Build "Rednexus" - 2007 GX470 Build and Fabrication Thread

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My GX continues to show age. Since it got cold I noticed I have no air coming out of the floor/footwell vents. After some investigation of my own and many calls/emails with Phoenix, it was determined that my PX6 has some defective hardware. Honestly, this PX6 has been a pile of junk - glacial boot speeds and a terrible glare - and this is the nail in it's coffin. My old PX6 was much better, until the screen crapped out.

So, I made an executive decision to just pony up and do a non-nav conversion. I've been looking for the 2007-specific non-nav conversion parts for a couple of weeks and finally found a nice looking set on 247 Spares for $800. The only others I found were a supposed set that was listed by 8+ different salvage yards on Car-Part.com ($500-700, but pics I requested never showed up) and one set on eBay that went for over $1K. These are needle-in-a-haystack rare and the price reflects it.

On top of that, my ML sound system now has no bass. The sub vibrates a bit but makes no noise. So my holiday break will include a non-nav conversion and re-foaming the speakers, plus addressing any other audio issues. I'll likely go with a Joying 9" head unit as I like the flush mount, but I'm not opposed to a Teyes either. If anyone has feedback on those two units, let me know. I'm not keen on a floating name-brand 9" head unit as they scream "steal me", nor a double-din unit as they would be to small for running off-road mapping apps.
 
I was looking at the Joying when I was shopping for a non nav GX but couldn't stomach having to potentially replace it when it would inevitably fail not long after installing it. Unfortunately, that's the trouble with the Chinese Android units. Sometimes you get lucky and other times its crap. I also didn't want one of those floating units for the same "steal me please" look, plus they block the center HVAC vents. Because of all of that, I opted for the double din Kenwood I installed right after I bought my rig. Yeah, its a smaller screen size but I know it'll run for several years longer than any Chinese Android unit.
 
OG Zuninja said:
I was looking at the Joying when I was shopping for a non nav GX but couldn't stomach having to potentially replace it when it would inevitably fail not long after installing it. Unfortunately, that's the trouble with the Chinese Android units. Sometimes you get lucky and other times its crap. I also didn't want one of those floating units for the same "steal me please" look, plus they block the center HVAC vents. Because of all of that, I opted for the double din Kenwood I installed right after I bought my rig. Yeah, its a smaller screen size but I know it'll run for several years longer than any Chinese Android unit.
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Are you able to run normal Android apps on it? Having Torque Pro, oNx, and Backcountry GPS trails would be mandatory for me. That is the one nice thing about the tablet-based units - can install whatever you want on them.
 
OG Zuninja said:
Only through Android Auto.
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Yeah, might be a deal-killer. I'll do a bit more digging and see if there is something else name-brand out there that can retain the ML amp and speakers while also running Android apps. Otherwise, I'm looking at a full ML delete with a new 8+ channel amp and speakers, which I bet would cost $1.5-2K or more (money I'd rather spend on bumpers right now). If that's the case, I'll run a Chineseium head unit and push ML replacement off to some point in the future.
 
I've had a Joying in my Jeep for years now, and the only issues have been due to user error, when I left the hard top off in multiple rains. And even then the main issue I have is a bad ribbon cable between the head unit and the screen, causing the screen to flicker on occasion.

Plus Joying has pretty decent support compared to all the other Alibaba units.
 
M3GX said:
I've had a Joying in my Jeep for years now, and the only issues have been due to user error, when I left the hard top off in multiple rains. And even then the main issue I have is a bad ribbon cable between the head unit and the screen, causing the screen to flicker on occasion.

Plus Joying has pretty decent support compared to all the other Alibaba units.
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Thanks. I'll run the #s on the cost of a full sound system replacement (ML delete with name brand components) vs. patching up my ML system with a Joying/Teyes (Joying does appear to be a bit cheaper). I did some digging and it didn't look easy to hook up an aftermarket head unit to the ML amp (though I'll look some more to verify).

I'm not an audiophile by any means, but do want a system that sounds good while being able to run various Android apps. When I had my first PX6 and the ML system didn't yet have blown speakers, I was very happy with both the sound quality and the interface.

It's a shame that a US-company doesn't engineer a quality replacement head units for these - even if production were outsourced to China. Not sure what the R&D costs would be, but I'll be in at least $1,300 for the non-nav conversion pieces and a Joying/Teyes, so I'd definitely play that for a quality plug-and-play system.
 
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Keep the posts coming on your audio journey.

I’m watching this thread.

I replaced the foam on the subwoofer and replaced the rear door once with kenwood and the front door speakers twice with Kenwood and then cheap oreilly ones.

Still running the factory head unit and amp. I might just replace all the door speakers and subwoofer with low cost ones again to buy me a few more years.

I might need to run an iPad on a mount to run all my apps like Car Scanner, Gaia GPS, ICECO, Bluetti, ETaker, and others
 
Rednexus said:
Thanks. I'll run the #s on the cost of a full sound system replacement (ML delete with name brand components) vs. patching up my ML system with a Joying/Teyes (Joying does appear to be a bit cheaper). I did some digging and it didn't look easy to hook up an aftermarket head unit to the ML amp (though I'll look some more to verify).

I'm not an audiophile by any means, but do want a system that sounds good while being able to run various Android apps. When I had my first PX6 and the ML system didn't yet have blown speakers, I was very happy with both the sound quality and the interface.

