Custom head units

Jack Matthews · April 26, 2021

Hey guys new to the forums 1st of all. Alot of good stuff here. Ok recently got a 2020 Sierra 1500 denali and I'm not finding anything online about changing out the head unit with say a new kenwood or alpine 9" or 10". Really anything for that matter. Is it because idatalink doesn't offer anything yet to retain OEM stuff or is it something else. Every website says it's not recommended to replace factory units. Am I missing something obvious here or is it just not possible yet on the new body styles?

TheTicketTX · April 26, 2021

59 minutes ago, Jack Matthews said:

Hey guys new to the forums 1st of all. Alot of good stuff here. Ok recently got a 2020 Sierra 1500 denali and I'm not finding anything online about changing out the head unit with say a new kenwood or alpine 9" or 10". Really anything for that matter. Is it because idatalink doesn't offer anything yet to retain OEM stuff or is it something else. Every website says it's not recommended to replace factory units. Am I missing something obvious here or is it just not possible yet on the new body styles?

I don't think it's possible yet. I've check for my 2019 silverado, and nothing yet. I've been waiting for LinksWell to release one for the new gen Chevy/GMC

Jack Matthews · April 26, 2021

Yea spoke with an installer today and he said it would be a complete custom install and still wasn't sure if it could even be done at all so would be a big risk in buying and exp head unit. Another guy told me he could do it but just wouldn't promise that anything in the cluster or anywhere else would work lol. But the unit would. Idatalink replied to me saying there was no word on any support for these models upcoming so that's not very promising either.

EZ Money · April 30, 2021

The new vehicles do not have a true head unit like those of old. The screen you see is about 1" thick. The "brain" is located elsewhere. If you remove the screen you'll only have a few inches of space to play with (maybe 2"). Nothing much back there.

DarkSky20 · May 1, 2021

One thing I won’t mess with because of all the cameras. Works fine enough for me

nichos · May 2, 2021

Try crutchfield, those advisors are really good. They also have a "guaranteed to fit" promise.

SierraKid · May 24, 2021

I really would not upgrade the head unit ever. All the OEM settings for the vehicle are in the stock one and I do not think that any aftermarket head unit would retain them perfectly

TechSavvy2 · May 24, 2021

7 hours ago, SierraKid said:

I really would not upgrade the head unit ever. All the OEM settings for the vehicle are in the stock one and I do not think that any aftermarket head unit would retain them perfectly

If you're saying this as a blanket statement, you're incorrect about your assumptions. There are many aftermarket units that will retain/store the OEM vehicle information, settings, communications etc. There may not be one available for this particular model OEM head unit yet, but there will be at some point. I've had probably 5 or 6 different vehicles that I replaced OEM head unit / brain in and maintained all OEM functionality of things still (not just base model trim units, but highest level trims). They usually cost ~$2k for that level of integration / functionality, but it's usually worth it to me depending on what you're looking to do/add/change. One time I did it simply for the upgraded screen resolution.

TwistedX · May 25, 2021

You could do what we did in the 2014+ BMWs, use a media box and hijack the feed between the headunit and screen. that way you could build a sweet custom android PC to interface

Jack Matthews · May 25, 2021

6 hours ago, TwistedX said:

You could do what we did in the 2014+ BMWs, use a media box and hijack the feed between the headunit and screen. that way you could build a sweet custom android PC to interface

How would that work tho? Doesn't that require hdmi?