looking for a guide to upgrade to double din from 1.5

[mjkelly93]

I read a few good threads here about upgrading to a double din for my 02 tahoe z71, but i'm really in need of a step by step guide on how to do this. I pretty much dont have any experience with this sort of customization, however, i will spend all kinds of time researching how to do this assuming the information is out there somewhere. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks,
Marty

 

[WrenchGuy]

I heard there is some trimming to do but can be done.

If its in the way just move it...lol I'm sure someone will help out.

 

[01lt_hoe]

I took a few pics while I was installing mine, I will post them in a lil bit...

 

[mjkelly93]

I was talking to a few of my gearhead friends today and they said its definitely doable especially if they could see pictures and we dont have to move the heater controls. I'll study more of jks thread over the weekend and try to get as much information as i can on it. If and when i decide to go for it, i'll do a really detailed picture writeup step by step on it afterward.

We're gonna take the dash apart on friday and see whats all back there and im sure after that ill have a few questions about mounting and all.

 

[01lt_hoe]

Ok 1st download this pdf http://home.comcast.net/~r1_rydah/Cruthfield0001.pdf (thanks tast101) it will show you how to remove the bezel…

Once you have the bezel off this is what you will see…

larger image http://home.comcast.net/~r1_rydah/dd01.jpg
-------
next remove these 6 screws

larger image http://home.comcast.net/~r1_rydah/dd02.jpg
-------
Squeeze the clips at the indicated areas and slide the radio & heating controls out

larger image http://home.comcast.net/~r1_rydah/dd03.jpg
------
This may differ with different head units and heating controls, but in my case there were two plugs & a antenna plug in the back of my head unit and two plugs in the rear of the heating controls… So that’s a total of 5 things to unplug, and they are idiot proof, meaning neither of the plugs are the same so there is no way to hook anything up the wrong way… here’s a pic of the head unit plugs, (sorry I didn’t take a pic of the heater plugs…)

larger image http://home.comcast.net/~r1_rydah/dd04.jpg
---------
now that you have the head unit and heating controls out, you have to remove the plastic tray that holds the H/U & heating controls… but there’s a problem, the tray is riveted to a metal brace bar… so what I did was take a small drill bit, and drill around the rivets until I was able to remove the tray

larger image http://home.comcast.net/~r1_rydah/dd05.jpg
--------
ok depending on how deep your new head unit is, the brace bar that the tray was riveted to has to come out to accommodate the depth of the new H/U

larger image http://home.comcast.net/~r1_rydah/dd06.jpg
------
make sure you unscrew the two screws listed below before trying to remove the bar

larger image http://home.comcast.net/~r1_rydah/dd07.jpg
& this screw below the cigarette lighter sockets

larger image http://home.comcast.net/~r1_rydah/dd08.jpg

Note: I didn’t discard the brace bar once I removed it; I bent it back a few inches and reused it
-----------------
from this point on I followed JK's tips in this thread http://www.tahoeforum.com/showthread.php?t=4506

 

[mjkelly93]

Awesome post.

Thanks alot, thats exactly the kind of advice i was looking for. I'll take another look over it tomorrow morning.

 

[tast101]

I think this should be stickied, since it has the manual and detailed pics