Wire These Things So Difficult?

I’m trying to bypass my JBL amp in my 06 double cab. I have the

$33 Metra 70-8117 Factory Amplifier Harness for 2004-Up Toyota Vehicles with JBL Sound System

Metra 70-8117 to do so, but there’s a rat’s nest from Hell behind the aftermarket Kenwood.

There’s the Axxess AXTO-TY1, and an SWI-CP2 to retain steering wheel controls all put together by what looks like Edward Scissorhands and the guy that invented electrical tape [cue Danny Elfman music].

Is the Axxess no longer needed? Do I wire the Metra 70-8117 in its place? Does anyone have instructions on how to wire in this Metra amp bypass? Am I in over my head? Should I buy graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate?

Tune in next week for another episode of “Oh look, my truck’s on fire!”

 

I love your style!
Sorry, I know that’s not helpful.
When I was an audio installer (circa 2004), amplifiers were in the trunk(Honda Nissan) and they were easily bypassed. I know that there will be plenty of folks on here with the double cab amplifier that will be happy to assist you with wiring diagrams in the morning. 1 question: this forum has wiring diagrams available. Have you searched those yet?

 

Yeah. I have the installation instructions from Metra as well as a wiring diagram plus what's written on the back of the packaging. All attached.

After reading through the wiring diagram I made an appointment with an optometrist to get my eyes uncrossed.

I think my issue, aside from seeing double now, is that I'm not sure where to start. What's the order of operations here? PEMDAS? <-- Get out of here, Math. No one likes you.

I'm guessing the Axxess module gets deleted and I wire the steering wheel control module to the Metra amp bypass instead. Does that sound right? I don't want to disconnect wires unnecessarily but maybe it'll be easier to start from scratch. Why doth the Wire Gods smite me?!

 

No, the Metra bypass is solely to adapt away from the amp, let your head unit power the speakers. Nothing to do with steering controls.

I mean, if it were me, and it's not of course...

I'd get back to basics here, i.e. back to factory, then start again. i.e. Ditch the Axxess JBL bypass (letting you retain the OEM amp with aftermarket head unit). Ditch the PAC SWI-CP2 (allowing you to use steering controls with aftermarket head unit). You may want to leave some amp bypass wiring in place to use as cable chases with the following, though...

When de-spaghettifying things, stick with the proper amp bypass part (I outlined what's needed here), which you already have

$33 70-8117 Factory Amplifier Harness for 2004-Up Toyota Vehicles with JBL Sound System

70-8117, so I'd go buy an Axxess ASWC-1 for the steering wheel controls and the

$11 Metra 70-8114 Steering Wheel Control Wire Harness with RCA for 2003-Up Select Toyota/Scion/Lexus Vehicles

Metra 70-8114 harness to make the Axxess install a true plug-and-play experience, assuming the previous own didn't hack shit up.

Don't get me wrong: PAC is an ancient company and make good stop-gap stuff; but the Axxess products in this case are better, more adaptable, and ready to immediately recognize and adapt to using the right-hand steering controls for our trucks if you choose to install them.

At this point you know clearly what you have: Spaghetti, similar to the picture in the thread I linked, I'm sure. Just make sure they didn't cut too much shit. This isn't rocket science, but is definitely easier if you have the two Metra harnesses I mention and the Axxess unit.

But before we go on, what's your end goal here? Just to have an aftermarket head unit powering all the speakers, with steering wheel controls working? Do you plan to add more amps/subs later? Talk to me.

 

I’m with shifty here
Take her back to a stock (virtually at least) and then build out the new configuration. Otherwise you’re stacking potential issues without knowing what problems you’re covering up or introducing.

 

Thanks for the replies.

My end goal is to upgrade the whole audio system. I've pieced together a new system to delete all of the JBL. I already have a Kenwood head unit with PowerBass woofers in the front doors (not a big fan). I'd like to change everything over to 4 ohm so I picked up the following:
-

$33 Metra 70-8117 Factory Amplifier Harness for 2004-Up Toyota Vehicles with JBL Sound System

Metra 70-8117 Amp Bypass Harness
- Front doors: 6 3/4" Kenwood KFC 1796PS 2 way speakers (including Metra 82-8153 mounting brackets and Metra 72-9301 wiring harness)
- Rear Doors: 6 1/2" Kenwood KFC 1696PS 2 way speakers (including Scosche SAT 6 mounting brackets and

$13 (2) Pair of Metra 72-8104 Speaker Wire Adapters for Select Toyota Vehicles - 4 Total Adapters

Metra 72-8104 wiring harness)
- Subwoofer: Kenwood KSC-SW11 to go in the rear under seat compartment on the passenger side

I plan on powering the door speakers from the head unit. The sub itself is powered so no need for an amp.

The roadblock (and also step 1 - hooray!) is figuring out how to properly wire up the 70-8117. In the interest of saving money I decided to make this a DIY project. Wondering if I'll end up hurting more than helping.

I agree with both of you to take it down to stock and start over. I'll definitely pick up the parts that Shifty mentioned to make things a bit easier. I'm definitely a plug and play type of guy which is making the amp bypass seem intimidating.

 

Ok, totally makes sense. What you're doing is essentially what I've done.

I personally usually go with JBL components (used to install professionally, JBL and JL primarily), because they're really great with accurate reproduction, and most of their components made in the last few years are clocked in at 3ohm, just to coax out a little more power.

