DVD & Headrest Monitors install made easy

[Skip102]

Hi everyone. While this may be my first post but I’ve been around reading all yours since I bought my truck back in April 2004.

My first significant mod to the truck is the recent installation of a DVD player with built in TV tuner, two 7” headrest monitors and a 4 input/ 3 output A/V switch (which allows me to watch a different source on each monitor). I bought all of the above Accelevision products as a package deal (that also included the TV antenna, two 2 channel IR headphones and all necessary wiring) from Audioinmotion.com (nice people). The installation may look pretty elementary to some of you but I’m not exactly a whiz kid when it comes to electronics and yet was able to do this install 100% on my own – so if I can do it, you can do it!

The first thing I did was pick up a few pieces of aluminum from the local HD to create a mounting bracket for the AV switch under the seat. Cut it to size, drilled some holes to mount the switch and then mounted the entire assembly to the front and back frame work under the passenger seat. The rear is screwed directly into the back seat brace and the front is attached to the round brace via plastic ties.

Secondly I pulled out the whole glove box and cut a hole in the bottom so that all the rca and power jacks would be accessible underneath and so that the glove box would actually close because the player with rca’s attached was a little too big to fit. Then I just mounted the player using the supplied mounts to the back wall of the glove box, hooked up all the wires and re-installed.

The cool thing about this package is the dvd player came with two power connectors, one to hardwire and one with a cigarette lighter plug – I of course opted with the later. Then I just used one of those inline wire taps to the red cigarette lighter wire to get power to the AV switch, which in turn will also power the monitors. I grounded the switch to the seat frame.

The most nerve racking part was cutting apart my headrests and installing the monitors but after drilling holes in the seat frame and destroying my glove box, I figured I didn’t have much left to loose. For this I just followed the same procedures I found posted on this site and others. Outline, cut an X and cut away a lot of foam. I then passed the connectors out through the existing hole in the headrest for the posts, cut a small hole in the top of the seat, and passed the wire all the way down through and out the bottom back to the a/v switch.

Lastly, took the audio out from the a/v switch and patched it through the Pie amp (purchased separately) then bought a 6’ rca to mini plug adapter from Radio Shack and went right to the aux input. Works like a charm! One day I will have my brother, who is a bit more electronically gifted, hardwire the power and audio connections for me, but for now it was a very simple install. Total time spent was about 8-10 hours (planning time excluded) for a non-experienced person.

I must give props to MacFly, whose set up is what inspired my wife and kids to send me down this road after a few rides in his Armada. Who was I to say no Phase two will include a third monitor in the navigation screen housing, pioneered by MacFly as well. Hope this helps those who are considering this project themselves

[Skip102]

Some additional pics...

[rcantu]

welcome to TT.

you did a good job. I've seen and heard of so called "professionals" that do something not as close as you've done. I'm working on putting 6.2" headrest in mine so I'm going to do some cutting too. Now I'm not as worried.

[MacFly]

Skip......nice job on the install!! makes me feel like a wuss for getting my stuff installed, rather than doing the job myself!

the NAVI monitor is a must, it makes a world of difference! but we'll work on that the next time you come out to visit! lol

again, great job! good luck trying to get the kids out of the car now! lol

[m0wens]

Very nice.

[Skip102]

Originally Posted by rcantu

welcome to TT.

you did a good job. I've seen and heard of so called "professionals" that do something not as close as you've done. I'm working on putting 6.2" headrest in mine so I'm going to do some cutting too. Now I'm not as worried.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

rcantu... you may already know that with the Titan headrests there is no mounting plate only the headrest support bar that makes a loop through the block of foam which makes mounting the headrest tricky. Others have used plastic ties through the monitor's mounting holes and around the bar.

The secret is lots of test fitting as your cutting!

[rcantu]

thanks for the tip. I just cut mine this weekend and screwed the mount into the headrest bar. It's on pretty snug. I thought I cut out the outline right but it seems a little crooked. oh well, it's the 1st time.

[TONEYTTITAN]

nice job skip. looks like a professional install to me

[DallasTitan]

Nice job Skip, post some pic.s when you install the front monitor with Nav.

[Skip102]

rcantu, congrats. Wheres the pics?!?

[keane]

Two questions;

1. How much was the set-up;

2. Do you have the RF system and if so, why didn't you hardwire the DVD to the DVD input?

Also, Nice Job!

[Skip102]

Hey keane, thanks. The price for everything mentioned above was $1k even, plus $34 for the pie amp. The kit did not include the RF Modulator - which is fine by me because going throught the aux in is much better sound quality.

As for why I didn't hard wire the audio to the DVD in... well... that's getting a little complicated for me. I do however plan on hard wiring the audio to the aux behind the dash as opposed to plugging it into the existing input on the face of the dash (the way I have it now).

[sigmapititan]

that looks sweet, good job.

[keane]

Thanks for the answers. I did see in another thread that there is an easy connection under the overhead console that is for the DVD setting on the RF. You might want to have somebody look for it as you are now freeing up the AUX to use an Ipod while the folks in the rear can watch Shrek!

[rcantu]

Originally Posted by Skip102

rcantu, congrats. Wheres the pics?!?

ok. here's a couple. They are TRC 6.2 inch screens. I was considering 7 but since the buttons were on the right it seemed to wide already.

I left the plastic on the monitors. I'm still working on the system and want to avoid some dust. My wife was watching our wedding video that's why you see our pic in it.