My Silver GSU Build

I really like this bed extender. The challenge for me would be the loss of the Backup camera while using it.

 

Did you swap this yet? I'm looking for Inferno trim and would be willing to swap...

 

Mine has been covered under plastidip for months. lol it's got a protective layer on it! But I would be willing to peel it off and clean it up and trade for a gray or black. What do you have?

 

I haven't found it to be a huge loss. It is shocking when you go in reverse and the camera starts screaming warnings

 

When are you going to do a step by step guide for soundproofing the doors?

 

For all the panel removal I just went to OemAudioplus.com and followed their video on all door panel removal. Great video

 

It's coming! I am waiting on a box to get here with goodies from @Mr Marv before I pull the doors apart, that way I can upgrade the speakers while I am in there.

 

I love your choice we seem to be on the same page for a lot of this. Great minds think alike. Which one did you go with?

 

I went with package 2/no sub. I figure with upgraded speakers and the amp that I should be good to go. What about you?

 

That's the exact one I'm looking at but haven't pulled the trigger. Just spoke with him over the phone and explained what I'm looking for and he suggested that one. Super excited for when I do pull the trigger. Have it saved as on of my pages on my phone can't wait to see your pics.

 

No time like the present! Throw it in there when you do the sound deadening.

 

Bingo. That's the plan. Just like you

 

New Skycamper from iKamper has arrived. Haven't had a chance to get it on the truck. Living room floor will have to suffice for now.








Once opened, this provides nearly 7x7 feet of sleeping space! Largest space from a hard top tent out there. So far just me and the pup checking it out.

 

The stereo:

I went with Mr. Marv's "Package 2"

Package 2: This kit upgrades rear speakers to Stage ll for those that prefer more of a "surround type" sound where you are immersed in sound all around you (as opposed to music focused up front with ambiance from the rear) and like to listen loud. You can also upgrade the amp to the xdi600.4 if you like it really loud but be sure to deaden those doors well!)
Front speakers:
U69-2V2 6x9" 2 way Component set / $499.99 - 20% = $399.99
Rear speakers:
I61-2v2 6.5" Component/Coaxial / $319.99 - 20% = $255.99
Amplifier:
xdi450.4 - $349.00 - 20% = $279.20
8 gauge wiring kit for xdi450.4 - $142.10
Front mid 5.25"/6.5"/5x7"/6x9" + tweeter + rear 4"/5.25"/6.5" -$83.45 shipped - 20% = $66.76
Amplifier shipping = $14.95
Speaker shipping = $19.95
Wiring kit will ship with adapters at no additional cost
Total = $1178.84


Unhook your battery.

I started out by ripping everything out as I figured a clean slate would be easiest. Pull your colored trim piece so that you can get to your head unit. It just clips into place, direct pressure will pop it off. I took pictures of the back of my head unit to make it easier to figure things out later, but it is really hard to mess things up as everything has its own shape, size, or color. Headunit just has the four bolts:



Pull the drivers' front seat, it just has the four bolts, and unhook the three cables underneath. Throw this thing in the house so it is out of your way. Your door panels have two screws, one little plastic doohickey, and then the clips inside. To get to the first screw, you have to take out the little section of felt:


The second is hidden behind the door handle. Online videos recommend a trim tool to pull the piece of plastic from behind the door handle, but I was able to do it with my fingers:



The doohickey just requires you to pop the center in, and then pull it out:



Pop your windows/locks control panel up with a trim tool, and unhook the cables:



You are now ready to pull your door panels off. I found it really convenient to pull starting at where the arrow on the bottom of the door is. I don't think this is why it is there, but it sure worked well for me. Direct pressure will pop the panels off on the left, right, and bottom sides, but don't go yanking on the top. The top is tucked into the window well, and can simply be lifted out. Your door panel will come off, and then you are left with cables and the handle hanging:


Pull those sad little excuses for speakers:



Four little bolts, that will no longer serve a useful purpose in life, as they are too short to get through the newly supplied housing:


While you have everything open, rip out that crap excuse for lining on the inside of the door, and replace it with something better:


You can pop the internal panels out now in order to get behind them:


Look, Toyota through in some vibration assist. Not as much as I would like... but it's something:


This is where I started laying in the vinyl matting, as much as I could fit, inside and out:




This is where your only outside purchase comes into play. Recommendations from the 2nd gen build recommended M6 x30 bolts. Those don't quite work for this setup. You need two M6 x 30mm bolts and 12 M6 x 45s. The two shorter bolts will go in the front on the part of the housing that is shorter than the others. Now you can put these straight into the housing that the hold speakers came out of, but I wouldn't recommend it. They just don't seem to tighten up like I think they should. Pop the plastic housings out, use some washers, and secure this stuff down right. These things sure are nice though:


