Kbuskill's 2008 Burb LTZ "MOD" Thread

[kbuskill]

Never does lmao. Cut, spit, cram. Good times.

I went ahead and pulled the Rosen out along with all of its wiring harnesses since the Kenwood should be delivered any time now.

I also went ahead and cut some of the plastic out to give me some more room and hopefully make the install easier.

Here is the first piece I cut out of the bottom...

Then I started up top... before...

Removed this piece...

More black plastic behind the grey...

 

[kbuskill]

I trimmed a little more just for good measure and this is the final result...

I wanted to leave the square hole up top in order to support the back of the HU... plus there is not much to be gained beyond this point without cutting metal.

Now I hurry up and wait for UPS...

 

[HiHoeSilver]

I trimmed a little more just for good measure and this is the final result...
View attachment 227041

I wanted to leave the square hole up top in order to support the back of the HU... plus there is not much to be gained beyond this point without cutting metal.

Now I hurry up and wait for UPS...

You may end up cutting metal, fyi. Lol.

 

[kbuskill]

You may end up cutting metal, fyi. Lol.

I hope not... the Kenwood I bought is the one that Crutchfield says fits my Burb... so I shouldn't have any issue I hope.

The Rosen had a ton of wiring harnesses and external door chime speaker and all and it fit in there without trimming anything so this new one should just about fall into place... lol

 

[HiHoeSilver]

I hope not... the Kenwood I bought is the one that Crutchfield says fits my Burb... so I shouldn't have any issue I hope.

The Rosen had a ton of wiring harnesses and external door chime speaker and all and it fit in there without trimming anything so this new one should just about fall into place... lol

Hoping for you, too. I have never dug around in there on mine, just read a lot of guys cutting that metal brace out of the way.

 

[kbuskill]

I also forgot to mention that I bought a Y-splitter for the OBD2 port under the dash...

This way I can unscrew the original from the bottom of the dash and plug this into it and plug the OBD2 plug from the Kenwood into the one side and remount the other end that is designed to be mounted back to the bottom of the dash and it won't even look different than it did from the factory and I can still use my bluetooth adapter with the torque pro app on my phone if I need/want to.

I know i could have just spliced the two wires in behind the factory connector but i didn't want to hack up the trucks harness.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I also forgot to mention that I bought a Y-splitter for the OBD2 port under the dash...
View attachment 227045

This way I can unscrew the original from the bottom of the dash and plug this into it and plug the OBD2 plug from the Kenwood into the one side and remount the other end that is designed to be mounted back to the bottom of the dash and it won't even look different than it did from the factory and I can still use my bluetooth adapter with the torque pro app on my phone if I need/want to.

I know i could have just spliced the two wires in behind the factory connector but i didn't want to hack up the trucks harness.

I like that. I could use one of those.

 

[Rocket Man]

I also forgot to mention that I bought a Y-splitter for the OBD2 port under the dash...
View attachment 227045

This way I can unscrew the original from the bottom of the dash and plug this into it and plug the OBD2 plug from the Kenwood into the one side and remount the other end that is designed to be mounted back to the bottom of the dash and it won't even look different than it did from the factory and I can still use my bluetooth adapter with the torque pro app on my phone if I need/want to.

I know i could have just spliced the two wires in behind the factory connector but i didn't want to hack up the trucks harness.

I was able to cut the same plastic from my 08 Silverado and fit all the harnesses and adapters in by sliding them into areas below and to the side in the back. The stuff takes up a lot of room, and it has to be nestled into place as you slide the HU into place. I spliced into the OBD wires, but I’m pretty sure it was only one wire from the HU that connected to it.

 

[kbuskill]

I like that. I could use one of those.

Here you go...

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/191594075593

 

[kbuskill]

I was able to cut the same plastic from my 08 Silverado and fit all the harnesses and adapters in by sliding them into areas below and to the side in the back. The stuff takes up a lot of room, and it has to be nestled into place as you slide the HU into place. I spliced into the OBD wires, but I’m pretty sure it was only one wire from the HU that connected to it.

That's my plan as well.

The Kenwood has 2 wires... high and low for the canbus system.

 

[Rocket Man]

I like that. I could use one of those.

For what?

 

[Tonyrodz]

For what?

You know.

