Toyota Tundra Forum

So I've been thinking over how to add power locks to my tailgate. A very nice guy over at TS said he did it and sent me a description of how he did it but there were no pictures. He used a power lock with a 3/4 inch throw and said it worked, but we needed a one inch throw.

I checked my handle and it looks like we need a 1" minimum throw to lock and unlock the tailgate and have the handle operate smooth. So I did some searching and managed to get my hand on a few that would work. Unfortunately, I had to buy the whole box of six 3/4" and six 1" throw locks. I got them for less than the individual prices on ebay so maybe I can sell them on there and recoupe the money. Anyway, they are the actuators only, no metal bracket and no screws. So I had to come up with a new bracket and get some screws. The screws were easy. They are a #6 x 3/4" metal screws. I tried to make the bracket out of the left over aluminum piece from my fog light install. No luck and was turning out really bad and hard to make. Thought I might weld one, but a 12 gauge bracket was feeling too heavy and the big box hardware stores didn't carry anything thinner. But they do carry small pieces of sheet metal I thought would work. I picked up a 6" x 18" piece of 22 gauge sheet metal and decided to try it out. Well, it was worked out great. I bought it to try and weld it, I ended up just bending it how I wanted. I could cut the sheet with my snips, bend it to the shape I wanted, it was rigid enough for the lock (I think, haven't tested it yet with power), and light enough to work mounted to the tailgate handle. Here are some pics of what I did this evening. I made a couple of them. The first one marked "original" is a bit off, but COULD possibly work. The one marked "prototype 2" is my template for making the others. But the screw holes for mounting the actuator to the bracket have to be marked by hand each time. But this should work for the handles with or without the camera.

Here's some pics. Waiting till tomorrow for the paint to dry. Why brown? Cause I had some brown Rustoleum laying around and it's inside the tailgate. Also have to do the wiring tomorrow as well.

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2007 SR5 Crewmax 5.7L 4x4
Mods: nerf bars, Truxedo tonneau, radar detector power, 3M clear bra, fog lights, black billet grille, rear differential breather, parking sensors, Line-X, power tailgate lock, hood safety latch mod, one off driving lights behind grille, Pioneer NAV w/ OEM camera, Flowmaster 50 SUV dual/dual, blue LED dash lights, Volant CAI, Llumar tint, CompuStar Pro alarm, ProComp 6066 20" wheels, Cooper Zeon LTZ 275/60/20 tires, OME HD coilover lift, Firestone helper air bags, stereo cable lock, Tekonsha P3 brake controller
All mod descriptions and pictures © 2007-2009 by Toxarch. They may be copied only for personal use and the mods may be done for non-profit only.

The end with the angle cut out is the end that attaches to the handle. The smaller hole goes on the plastic guide used to line up the handle when installing the handle. The larger hole will use the handle screw to hold it in place. I think that should hold it straight. The actuator has 3 screw holes, but only 2 are going to be used in the mount. This is because the third hole would be right over the handle screw and make it harder to make the mount and get to the screw. So I left that one out. You'll see when I take more pics tomorrow.

Another great project Tox! You gonna have this thing working by this weekend? I would sure like to see what ya got at that point!

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2007 Tundra Limited Double Cab 4x4 Super White
Volant CAI
Pioneer AVIC Z-2 (hard drive upgrade to AVIC Z-3)
Key FOB Tailgate Lock (courtesy of Toxarch)
OEM back-up camera w/flip down monitor microswitch mod
Sirius Satellite Radio
WeatherTech Floor Liners
20" OEM alloy wheels
Line-X Bed liner
UWS Black Powdercoat Low Profile Toolbox
DU-HA underseat storage unit
JC Whitney Black Nerf Bars
Lund Interceptor II Bug Shield
Tekonsha Voyager Brake Controller

Sweetness. I'll buy one of the 1" throw actuators from ya. PM me.

Edit: I might want a 3/4" actuator as well, if you think that'll work for the gas lid locker.

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2007 Toyota Tundra 4x4 DC SR5 5.7

Good work buddy.. looking forward to seeing the final!!