In theory, the OEM JBL speakers in these trucks are supposedly 2ohm/ea, if accurate and each driver is 2ohm, you could simply pick pairs to run in series, dropping the load down to 4ohm.

But yeah, the gist is this:

• Amp bypass harness (70-8117): You should find both plastic plugs fit the wired plugs going into the OEM amp, IIRC. Pop the plugs out of the amp. Plug the Metra harness onto those plugs. Route that bundle of several feet of wires up to the head unit, to be spliced into your Kenwood radio harness
• Metra steering control harness (70-8114): This is going to plug onto a harness that's tucked into the rear pocket behind the stereo that I have market "steering wheel controls" in this pic. One end will go into the Axxess ASWC-1 if you buy it and the other wires are explained in the instructions.
• Axxess ASWC-1 is just what it is ... small module that automatically detects, learns, and programs itself to pair your OEM steering wheel controls to the head unit so everything just ... works. Worth its weight in gold.

 

And FYI: If you bought all these parts thru Crutchfield, not only will you have gotten them cheaper than most online vendors, but all the speaker harness adapters and other little bits would've come with it, usually free. AND they have 7-days-a-week phone support to walk you thru this shit. If you purchased from Crutchfield as we try to get everyone to do on this forum, please know all of that support is available for you, they'll literally answer anything and I've never heard of someone not being able to get a human almost immediately on the phone, or in online chat.

 

The Amp bypass harness (

$33 70-8117 Factory Amplifier Harness for 2004-Up Toyota Vehicles with JBL Sound System

70-8117) only plugs into the S24 output connector at the OEM Amp that goes to the speakers. The input plug S23 is not used nor is it part of bypass harness.
I would however consider unplugging the input of OEM Amp to lesson current draw and if need be, there is input power at S23 for later use.

When I used the bypass harness for my Kenwood install, there were approx 6 conductors not used. I chose to remove those conductors by depinning if for no other reason than it made cable somewhat smaller and fit in driver side cable trough that goes back to front. I also cut the spares after removal in shorter lengths and with factory pins still intact, used them for various reasons as trouble shooting aids.





My Kenwood was a Excelon DDX8906S which may or may not match your Kenwood wiring for Speakers and also a 2004 DC which may or may not match your 2006 S24 Amp output conductors.

 

You guys are amazing. Thank you for this!

I did use Crutchfield for everything except the rear door speakers which were out of stock. And the sub is discontinued so I found that elsewhere.

Again, thank you. This information is exactly what I needed.

 

You can lead a horse to water…

What a nightmare this is. I should’ve known I was out of my wheelhouse from the start. This whole installation is dependent on bypassing the amp yet it seems the only people knowledgeable enough to do it are people in the audio industry. If you don’t speak audio electronics you’re SOL. Spicing/connecting wires is a daunting task to people who aren’t in the know. A competent person should make a video or type up instructions that would allow a fifth grader to do it; then maybe my pea brain could complete it.
I think I’ll just deal with a shitty audio system.

Also, I didn’t purchase the Metra steering wheel control harness or the ASWC-1 because the rat’s nest behind the head unit has been spliced into behind the connector so now I’m completely lost. I’m staying far away from all of it.

The SAT 6 speaker adapters for the rear doors don’t line up. I’ve tried every configuration and got nowhere. WTF is the point of “Fits your vehicle” when it doesn’t? If drilling new mounting holes is needed then it doesn’t fit my vehicle.

On the plus side, if anyone needs screws or bolts stripped or random trim/door pieces broken, let me know. I’m your guy! I’m REALLY good at that.

A word to the wise: pay a professional. He’ll hide all his shoddy work behind the dash and door panels and you’ll be none the wiser. But it’ll sound good.

 

Nah, we've had quite a few folks with limited audio experience manage on here. But they also had unhacked OEM harnesses IIRC.

I mean, it's splicing wires. I get it, if you've never soldered or crimped wires it may be tough, but ...

Got pics?

They're universal fit, they work across multiple models. Instructions should tell you to snap off tabs here or there to make things work. Like, in my case, my JBL aftermarket components had about 12 ways you could mount; I had to trim off half a dozen tabs to get the perfect fitment. That's kinda the norm.

It may not actually sound good. We've had a few show up here with exactly that problem. And if it doesn't, whether you can fix it is ultimately at the mercy of what the other person did.

Wish you lived closer... I'd be happy to help.

 

It's not the actual wire splicing. It's knowing you're connecting them where they're supposed to go. Knowing my luck, something will be done incorrectly and I'll lose certain functions, or create a short, or fry my truck. I've got no clear set of instructions. Just numerous diagrams that say different things.

- The back of the packaging mentions amp turn on and power amp (aren't I bypassing the amp?), illumination and dimmer (uhhhh?), power antenna (like a physical power antenna that goes up and down OR antenna power so radio stations will work?).

- The instructions from Metra talk about wire colors for woofers and tweeters. The whole point of the new system is to get rid of those, right?

- The wires currently hooked into the AXTO-TY1 are all present on the

$33 70-8117 Factory Amplifier Harness for 2004-Up Toyota Vehicles with JBL Sound System

70-8117. Do I just mirror those connections to the new harness?

I don't know what any of it means! And I still have to add more wires to the equation for the subwoofer. Oh joy!

I'm so confused. Maybe I'll take some pics tomorrow.