my stuff is all done in 3/4". What you could do is use 3/4" for the mounting face and 1/2" for all others, for maximum internal space for maximum utilized space.

 

What dash kit do I get for that head unit?

 

Metra 99-6503. You can get it from Autozone, or you can order it from Amazon or Sonic. Crutchfield throws the kit and the wire harness in for free if you buy a deck that costs $100.00 or more. Do not buy the Scosche kit from Walmart. It is a multi-kit made to fit lots of different vehicles and will come apart in the dash. The front trim bezel does not snap in place very will in a 01-04 Dakota.

Jimmy

 

Is the Scosche wire harness good? Do I need two of those amp installation kits? What all do I need to bridge the two subs together into the mono amp?

 

I do not like the Scosche harnesses because they have the plugs for a 2001 Dakota which is 2 separate plugs and on the same harness they have the big plug for an 03-04 and up Dodge, all on the same harness. They do that to generate more profit by covering multiple vehicles with one SKU, same reason the Scosche dash kit fits more than one generation of Dakota. That harness is confusing and has too many wires on it, plus is just more bulk to stuff in the dash behind the radio.

If using only one amp you only need one wire kit. If you have two amps and the other one draws less current you could get by with the one 4 gauge wire kit for power and ground but you would need distribution blocks to split power and ground from each 4 gauge wire to their respective amps. Usually you can use a short section of 8 gauge for that, as long as the distance from each distro block to each amp is maybe 12-18 inches or less. To use just one 4 gauge power and ground wire like that it would be best to have the smaller amp maybe rated at half the current draw of the larger amp, but no more than half. If it is more than half you would be better off running a separate power and ground wire for each amp.

You only need speaker wire to bridge the subs to the amp. When people say the bridged the amp, all they mean is that they have wired the sub(s) in a mono configuration to the amp. "Bridging" comes from combining 2 separate stereo outputs into one single mono output for more power. You use half of each stereo output to "bridge" the outputs into one single higher powered output. Bridging does not really apply to a mono sub amp, it is already built for just a single output. If the sub amp you use has a lot of output power it is best to use a good size speaker wire, at least 12-14 gauge.

Jimmyy

 

Where do I connect the wires to bridge the subs in series? Do you have a diagram that would really help? Also what wire harness would you recommend?

 

Metra is about the only harness you can buy at a store or online. Best Kits and Harnesses (American International) used to be available but maybe they are sold under a different name now. The harnesses are pretty much all the same, only Scosche is the only one I ever saw that had 2 different style plugs on the same wire harness. Weird.

To wire in series, if you have 2 single voice coil subs, just wire the positive amp output to the positive terminal of one of the subs. Then connect a wire from the negative terminal on that same sub to the positive terminal of the other sub. Then wire the remaining negative terminal to the negative output of the amp.

There is a great web site where you can get a lot of good how-to info, www.the12volt.com. Also check out www.diymobileaudio.com for good installation info.

Jimmy

 

Thanks. Sorry about all the questions. I just want to make sure I do it right the first time and get everything I need. One last question. How many feet of speaker wire do you think I would need?

 

Keep the speaker wire as short as possible but also have enough slack so that it is long enough to reach from each sub to the amp. If the amp and subs will be together in close proximity on your glass/mdf enclosure then it should not need to be a very long wire run. As long as you use a good quality wire (oxygen free copper speaker wire if you can find it) it will be fine. No worries on asking questions, I ask my fair share of questions here too. I was a professional car audio installer for over 15 years so car audio, alarm and electrical problems are subjects I can definitely help with. I like to help out here when I can.

Jimmy

 

My truck is 2 meters of RCA cables from deck to under passenger seat (excess coiled up above HVAC ducting), two 3 foot 8 gauge grounds from under passenger seat to right front passenger seat mounting bolt, 18 feet of 4 gauge from battery, through A pillar behind CTM, under carpet, to passenger seat, followed by a distribution block and a pair of 12" lengths of 8 gauge

One sub has 36" of 12 gauge speaker wire and one has 48".

lengths are rough estimates.