grand cherokee screen placement

**elimenohpee** · 03-08-2007, 10:31 PM

hey everyone, i'm coming into the final stages of planning. i have a list of parts i want to buy now, just need a screen and the best place to put it. i've decided to scratch a separate cd player, and i would LOVE to put this screen into the stock cd player location. heres a picture of what i have to work with:

it is only a din and a half, but i think i might have a chance to place a 7" lilliput in there with the buttons relocated. the dimensions of the upper dash area (above the vents) is roughly 4.5" H x 10''+ W. now if the measurements in this post (post #10) are acurate, then i think i could fit this in there fairly easily. Maximum size screen for MR2 double din panel

any ideas? if i can't get it to fit in this location, then i'm forced to use the very bottom of the dash area, which would be kind of inconvienient.

**2k1Toaster** · 03-08-2007, 11:14 PM

i say move the vents to above the console in a pod like thing. Then screen where it should be, front and centre!

M$ Paint!!!

**elimenohpee** · 03-09-2007, 05:23 PM

how in the world would i do that lol. i could block the vents all together, but it gets very hot around here in the summer, so keeping the vents in crucial. the top of the dash has no holes or anything to get to those vents, so i'm not sure that would work in my situation.

i think the screen will fit in that radio spot, but i want to make sure those dimensions are accurate and whether or not i'll have any trouble putting it all together.

**2k1Toaster** · 03-09-2007, 07:21 PM

You would chop a hole in the top of the dash and route new piping.

Your radio is only 1.5 din. A 7" screen is larger than 2din. No it wont fit. A double din screen (like an Alpine/Kenwood) is 6.5" to give you a reference point.

If they make a double din kit for your car, then yes you could get it to work.

**turbocad6** · 03-09-2007, 07:47 PM

man, that dash looks like a challenge... I'm thinking I would move the vents to the top of the whole stack, probably replacing them with custom vents to accomidate the rounded top, then move the climate control down a bit, & then put the screen in between them, but this would be major fabrication... depends how ambitious & skilled you are really....

putting the screen down below the shifter will suck, I guess next best thing would be squeezing it in where the head is & maybe loosing half of the vents at that... even that is a bit of fab work but much easier than my first choice

in the future I'd recommend choosing your vehicle around the install, & if the dash is not install friendly pick another car

**turbocad6** · 03-09-2007, 08:04 PM

like this would be easiest, you'll still have half the vents at least......

**elimenohpee** · 03-09-2007, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by turbocad6

man, that dash looks like a challenge... I'm thinking I would move the vents to the top of the whole stack, probably replacing them with custom vents to accomidate the rounded top, then move the climate control down a bit, & then put the screen in between them, but this would be major fabrication... depends how ambitious & skilled you are really....

putting the screen down below the shifter will suck, I guess next best thing would be squeezing it in where the head is & maybe loosing half of the vents at that... even that is a bit of fab work but much easier than my first choice

in the future I'd recommend choosing your vehicle around the install, & if the dash is not install friendly pick another car

i was thinking of relocating the climate controls to another spot, and moving the cig plugs too and putting the screen down there. but i really want to put it up top where the radio is.

how hard do you think itd be to relocate the vents? somehow i'd have to design/build something to move the air up to the top where the radio is. and the climate contols. ive seen people relocate climate controls on here, but is there much to it other than resoldering wires to extend?

**turbocad6** · 03-09-2007, 09:56 PM

before you can make any real plans you gotta take it apart & see where the main airduct is & how it's routed & how the rest of the dash is constructed...

it shouldn't be too dificult to drop the climate control down a bit, I doubt you'd even have to alter the harness even... your climate control is full electric, but even so, extending it can be a lot of work, you've got to solder each connection & there are a few differnt gauge wires that you really should use the same gauge for each... you can drop it quite a bit without extending the harness usually though...

the hardest part really will be fabricating & refinishing the whole center to look right, at least the opening is vertically parallel for the most part, so the climate control can go down to where it really starts to curve without a major problem.. the opening may tapper down & be a little tight as it goes lower, but it doesn't look like it'd be too much, that's the easy part...

you will have to remove everything below it though & either cut it down or rebuild it from scratch... the heated seat switches are easy to deal with... the vents should be doable no matter what, really I think it should be pretty easy to shuffle everything around in the center stack & get everything mounted & routed where you'd want it... that don't look too difficult... the difficult part is finishing it after that...

**Quattro** · 03-09-2007, 10:39 PM

It's gonna be difficult if you wanna keep the vents. Your gonna have to give something up from there, wheather it be the vent or the AC controls.

Look at this thread, there are a couple of different installs and specially post 57.

2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited

**turbocad6** · 03-09-2007, 10:54 PM

wow, that's exactly what I was picturing... he moved the vents & climate control down a bit... you can see exactly the "problem areas" I ment, the screen housing itself & the lower area that he has cardboard in