be the guinea pig and post pics of both the new metra connectors and the wiring from the truck itself for those connectors, we may be able to come up with a solution for you. According to @Ismism, TTunes claims that they already have a PnP harness for the 2020 model.

 

Amazing write up, thank you!

 

i don't mind being the guinea pig, but i can't find 71-1765 for sale anywhere....

 

I'll check my metra dealer site to see if they have it available.

also shows available on installer . com and as weird as the site looks, it's legit.
https://www.installer.com/item/display_item.php?it=71-1765

 

I can get my hands on the harness so shoot me a PM if you want me to get one shipped out to you

 

FWIW in my 2019 TRD OR DCSB without JBL there weren’t any pins in the male plug where the blue wires go.

So in my truck there was no need to bother with the blue wire in the Metra female plug that plugs into the OEM harness.

 

Does your amp still remotely turn on?

 

Don’t know. I am just finishing wiring tonight and will turn on tomorrow. I’m hoping the amp will start up with just the high level inputs - if not I’ll pull out the radio and put in one of the blue pins in the new Metra male plug and wire up the remote through the speed wire.

 

Worked on this all night and finally got it soldered together

 

My Key amp will be in tomorrow and will try to wire it up after I order the adapter you mentioned. Thanks for the write up also.

One question, where did you mount your amp?

 

I technically didn't mount it. When I removed the radio to install the harness, I reorganized the wiring to make it not so much of a rat's nest. Some people have mentioned just shoving it in behind the radio, but I didn't feel comfortable with it there. I initially wanted to put it below the airbag, but couldn't get the panel removed to install it there. I ended up placing it down and to the right of the radio, so it's kinda standing on its end.

 

So excuse my ignorance but after making this harness to install it you just pull the factory connectors out place the harness connections in then plug the factory connections into the other ends of harness? @tpp4

 

Yes, just make sure you disconnect the negative lead from your battery first

 

Dont even need to do that honestly

 

With people reporting that they are blowing control modules over accidental shorting with an led swap, I'd just rather be safe than sorry, but that's just me. I'm sure you do installs on way more vehicles in a day than I've ever done. I'm just super cautious, and disconnecting the battery takes me all of 2 minutes

 

Yeah I mean it never hurts to disconnect it for sure. ALWAYS put your caution over anything. There are a few car brands where I disconnect the battery no matter what. Hyundai and Mazda for sure. They will throw error codes for the dumbest thing, and then have to be cleared at the dealer. Made that fifty dollar mistake a few too many times when I was first starting out