It's a shame that a US-company doesn't engineer a quality replacement head units for these - even if production were outsourced to China. Not sure what the R&D costs would be, but I'll be in at least $1,300 for the non-nav conversion pieces and a Joying/Teyes, so I'd definitely play that for a quality plug-and-play system.
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I would say an advantage of Joying over other similar Android style HU's, is that you have the option for it to ship from a U.S. warehouse. Avoiding any tariff charges. I'm kind of a Joying fanboy. Also ran one of their units in my Tacoma. Their support is pretty good, and have firmware updates with instructions on their site. Even though you can do Android Auto in it, I use the native android apps for everything. The only thing I changed is the Launcher so the interface looks better
 
HomersCanyonero said:
Keep the posts coming on your audio journey.

I’m watching this thread.

I replaced the foam on the subwoofer and replaced the rear door once with kenwood and the front door speakers twice with Kenwood and then cheap oreilly ones.

Still running the factory head unit and amp. I might just replace all the door speakers and subwoofer with low cost ones again to buy me a few more years.

I might need to run an iPad on a mount to run all my apps like Car Scanner, Gaia GPS, ICECO, Bluetti, ETaker, and others
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If the rig didn't see so many highway/commuting/towing miles with the family and was a dedicated wheeler, I'd just mount an iPad in it. It would be cheaper and easier. But, in 2026 it will be pulling our camper down to the Gulf again and then making a trip to CO/UT/AZ as well, so having a more "normal" infotainment system is preferable for navigation and music.
 
M3GX said:
I would say an advantage of Joying over other similar Android style HU's, is that you have the option for it to ship from a U.S. warehouse. Avoiding any tariff charges. I'm kind of a Joying fanboy. Also ran one of their units in my Tacoma. Their support is pretty good, and have firmware updates with instructions on their site. Even though you can do Android Auto in it, I use the native android apps for everything. The only thing I changed is the Launcher so the interface looks better
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One last question - how is the glare? The glare for the first PX6 was annoying, but it is atrocious on PX6 No. 2 with my polarized Oakleys. It improved somewhat with a custom-cut anti-glare screen protector (they asked me to rotate my glasses to help select it - the glare dissipated with them a 45 degrees), but was far from ideal. I've worn polarized Oakleys for years and have never had a glare problem in any other vehicle.
 
The glare in the 2014 Tacoma was worse than in my current JK. But the Tacoma had a button less 9" screen and the JK has an 11". I'd say the glare resistance is average, overall.
 
Used my lunchtime to run some cost scenarios. Basically the full ML delete (Option 1) would cost about $1,700 (floating 9" head unit, install kit, three-way 6x9 speakers in the front doors, 6.75" speakers in the rear doors, new 5.5" back door speakers, a subwoofer, and a 8-channel amp), with everything name-brand from Crutchfield. I'd need to do some fenagling to run Torque Pro in Android Auto, but it looks possible. I should be able to run both oNx and Gaia in Android Auto, and it looks like Gaia might support the USGS topographic map background may layer, which I to the background maps that oNx uses. I'm presuming this system might not sound as good as my ML system did in 2007, but would probably sound much better than my ML system sounds in 2025.

Option 2 might cost as little as $500 (Joying head unit and ML speaker refoam) and replacing my two front tweeters (as one is dead), but could add up to as much as $1,500 plus if I have to repair the ML amp, replace the front 6x9 and rear sub with 8-ohm speakers, and replace the Joying in the future if it craps out. I'd be able to run any app on the Joying head unit.

I'm leaning toward Option 2 as it spreads the cost out over a long period of time as opposed to dropping $1,700 of money I've already allocated for bumpers and a winch towards sound equipment (Mrs. Rednexus would also not like this option). But, it's certainly the least reliable option, as I will inevitably have to replace some components as they fail for the life of the rig.
audio.webp
 
stupidchicken03 said:
See if Crutchfield or similar has any good Black Friday deals running/coming up and might be able to drop the price of option #1 down a bit?
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I'm going to float both balloons by Mrs. Rednexus tonight and see what kind of a response I get :).
 
I been using a iPad. The mounts have came a long ways and are very sturdy. I don’t leave in the truck unless we are on a road trip. OnX and other maps are nice and big, easy to read. Also looking at wireless cameras for the bumpers. Just my 2 cents!!!
 
kody472 said:
You only YOLO once.
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Response for both options was equally rolled eyes followed by "You're spending an awful amount of money lately on a vehicle that's almost 20 years old". Trying to explain the fact that my GX is "only" at 200K and should go to 500K only rolled more eyes.

So, Option 2 it is! In all reality she conceded on gears/lockers earlier this year AND helped me muscle the 8.2 in to place. I'm awful lucky to have a wife who tolerates my wrenching addiction and is more than capable of rolling up her sleeves to help too.
 
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Rednexus said:
Response for both options was equally rolled eyes followed by "You're spending an awful amount of money lately on a vehicle that's almost 20 years old". Trying to explain the fact that my GX is "only" at 200K and should go to 500K only rolled more eyes.

So, Option 1 it is! In all reality she conceded on gears/lockers earlier this year AND helped me muscle the 8.2 in to place. I'm awful lucky to have a wife who tolerates my wrenching addiction and is more than capable of rolling up her sleeves to help too.
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Are you me? Mine says the exact same thing. But I also have a 60 that I’ve put way more money into that I bought it for. I keep telling her, I love my old dumb cars.
 
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