I don't post here often but I do a lot of lurking...so I figured this was as good of time as any to speak up and show you guys the project I completed yesterday.

I own a bike review website (Bike198.com), so I have a bike rack on the back of my truck 24/7 which renders the backup sensors useless. Since the back of the Avalanche is so big with all of the plastic, you can not see the bike rack folded up at all. I had a feeling I was "that guy" in the parking lot that you always see with about 3 extra feet behind him backing up, so I decided to bite the bullet and install a back-up camera. Mine actually came with the factory 6 disc w/o nav, so I had to install the following...

Factory Nav Head Unit
Nav Antenna
Rear Backup Camera (small CCD off eBay)
GMX550 Lockpick (I had the wiring for factory backup, but I wanted to use the different camera and get the iPhone/iPad integration)

Anyways...the entire install went pretty easily and everything is up and running.






The hardest part was bringing myself to actually drill into the plastic on the tailgate. Measured about 80 times to drill once. Looking at the back of the truck, you barely even notice the flush mount camera is there and it provides the perfect viewpoint of the rack empty and loaded up with bikes.

Luckily, I have a really great GM dealer close by that worked with me for about an hour on trying different code setups on the head unit until we got the combo that worked perfectly. That was a huge help.

 

looks like a smooth install and great upgrade. Did your oem have Bose & steering wheel contl? Did the lock pick include a VSS adapter wire for the NAV. I'm looking to do a similar upgrade, just cant find the right unit & adapters to make it all work. I have a 2007, CD/ BOSE/ REAR ENT DVD/ NO NAV. Would you know what GM part # the unit is? ending in 66 or 67 or other. Thx

 

I just had all of this installed. I have an 07 LTZ with factory bose and steering wheel controls and installed the GMX 550 LockPick, CCD Rear Cam Kit, and oem GM GPS Antenna. The VSS wiring kit was already pre-wired in my car luckily... i'm thinking maybe because it was an LTZ? I had the same exact options as you. Make sure you get the right unit as they have two kinds... one that plays DVD videos and one that doesn't. If you have the Rear Entertainment DVD, you HAVE to get the one that plays DVD's... pm me or email me at felixgun@gmail.com and I can possibly get you one of the units with DVD for the RSE for a good price!

 

Hate to bring back a thread from the dead but I need help finding the right Nav head unit for my 08 LTZ (no rear entertainment but I have Bose). I want to do the same back up camera and lock pick setup in mine but want the DVD capabilities with the lock pick integration. I learned there are 2 versions of the nav so I need to know which part numbers I should look for or physical features that will help identify the one I need. Thanks