A Midlothian client recently stopped in, looking to upgrade the stereo in his 2017 Dodge Challenger. The OEM stereo in his Challenger is the 4″ version, which, due to space constraints behind the radio, you can’t normally replace … until now.
Earlier this year, Alpine released a new radio commonly referred to as the “Halo 9” (you can read more about it HERE). The Halo 9 has what would be called a “floating tablet” design, much like many new Mercedes and Mazda vehicles are equipped with. The actual mounting chassis of the radio is small it can be tilted at a major angle, which allowed us to custom-mount the radio under the metal bar in the dash. With the Halo 9’s screen at a heavy forward tilt, it matched right up with the angle of the dash. Most radios in that position would be aiming at the sky.
Now he has a massive 9″ screen, with vehicle diagnostics, heating and air control display, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Bluetooth, and more. We also set him up with a wide-angle, under-lip–style camera for reversing. The camera is very small and barely noticeable on the back end of the car. With the 9″ screen of the Halo 9, seeing objects or vehicles behind him is a breeze.
Have a Dodge Challenger that you’d like to upgrade the stereo in? Swing by one of our locations to see the Halo 9 for yourself. We have two Richmond-area locations, one in Mechanicsville and one in Midlothian on Hull St. Road. You can also reach us by e-mail using our online contact page.
If there’s no dash kit for the 2017 Challenger yet and it doesn’t look like the Halo 9 fits the regular housing in the challenger whats holding the radio in there?
The Challenger doesn’t really have room behind the dash for a normal radio. The chassis of the Halo 9 is a single din, that also could be mounted at an angle to fit under the crossbar in the dash. All of the mounting was custom, with an ABS plate behind it to trim it in
Makes sense lol cause I was so confused. Been waiting to get a new radio for my 2017 Challenger but everywhere I go they tell me they have no dash kit for it, so Im still waiting.
You’re likely to never see a traditional dash kit released for it. There’s a large metal pipe going across behind the existing screen that would interfere with a traditional radio being able to fit. You can use the Alpine Halo’s, or perhaps the new Pioneer 2-piece radio’s that have a separate 8″ screen and brain box. But any kits would likely have to be fabricated from scratch.
Alright. Preciate it guess the Halo 9 is the easier way to go then.
Did you have to extend the ribbon cable or modify it and using a remote custom mount to mount the screen or is it still to the oem alpine chassis like i would be on a normal 309 install ?
This was done using the original mounting at an aggressive angle.
Hello,
Do you by chance have a picture of the ABS plate? Was it 3d printed by chance? If so, do you have the STL files? I’d gladly pay for them.
It was manually cut from ABS. I do have a picture from the back of the dash I’ll email you now.
Can you also email me the picture of the ABS dash holder
Sorry, we don’t have any additional pictures of this job to share. Stinger has released a custom kit for their Heigh10 radio to go in the Challenger. https://catalog.pac-audio.com/catalog/radio-replacement/srk-chr15h
What about the wiring harness? Did you have to cut the factory connector from the harness to connect the wires?
Definitely don’t do that. You wouldn’t be able to make it work by hardwiring, it needs a data interface. Idatalink Maestro makes an integration module for it
I’m interested in how you were able to retain the AC through the unit. We’re you also able to retain the OEM AC controls?
Both were retained using an iDatalink Maestro module, the MRR
Did you have to extend the ribbon cable or modify it and using a remote custom mount to mount the screen or is it still to the oem alpine chassis like i would be on a normal 309 install ?
Can use the genuine setting screen ?
I’m not 100% I know what you mean, but you are able to still change vehicle settings through the new screen
Was there a specific wiring harness used? Also were you able to maintain factory backup camera?
We used the iDatalink Maestro interface for all the wiring and vehicle data integration. This particular model did not have an OEM camera to retain, so we added our own. The Maestro harness does say it retains the OEM camera if equipped.
Would you be able to email me some photos of how you did the dash install on this. I have a 2017 challenger with the 8.4 screen delaminating and out of warranty so I am looking at this as an option for replacement. I don’t want to install an OEM replacement and have the same problem in a few years again. I live in Iowa so can’t get to you for the install. Anything you can provide me for help with the install fabrication would be appreciated.
Would you be able to sell me a set of the mounting brackets and abs used to mount the head unit in the dash? I already have the harness and head unit on order, along with the other adapter harnesses for the antennas, but I still need to find a way to mount the head unit in the dash and I have no fabrication equipment that I can use. Only hand tools.
Regrettably we didn’t realize how popular this solution would be when we did the install. We didn’t create any additional mounts to re-create them from. On a side note, Stinger is releasing a custom kit for these vehicles in the next few months that will custom integrate their Heigh10 system into them with custom shroud and mounting.
Does this come with build in navigational of if I don’t want to use Apple car play? Also do you guys sell the wire harness needed for a 2021 challenger so I can use the original functions controls to still work?
The newer version Alpine’s will be able to use an add-on navigation that they are coming out with in the near future. The harness is definitely something we have, we just didn’t make brackets to duplicate the install, so that part you’d have to figure out from scratch.