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

I believe TACO TOONEZ (spelled wrong to bypass censorship) sells a completed harness

 

Not exactly, unless you want to also buy their amps.

 

I can sell you one. Are you going to a Kicker Key or another AMP?

 

Going to use the kicker amp. I have a 2019 with the base stereo. PM me.

 

Just to confirm, to depin the Metra harness, you are coming in from the wire side and not the connector side, correct?

 

Correct

 

Where I started...

 

2 hours later

 

Electrical work on the bench is like meditation to me

 

i wanted to buy a harness, but since nobody had one ready to go I figured I’d use my old soldering skills. Used to drag race so have some experience wiring in gauges and making decent connections. Used to race rc cars back in my teenage years so I’ve always been able to solder well. Fun way to waste two hours, now let’s hope it works haha

 

Finished my install, pretty simple and straight forward. I could probably build a harness and install it going forward in under an hour now, but I have 3-4 hours invested doing it the first time.

For anyone wondering, I feel it made some good improvements. I'd compare the improvement similar as going from stock speakers to the Kicker speakers. A similar sound improvement from going from factory amplified Kicker speakers to Kicker Key amplified Kicker speakers.

I'm sure going back to a stock stereo truck is just horrible now.

 

This is a great post. Thank you all for your contributions. Couple questions I have.
- When using the Kicker speakers and Key amp are you guys using the stock speaker wires ?
- I would like to get one of those wire strippers I see you guys using that leaves the end still on the wire. How do I determine a good one from a bad one ?

Thank you in advance for your time and wisdom.

 

Yes, still using the factory wiring. No need to run all new wires for such a simple setup luckily.

what exactly do you mean “leaves the end still on the wire”

 

The great stripping job is done by the people who make the harnesses, most of the ends come pre stripped. For me personally, only smaller gauge wire I like to just use a razor blade to score the insulation and then I rip it off. Wire strippers in my experience will cut right through thin gauge stuff.

 

I only use a stripper for wires 18ga and larger. But yeah, the Metra harnesses come precut with the insulation still protecting the ends until you're ready to solder.

 

As for the actual strippers I use, I have a pair of Klein 11046 and 11045 that I use for everything. I can strip single strands of cat 5 with the 11046 without damaging the wire.

 

To everyone thank you for the great information.
destin_meeks- "what exactly do you mean “leaves the end still on the wire” I was referring to the wire strippers that seem to cut the wire without taking off the plastic insulation. I attached a picture of the wire ends I was referring to.
aturk- razor blade, I didn't think of that, thank you.
tpp4-"still protecting the ends" that makes sense when you say it, thanks for telling me I didn't know why.
destin_meeks- thnx I'm going to go look at the Kliens now.

Thank you all for the help its appreciated

 

Yeah in that pic, that is done at the factory where the harnesses are produced. You can get wire strippers that do similar to that, but I don’t personally feel they are necessary

 

Thank you for posting this harness, you made this super easy. Installed today worked first time and sounded awesome.

 

Any chance you have a pic of this to help clarify where exactly it fits? I just ordered the 200.4.