Kicker speaker tailgate mod

jonlsu · Jun 15, 2023

I kept having my phone disconnect from the radio and connecting to the kicker speaker while I was driving down the road.
The kill switch for the speaker/tailgate being up I guess wasn’t working properly.

Anyway opened it up, cut the yellow wire and added a power switch for the unit.
Took about 30 mins.

Pingbling23 · Jun 15, 2023

is there a separate bluetooth connection for the kicker stereo? couldnt you just delete the kicker connection from your phone?

jonlsu · Jun 15, 2023

Yea I could delete it but that gets old having to reconnect every time I want to use it. Also I was worried about it being on for days on end. Not sure how much power it pulls but there are times I don’t drive anywhere for 5-7 days. It’s wired straight from the battery so there it doesn’t turn off.

TonyAT4 · Jun 16, 2023

Sound quality on these tailgate speakers is lousy. Has anyone done an upgrade?

Xtremespeed2102 · Jun 19, 2023

I can speak from personal experience. Those speakers will kill the battery flat in a week. Definitely doing that hard switch.

coachg · Oct 20, 2023

jonlsu said:
I kept having my phone disconnect from the radio and connecting to the kicker speaker while I was driving down the road.
The kill switch for the speaker/tailgate being up I guess wasn’t working properly.

Anyway opened it up, cut the yellow wire and added a power switch for the unit.
Took about 30 mins.

Thinking about doing this.... although I called kicker and they said "off the record" I could just bypass the sensor completely and then use the on/off button on the unit itself. I asked if it would stay off all the time that way and he said it should.

From what I can tell you'd just splice black to black and yellow to yellow and you could take the tilt sensor out of the equation.

THoughts?

jeffsig · Oct 20, 2023

Great idea I’m going to do this. Once the yellow wire is cut what part of switch does it tie into? Newbie here. Thanks!

Teegunn · Oct 20, 2023

TonyAT4 said:
Sound quality on these tailgate speakers is lousy. Has anyone done an upgrade?

My wife has the kicker in her 2020 AT4 carbon pro. The sound is so weak and bad, it's embarrasing.

I had a 2020 AT4 (non carbon pro) that didn't have the kicker. After hearing how lousy and weak the sound was from hers, I glad I didn't have a kicker or pay for it.

I now have a 2023 AT4X with the Kicker. The sound quality and level on my kicker is probably 4 times better than my wifes kicker, so they did some kind of upgrade. I still rarely use it, but if I want to, it is nice to know it has good sound at least.

jonlsu · Oct 24, 2023

coachg said:
Thinking about doing this.... although I called kicker and they said "off the record" I could just bypass the sensor completely and then use the on/off button on the unit itself. I asked if it would stay off all the time that way and he said it should.

From what I can tell you'd just splice black to black and yellow to yellow and you could take the tilt sensor out of the equation.

THoughts?

Im sure you could bypass it. I don’t recall what colors went to the tilt switch. I really didn’t look too much at it. The main power wire was easy enough of a fix, that’s why I went that way.

bradusc · Oct 28, 2023

Do you have to press power button twice to get it to switch to Bluetooth? Just got my truck yesterday. I got it synced to kicker on Bluetooth but it seems I have to press power button twice to get it to play music, almost like it’s switching from usb to Bluetooth.

gemarsh · Oct 28, 2023

bradusc said:
Do you have to press power button twice to get it to switch to Bluetooth? Just got my truck yesterday. I got it synced to kicker on Bluetooth but it seems I have to press power button twice to get it to play music, almost like it’s switching from usb to Bluetooth.

You should have this in the glove box along with kicker stickers...

gemarsh · Oct 28, 2023

Here is an undocumented feature that I haven't seen before, the ability to change brightness...

IowaAT4X · Jan 21, 2024

My complaint was that anytime you put the multifunction step down, the phone would automatically start playing on the kicker system. It was annoying. I just finished taking out the sensor. I cut the wires and soldered the blue to the yellow, and attached to black to a screw that was holding the sensor on for ground. Worked as expected. I recommend pulling the inline fuse below by the spare tire before doing the work. It's the easiest way to cut the power to the kicker system. Now it only turns on when I want it to, via the power button.

70chevelle · Jan 22, 2024

I bought my ‘22 off the lot and didn’t want the kicker system that it came with, but what to do? Anyway, after working At my property, I grew to like having some music. This fall, it quit playing. My phone shows I’m connected and the music is playing, but no sound out of the speakers. Anyone else have this issue? I planned on having the dealer look at it next oil change, but they have been pretty worthless in general.

24Titanium3500 · Jan 22, 2024

Teegunn said:
My wife has the kicker in her 2020 AT4 carbon pro. The sound is so weak and bad, it's embarrasing.

I had a 2020 AT4 (non carbon pro) that didn't have the kicker. After hearing how lousy and weak the sound was from hers, I glad I didn't have a kicker or pay for it.

I now have a 2023 AT4X with the Kicker. The sound quality and level on my kicker is probably 4 times better than my wifes kicker, so they did some kind of upgrade. I still rarely use it, but if I want to, it is nice to know it has good sound at least.

Haha this made me laugh! Good thing they upgraded it!

*The sound is so weak and bad, it's embarrasing.

*After hearing how lousy and weak the sound was from hers, I glad I didn't have a kicker or pay for it.

*I now have a 2023 AT4X with the Kicker.