 

[Doubeleive]

I think the center metal brace had to be cut on mine for the w8400nex, the cooling fan was butted right up against it, but I managed to cram all the meastro stuff in there and a siriusxm receiver, the (2) antenna's one for the nav and the other for xm I put up under the front dash piece that comes off, the nav antenna fit perfect right next to the sun sensor, the xm antenna I put over closer to the front of the driver then fished the wires back down the to deck. depending on the usb port on the kenwood you may need another adapter to use the usb port in the console (if yours has that option)

edit: I see yours is a 2008 so no usb in the console, but you could probably add it pretty easily

 

[Rocket Man]

I think the center metal brace had to be cut on mine for the w8400nex, the cooling fan was butted right up against it, but I managed to cram all the meastro stuff in there and a siriusxm receiver, the (2) antenna's one for the nav and the other for xm I put up under the front dash piece that comes off, the nav antenna fit perfect right next to the sun sensor, the xm antenna I put over closer to the front of the driver then fished the wires back down the to deck. depending on the usb port on the kenwood you may need another adapter to use the usb port in the console (if yours has that option)

edit: I see yours is a 2008 so no usb in the console, but you could probably add it pretty easily

I added a dual USB port in place of one my power outlets, super easy.

 

[kbuskill]

I think the center metal brace had to be cut on mine for the w8400nex, the cooling fan was butted right up against it, but I managed to cram all the meastro stuff in there and a siriusxm receiver, the (2) antenna's one for the nav and the other for xm I put up under the front dash piece that comes off, the nav antenna fit perfect right next to the sun sensor, the xm antenna I put over closer to the front of the driver then fished the wires back down the to deck. depending on the usb port on the kenwood you may need another adapter to use the usb port in the console (if yours has that option)

edit: I see yours is a 2008 so no usb in the console, but you could probably add it pretty easily

Thanks for the info.

I added the factory USB port, in place of the passenger side cigar lighter port, to my dash many years ago but you are correct, the Kenwood uses a standard USB plug so I will have to change the cord.

 

[kbuskill]

Well good news and bad news.

The good news is the HU arrived and everything works.

The bad news is the Metra 95-3305 dash kit WILL NOT fit the Kenwood. The Kenwood is to big or the dash kit is to small... however you want to look at it.

So I will get up in the morning and head to a local stereo shop and see if they have a dash kit that will fit.

 

[Rocket Man]

Well good news and bad news.

The good news is the HU arrived and everything works.

The bad news is the Metra 95-3305 dash kit WILL NOT fit the Kenwood. The Kenwood is to big or the dash kit is to small... however you want to look at it.

So I will get up in the morning and head to a local stereo shop and see if they have a dash kit that will fit.

That makes no sense- double din is double din. The Kenwood and the Metra are both DD. That’s the dash kit I used for my Pioneer DD in my 08 Silverado.

 

[kbuskill]

That makes no sense- double din is double din. The Kenwood and the Metra are both DD. That’s the dash kit I used for my Pioneer DD in my 08 Silverado.

I agree... but I also found other people online talking about the same issue.

One guy said he ended up buying a GMK318 dash kit and it fit the Kenwood and his Silverado.

Anyway, I am certain that one of the stereo shops can point me in the right direction.

Or perhaps I am just a moron and can't figure out how to get it on, however this isn't my first rodeo with stereo equipment so I doubt that it is an ID-10T error.

The back of the stereo absolutely will not slide into the dash kit, and if I try to put it on from the front it stops and leaves the stereo recessed the thickness of the dash kit... about 3/8" .

 

[kbuskill]

Well I got the Kenwood installed.

I guess the Metra dash kit "fits" the Kenwood and it was partially my misunderstanding the directions. The pics make it look like the stereo has to slide into the dash kit from the front, which it would not do. In reality the radio slides in from the back which leaves it sitting too far back in my opinion, which is why I said it didn't fit because it just looks wrong to me.

I searched a few different places and all the dash kits make the HU recessed which I did not like... so I ended up modifying mine as follows...

Before/unmodified...

You can see how it's set back... I did not like the way it looked.

So I trimmed the back side of the dash kit to make the stereo sit flush with the dash kit.

After/modified...

This is the way it should have fit right out of the box in my opinion.

Anyway, it's all in and working beautifully. Now I just have to get used to the new interface and where all the stuff is in the different menus and what not... mainly the whatnot... lol

 

[Tonyrodz]

Well I got the Kenwood installed.

I guess the Metra dash kit "fits" the Kenwood and it was partially my misunderstanding the directions. The pics make it look like the stereo has to slide into the dash kit from the front, which it would not do. In reality the radio slides in from the back which leaves it sitting too far back in my opinion, which I why I said it didn't fit because it just looks wrong to me.

I searched a few different places and all the dash kits make the HU recessed which I did not like... so I ended up modifying mine as follows...

Before/unmodified...
View attachment 227116
You can see how it's set back... I did not like the way it looked.

So I trimmed the back side of the dash kit to make the stereo sit flush with the dash kit.

After/modified...
View attachment 227117
This is the way it should have fit right out of the box in my opinion.

Anyway, it's all in and working beautifully. Now I just have to get used to the new interface and where all the stuff is in the different menus and what not... mainly the whatnot... lol

View attachment 227118
View attachment 227119

Much better.