So just got my new 2012 Crew and threw a few upgrades in there. Had to hunt for some of this info so I figured I would stick it all in one place.

Here are the things I added:

1. Escort Redline Radar detector with invisicord and BlendMount.
2. Pyle front camera
3. Alpine Rear DVD 10.4" drop down. PKG-RSE2.
4. Center Console RCA input.
5. Lockpick V.4


My Durango is a Base Crew with the Hemi 5.7L, 730N DVD NAV and Sunroof.





Step 1. Adding the Lockpick.

Pretty simple really. Pull out the little rubber tray under the AC controls and 2 screws are revealed. Unscrew them and then pull off the trim. You have 4 scews for the stereo and its out. Unplug all the wires and set readio aside. Plug in the lockpick and tuck the RCA jacks in the back and push them down so you can access them without pulling the radio back out. Put the radio back in and run some RCA wires to the inputs and outputs and a front camera video rca plugs into the units brain.



There are wires for all connections that come out of the harness. I attached the camera to the camera power and the Alpine DVD to the accessory out. There are even wires for switched power and battery as well as ground so no need to hunt for them. Lockpick V.4 is awesome.





Step 2. Mounting the Front Camera

This was not so bad once I found a way through the firewall. Pull out the trim pieces at the passenger foot well. Be carefull as I broke the only tab on mine. Once they are out there is a huge wiring harness behind the carpet. Pull the carpet back and poke a hole to the right of the harness at the rubber grommet. Now look under the engine where the batter terminal is for jump start. You should see the hole you made. Shove a lone screw driver through it. Be careful not to hit any wires. :nono













Now just run your camera RCA video, Power and Ground through it, stick your camera to the front grill, wire them up and you are done.






Step 3. Radar Detector invisicord and BlendMount

This was a big deal for me. I had to get a base model for one main reason and that is so it had a regular Mirror mount. The auto highbeams requires this funky mirror mount that nothing will attach to. The base model makes a blendmount possible and has easy access to the radar and its sturdy.



Running the invisicord is easy. Pull off the roof lights where the sunglasses are stored. Just yank the whole thing right off, its only clipped in there. Now there is a torx screw right in the front, unscrew that and that is your ground. The Pink wire on the harness to the mirror is the switched 12V power. Hook them up and your are done. The blend mount attaches to the mirror mount. I took my mirror off to do this. Must use the rubber insert that comes with it as the mirror mount is skinny. I used wiring tape to hold it into place. Mounts up great.


Step 4. Rear DVD drop down

You can do the $97 cheapo on ebay. I did that one on the Kia Sedona we had and my tundra but the second one I bought from ebay had a glossy screen with bad viewing angles and the first one in my Tundra just completly broke so this time I went with the $529-$699 Alpine. $699 from crutchfield. Glad I did to because mine came with a cord missing and they are sending me another whole unit.

Now this was a bitch. First I had to get the rear AC controls off. Well they just pop off with alot of force. Once off disconnect the wire. Now you will see a black mount. This mount must come off. It is glued to the headliner. What I did was force it up slowly until it seperated then pulled it out.



Now you can drill into the metal mount that is up there. Be careful not to drill to far and to measure your sunroof so the screws don't hit the cover when opened.

I mounted the DVD mount right to that metal bar and wired it all up. I ran the wires down the passenger B pillar. A real bitch. I suggest taking out the passenger seat which i did not do. Also be careful inside the headliner. Lots of sharp edges under there cut me up and as a result I got blood all over the interior that i had to clean up. YUCK.

Once in its aweseome. The Lockpick unlocks the DVD functions in the head unit and feeds them back to the DVD drop down player. Or I can play a dvd from the back. Either works great.













Step 5: Run RCA to center console

Pretty easy here. I ran the input to the lockpick into the center console and pulled the wires through the latch under the armrest. Then I ran rca jacks to the second input on the DVD and put an adapter to blend them together so an ipod can pump video to both at same time.




I also added a bike rack and a Garmin. Nothing to know here.




Hope this helps you all out.

 

Great info!

 

That is just what I need, but have two left thumbs...

I will offer you lodging if you "pop" over and fit a camera on my Citadel LOL - Switzerland is very nice this time of year.

Where did you pick up the lock pick and camera?

 

Was in Denmark last year. LOL.

Camera was $37 on Amazon. Lockpick I got from their website for $249.

 

All this can be done for under $1000

1. Alpine DVD $529 ebay
2. Garmin 1450LMT with lifetime maps and traffic $129 amazon
3. Lockpick V.4 $249 their website
4. Front camera Pyle $37 amazon
5. Wiring $25 monoprice
6. Blendmount $70 their website
7. invisicord $14 amazon

 

DVD screen looks really nice. Where did you relocate the climate controls?

 

To the bottom of my craftsman toolbox.

 

Lol perfect spot for them!

 

Thanks CFusion - will hunt it all down and follow your instructions!

Why go to Denmark, place has mosquitos the size of dive bombers!

 

Why didnt you go with a cream DVD player? The black stands out like a sore thumb...