jrjunior

I have had several questions on the install of the 2014 Kicker Soundgate in my 2015 XLT. I have the 8" screen with navigation. I ordered a kit for the 2014 with the 8" screen from Beau at Rogel Ford. The install was straight forward and everything plugged in to the factory harness. The biggest alteration that needed to be made was the alteration of the door speaker amp bracket. It was cut and later bolted to the upper left stud for the brake booster under the dash. If you watch the video of the 15 install by earsmccoy, he does a great job of showing how to remove the CD player and how to run the power cables to the battery. I was able to slide my CD player out and did not have to remove the touch screen. The power cables seen in the video appear to be the same as the ones in the 14 kit. Remember to remove the plug in that is zip stripped to the cable prior to running it to the battery.





Here is the under dash amp setup as it comes. I removed the amp from the bracket and cut the tab off that you see to the right. The remaining tab was bent so it is close to a 90 degree angle with the bracket. I also drilled the hole in the tab out a little bit bigger so it will fit over the brake booster stud. I used the upper left stud. The nut was removed and then placed the bracket on then replaced the nut. The nut is a 13mm. I used a ratchet wrench. This was the most tedious part of install.







Here is the cut off portion of the bracket.






Amp mounted under the dash.






The Kicker harness plugs in to the plug on the CD player, farthest to the right if you are looking at the back of it. The factory plug then plugs into the Kicker harness. Run the harness towards the drivers side and then reinstall the CD player.





There are two power chords that run to the battery. Again if you watch earsmccoy"s video, he shows how to run these through the firewall on the drivers side to the battery. Remove the plugs from the wires first. They are wire tied on.





Here you can see the amp after it is mounted. It is up and out of the way and the emergency brake operates properly.

I placed the sub box on the passenger side. I removed the mounting brackets. The wiring harness runs under the sill plates, which simply pop up. I ran the harness under the sill and then under the glove box. I had to lengthen the power lead wire by about a foot. The power cable plugs into one of the power cables that was ran to the battery.





Here is a pic of the sub box under the rears seat. There is already a slit in the carpet, near the bottom of the seat. I ran the Kicker harness through the slit and then under the sill plates. When you get to this part, I recommend removing the black ground wire and leaving it in the back. It will run to a ground near the upper driver side of the wall behind the rear seat.





Here is the grounding location I used. I removed the carpet on the back wall of the truck and ran the wire from the sub box over.

I grounded the sub box to the ground on the upper drivers side of the back wall of the truck. The other cable that leads from the sub is the signal wires. They are brown and green. They run to the front with the sub harness and plug into the main harness near the door speaker amp.

There is also a ground for the door speaker amp. (It has a loop on it) I grounded it to one of the lower brake booster studs.

All in all this is a fairly straight forward install. It made a huge improvement in the sound and everything works as it should. (touch screen, navigation, controls etc.) I placed a strip of industrial strength Velcro on the bottom of the speaker box. It hasn't moved. I have since replaced all of my door speakers with Kicker coaxial speakers. This made a noticeable improvement over the stock speakers.

Wyo11Scab

iTrader: (1)

Great pictures and write up!!

Rogel Ford

iTrader: (1)

Awesome write up! Thanks man!

Westbayou

I haven't looked yet, but do you think it would be possible to mount the speaker amp behind the glovebox instead of the driver's side footwell? If it is possible, it might negate the need to lengthen any of the wires. I'm considering this as an install option when my wiring harness gets here.

jrjunior

I did not look at it either, or think of that actually. That might be a better option though.

Westbayou

Not the thread hijack, but I can confirm that this install is VERY easy and works just fine with out 2015's. All told it took me right around 90 minutes to install and button everything back up after watching a couple install videos and using the info in this thread. For $375 it is an absolute steal for the results you get. Myself I will probably just keep the factory door speakers. They sound fine, and the tweeters are still active using the Kicker amp.

Following your lead and instructions Jr, I took a shot at stashing the amp behind the glove box, and it worked great. I completely removed the bracket from the amp, and it slid right into the space back there. I did have to add about 8" to the ground wire for the amp, but the upside is there is bolt readily available to ground it to. All of the wires are hidden, and you end up with tons of slack in your harness and power wires.

Is it a competition ready system now? No. Is it night and day better than it was? Absolutely. I'm a little surprised just how bright the highs are.

Now to sell the 6x8's it came with and recoup some of my cash!

Wyo11Scab

iTrader: (1)

Once you removed the amp bracket how did you mount it?

Westbayou

I had planned to use velcro, but it is a nice snug fit in there with the insulation that it doesn't move and it doesn't make any noise.

jrjunior

I reused the bracket after it was cut. I bolted the tab on the smaller end to the upper left brake booster stud.