non-nav GX needs radio upgrade (1 Viewer)

[half k cruiser]

I've been doing some searching on here and club Lexus and haven't found much to go on. I would like to upgrade my wife's radio in her 04 GX for her xmas present. It is a non-nav non Mark Levinson unit. My first thought was to grab a BT45TOY and plug that in so she could bluetooth from her phone. That one is pretty straight forward as the kit comes with everything needed. Option two is swap to a double DIN unit. However, other than one of these Amazon product ASIN B00RI5KDYI and the actual stereo, I don't know what else I would need with this. I have read some posts that say you would need to swap out all of the speakers and maybe the amp. I'm not really interested in swapping speakers. Can anybody shed some light and maybe some links to parts or wiring harnesses. I would like to make an order soon regardless of what option gets selected. Thanks in advance.

 

[phishtaco]

I have an 05 Non-nav/non-ml. I originally swapped out my head unit for a Pioneer double din and used a pac audio tato canbus. I have the steering wheel controls but never hooked them up(axcees brand). It was ok. I now have an Android 9” from Ali Express. Simple plug n play when you order it with the canbus. I also bought a carplay adapter which is what I primarily run. Overall it’s a great unit woth a built in nav system, bluetooth, and you can tether your phone for wifi. Things I don’t like, slow startup and I wish I could set the start up volume at a lower level. Sometimes I will be driving with windows down and the music will be up louder but you can’t turn it down until you wait for it to start up fully. I currently have my stock speakers and amp.
I think the androids are now available on Amazon. If I was going to get a new standard double din I would buy it from Crutchfield and have them supply the correct Canbus and steering wheel controls. Heck I think for like $10 they will prewire your canbus to head unit so it’s plug n play. You can order the radio trim on Amazon or Ebay. I’ll make you a decent deal on the Pioneer I took out and the trim if you want. I haven’t got around to listing them for sale.

 

[half k cruiser]

@phishtaco thank you for the guidance. I gave crutchfield a call and they were pretty knowledgeable about the whole deal. Ordered a Kenwood double din with new bezel and pre-wired harness. Should have it Friday and will post back the results after install. Thanks again.

 

[Gxutah]

I found a real lack of info for a head unit upgrade as well. I wound up using Crutchfield’s recommendations for an ‘06 4Runner (I have an ‘06 GX) to retain steering controls and access a few more options. I installed it over the weekend and am happy so far. That said, I’m a. It overwhelmed with the pioneer interface, but I’ll mostly use it for CarPlay.
Parts:
- Pioneer 1500nex
- trim piece
- iDatalink Maestro RR
- iDatalink T01 harness

install can happen in under an hour.

 

[NMBruce]

I did a Kenwood head unit with GPS and then after a year and problems, I switched to a Pioneer 8200 NEX
Builds - Coop's GX470. Post. 26 shows the Kenwood in and #118 shows the iDatalink Maestro. Crutchfield wiring kit made it easy.

 

[Gxutah]

I did a Kenwood head unit with GPS and then after a year and problems, I switched to a Pioneer 8200 NEX
Builds - Coop's GX470. Post. 26 shows the Kenwood in and #118 shows the iDatalink Maestro. Crutchfield wiring kit made it easy.

your thread was actually the only decent source of info I could find and what lead me to try the 4Runner setup. Thanks for that. I had to trouble shoot some issues initially, but it’s been flawless since. I’m used to factory units that are better integrated, but the Pioneer is a huge upgrade from stock.

 

[Tak555]

i'm assuming this would work for you... but i did a full nav to non-nav conversion and then installed an android auto headunit from china. coupled with a carplay dongle, i'm pretty happy with it. a little glitchy at times, but miles better than the old stock unit.

 

[trs80]

Did the RR work? Do you actually see things like the tire pressure on each corner? Steering wheel controls work?

 

[half k cruiser]

So I never posted back pics but here's the deal on this. Call crutchfield, order the radio you want, tell them you want the pre-wired harness, if you want steering wheel controls to work you will have to have them add an additional harness. Tell them you want the bezel, wait for package to arrive in mail. Uninstall the old radio, DC the battery for 30 seconds (this resets the factory amp). Install new radio, but don't bolt it in yet. There is a potentiaometer on the metra harness that increases the gain on the amp. Turn the vehicle to on, fire up the radio and adjust the screw per directions. When it sounds good to you button everything up. There really isn't much to this.

 

[latinskllz]

Make sure you test the speakers to determine if they also need replacement (unless you don't really care about sound quality).

Check my build thread for ideas if you'd like.