Running your speaker wire take about 2/3rds of a bottle of whiskey for the drivers' door and about half a coke for the other three. That driver door is just an absolute pain due to space. I ran the wires in through the supplied boot in the door, and up to the area behind the pedals for rerouting. Same thing for the passenger door. The rears are even easier, I just popped the boot off and into the door panel so it was really easy to run the cables. It comes out into the trim behind the pillar and then down to the area under the driver seat:




Once all your wires are run, you can begin mounting speakers. A word on these speakers. They are way bigger, beefier and heavier than the stock. Like by a lot. The weight of all four stock speakers:


The weight of the smaller new rear speaker by itself:


And the front:


You can see why when looking at the backs of these things:


Glad I went with these speakers:


Back to mounting the speakers, hook up your speaker wire, and push your speaker into place. Using the supplied screws, secure it down. I pre-drilled my holes to make my life a bit easier, your mileage may vary:


I then went and added the rest of the deadening padding:


Time for the tweeters. Pop the covers off with your trim tool:


Now remove the bolts. I found it easier to look down through the window to see what I was doing. Not a lot of room here, but a standard wrench works well:


Run your wire straight down through the holes and to the floorboard. Your new tweeters in their wooden mounts (they just snap into them) can now be mounted. Hooke your wires up and use the bolts you just pulled out to remount them.

Time for your harness. This thing made me nervous when I saw the mess of wires, but it isn't as bad as it looks:



Everything is color coded except for the two extra red wires that go into the blue as shown here:


The other end has your RCA connectors, and goes as follows:

RCA pair 1.
red - right front speaker positive wire

black - right front speaker negative wire

White - left front speaker positive wire

blue - left front speaker negative wire

RCA pair 2
Repeat above and replace front with rear

The leftover blue wire will go into the back of the amp between the power and ground:


Mount your amp using the provided mounting board. I used hot glue to my sound deadening material under the carpet:


You then lay the carpet back down and your amp can screw into place.

I forgot to photograph it, but I used sticky velcro underneath both crossovers to secure them to the carpet. Works like a charm. I used the readily available ground under the driver's seat for my amp and then hooked my power up as well. Power came from my accessory battery, but the technique is the same. Run your power through the firewall and up to your amp. Don't forget to wire in the included fuse:


Now that all your cables are available, you can start hooking things up:


Run your rear speaker wires in, they go straight into the amp as labeled:


The front and tweeters will go into your crossovers, and then the crossovers into the amp. If you look at the picture above, you will see the color pattern Black-Red-Red-Red-Black-Red-Black-Red, start off by hooking up your amp to eliminate some options, they go the black red at the end of the pattern. So you should have Black-Red-Red-Red-Black-Red-Negative Amp-Postive Amp

The next two Black-Red (next to the amp wires) go to your 6x9s. The middle Red, and the last Black g to your tweeters. Final Pattern is like this:

Negative Tweeter - Empty Red - Positive Tweeter - Empty Red - Negative 6x9 - Positive 6 x 9 - Negative Amp - Positive Amp

Once you got that one done, do the other one:


Now that all the hard stuff is done. Time to test it out. This stuff really surprised me with how loud it is. @Mr Marv has been helping me fine tune this setup for the last day and a half and it just keeps getting better and better. I'm over in Germany, so I can't as easily take advantage of just calling him to tune things, but he does offer that as part of the package. Take him up on it!

Reinstalling your seat is the same 4 bolts as earlier. The door panels are easy but need to be done correctly. The clips and fasteners need to be on your panel, not the door. If any are left behind, you need to remove them and put them on the panel before installing it. The upper trim pieces can be taken out with your fingers:


The door fasteners can be taken out really easily with a set of wire cutters, just grab the fastener and twist and it pops easily:



It wasn't too hard of a project, the worst part was the driver's door wiring. I am slowly but steadily tuning this thing in, and I am already thrilled with the volume, intensity, and the improvement over stock speakers. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to improve what they have. Couple this with all the sound deadening and it truly makes a big difference. I can't even hear cars rolling by until they are even with the truck, with the music on, the sounds of the world just disappear.

 

So you finally have all the sound deadening done....looks great and another good write up. I just went with the OEM AUDIO set up. Very happy with it.

 

The sound deadening was well worth it. I would recommend it to anyone!

 

The RTT is mounted. Now that I have it measured.. I will be planning out the solar panel system to go in front of it!

 

Great looking build - you must be an engineer. Your meticulous photos and descriptions are super helpful! Thanks!

 

Actually.. you can blame @KTJO 4x4 for that. She was the one who talked me into the first walkthrough when I dropped my headliner.. I just managed to come how to keep up the momentum.

 

Yes. Yes you can! I'm currently using the Floor Demolition one as we speak to start my own Deadening and Dampening project! You are simply amazing! We all appreciate it so much!