P.S. hit that macro button on your camera when you're taking close up shots.. looks like a little flower

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CrewMAX 5.7 SR5
Surrey, BC Canada

LINE-X Bed Liner, Tekonsha Prodigy Brake Controller, ScanGauge II

Geddes Family Homestay - Hosting international students in Vancouver, Surrey

I sure hope I do. I'm going to try to finish it today (while the trick or treaters come by in the evening). Course I will be driving around with the 4 wheeler in the back and tailgate down this weekend so a locking tailgate doesn't do a lot of good for this weekend other than showing you. But you can at least see what it looks like and how it works.

I can probably sell you one of each. I'm going to keep a few of them for other locks or as a spare but I can spare a couple. I know finding out which ones are 1" throw is hard. If you are not in a hurry, I'll probably be heading that way sometime in the next month or so for Thanksgiving and Christmas parties. I can always drop it off in your mailbox or meet you somewhere on the way. My family seems to like having 3 different parties during Thanksgiving.

If you are in a hurry, shipping shouldn't be too much since you are nearby.

The problem wasn't the Macro. The problem was that the garage was too dark for my camera to focus. It doesn't like to focus when taking pictures of dark things in a poorly lit place. Those blurry pictures are with the flash.

Another Great DIY Tox, Keep us up to date on how this works out.

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Here you go. Did a test fit this morning. Remember the whole handle is leaning over and the bracket isn't supported so that is why it looks crooked. But it fits pretty nicely. Should be rigid enough to support the actuator long term. There is a chance I might tack a piece on the side to be sure it doesn't move before it gets installed.

It's ALIVE!!!!

Finished up the install this evening. I took a few pictures. Maybe during the daylight tomorrow I will open the tailgate back up and see if I can get a video of it in action. I found that I could probably use a spacer in the middle. If I push it down too far on the lock arm, the actuator hit the arm and doesn't move it far enough. But as I have it right now, it works just fine. But it just has the possibility of coming off later so I might have to do something to hold it in place.

One note, the blue actuator wire is connected to the blue factory lock wire in the pictures. That is the wrong way. The blue actuator wire has to go to the grey factory wire and the green actuator wire needs to go to the blue factory wire. I just reversed the disconnects I put in near the tailgate to correct it.

Tools:
T30 Torx screwdriver
wire cutters
quick disconnects
8mm wrench
10mm wrench (for camera)
wire splices
split loom
20 feet of 16 or 18 gauge wire will work fine. I used 14 gauge.
1" throw actuator
custom bracket


Stock non-camera handle.

Disconnect the tabs by moving them sideways.

Remove the rods from the white clips on the tailgate and the handle and just lay the handle ends on the tailgate.

If replacing with the camera handle, push in the tab toward the front and drop that end down to remove the handle.

Replace with the camera handle.


How do you install the camera? Here is a pdf that shows you everything you need:
http://www.trdsparks.com/install/PT233-34070inst.pdf

Next, remove the old handle key lock. Use a screwdriver to move the clip counter clockwise a little.

Drop it into the new handle and then use the clip to lock it in place. Then install the actuator on the bracket (2nd coat of paint is now blue) and use the factory bolts to hold it and the handle in place.

This is what is looks like when the actuator is too low.

This is how high the actuator should sit. I tried cutting my own space out of a B cap, but it didn't work.

Now run the wiring through the tailgate along side the camera wiring.

Don't forget to put in disconnects near the actuator and after the wiring leaves the tailgate and enters the truck.

I ran all the wires in split loom under the truck. Didn't take any pics since there isn't much to see. I also decided to run 4 wires to the front. I figured one wire could be used for tailgate lights in the bed when the tonneau is unrolled. Or maybe a hood pin for the tailgate and tied to an alarm system. Or possibly auxiliary reverse lights whatever I decide, I have two extra wires for the future. I ran all the wires through a grommet under the rear floor board and down the side of the truck.

Used some wire splices to connect to the factory door lock wiring. You have to connect to the blue wire and the larger of two grey wires. The factory grey wire goes to the actuator blue wire. This picture shows it wired wrong.

And then tuck the splices in the factory loom as much as possible.

You might have to adjust the angle of the bracket to keep it from popping off and to adjust the exact throw a little. You can do that by hand so it's not bad.

Special thanks to bruceatlam in TS for telling me what wires to tap into. And thanks to squid for hosting this on his forum.

Excellent write up Toxarch. You can use both key to unlock or remotely unlock the tailgate correct?