Power tailgate lock Dakota 3rd Gen by Dak_in_Black
#1
08-18-2007, 02:27 PM
Power tailgate lock Dakota 3rd Gen by Dak_in_Black
This the Pop & Lock Power Tailgate Lock purchased at http://www.truckaccessorizer.comfor $79.95 (free shipping).
It looks pretty sturdy, appears to be constructed out of 1/16th to 1/8th inch stainless steel. The bolt which 'locks' the gate is in center with the cutout square. Just to the left is a brace, along the side there is a spring mounted latch which catches in the hole to 'lock' thebolt in place so you can't put your finger in there to just push it back.
Be carful removing the outer bezel on the tailgate, the snaps holding them in place break easy (I broke one of the lower ones).
To release the rods you need a flathead screwdriver to remove the clips, they then swing away and the rods pop out. The handle should then come out easily They are even color coded so you can't put it together wrong (I don't how as the handle would then be backwards..).
Remove the front kickpanel, lower B pillar cover, and rear scuff plate. Despite what the instructions say, you need toaccess the wires under the B pillare so we cantap into them. The harness goes by the pillar and splits, one goes along the floor and the other goes up. Find the harness that goes up the B pillar. Locate the light green and tan/orange wire (don't know why it looks so orange in the pic, but it more tan than orange). While these clips are 'ok' they are not great, you may need to use a knife to shave away some of the insulation to ensure a good contact. Alternately you could solder the wires and use shrink wrap. But I'm lazy and I just used these.
There is drain hole dead center at the bottom of the tailgate, I used a clothes hanger to snake the smalllength of wire down to thedrail hole from the to the topso Icould get the connectionsdown and out.
Insert the Pop & Lock into the hole, the actuator goes to the driver's side and the mounting plate should be flush against the back of the tailgate. Reinsert the handle and connect the rod you removed earlier.
Here you can see the lock in the tailgate behind the latch. The actuator is behind themetal plate to the left so if the bezel is removed, you still can't get to anything. This is the PITA part... partially screw in the bottom bolt to kinda hold everything together. There is no hole in the Pop & Lock for the bottom screw. You need to slidethe lock as far over to the right (passenger side) as you can. The throw on the bolt is not that long and if it is not installed far enough over, there is enough play in the handle to allow you to still open the tailgate when it is 'locked'.
Connect the short wire to the long wire and snake it up to the front of the truck. For this you can just follow the OEM wiring harness.
I found no easy place to route the harness back into the truck. From inside the truck, just to the left of the steering column there is a wire/cable (have no clue what it is) that goes outside. Pull on the rubber boot and it slides right out giving you easy access. I did not run the wires up the boot as it is a *very * snug at the bottom end, I just cut the loom and pushed it back and slid the rubber plug back into place.
Run the wire along the OEM harness and make your connections, I had barely enough wire to make it this far. I guess if I needed to, I could have pulled some of the short wire harness from the tailgate to make it reach. Test to make sure that it locks when it is supposed to, if not, you may have to flip your connection.Put everything back together,go back under the truck and use the zip ties in a couple of places to hold everything in place, and you are done.
NOTE that your handle will now stick out a tad further than it used to as it is now sitting on the mounting plate.
It took me way longer than it should have because I was trying to find the wires in theinstructions behindthe kickpanel. WhenI finally called tech support theygave meseveral wire combinations to try, but they were adamat that I had to tie into the harness behind the B pillar.
Dakota3rdGen
It looks pretty sturdy, appears to be constructed out of 1/16th to 1/8th inch stainless steel. The bolt which 'locks' the gate is in center with the cutout square. Just to the left is a brace, along the side there is a spring mounted latch which catches in the hole to 'lock' thebolt in place so you can't put your finger in there to just push it back.
Be carful removing the outer bezel on the tailgate, the snaps holding them in place break easy (I broke one of the lower ones).
To release the rods you need a flathead screwdriver to remove the clips, they then swing away and the rods pop out. The handle should then come out easily They are even color coded so you can't put it together wrong (I don't how as the handle would then be backwards..).
Remove the front kickpanel, lower B pillar cover, and rear scuff plate. Despite what the instructions say, you need toaccess the wires under the B pillare so we cantap into them. The harness goes by the pillar and splits, one goes along the floor and the other goes up. Find the harness that goes up the B pillar. Locate the light green and tan/orange wire (don't know why it looks so orange in the pic, but it more tan than orange). While these clips are 'ok' they are not great, you may need to use a knife to shave away some of the insulation to ensure a good contact. Alternately you could solder the wires and use shrink wrap. But I'm lazy and I just used these.
There is drain hole dead center at the bottom of the tailgate, I used a clothes hanger to snake the smalllength of wire down to thedrail hole from the to the topso Icould get the connectionsdown and out.
Insert the Pop & Lock into the hole, the actuator goes to the driver's side and the mounting plate should be flush against the back of the tailgate. Reinsert the handle and connect the rod you removed earlier.
Here you can see the lock in the tailgate behind the latch. The actuator is behind themetal plate to the left so if the bezel is removed, you still can't get to anything. This is the PITA part... partially screw in the bottom bolt to kinda hold everything together. There is no hole in the Pop & Lock for the bottom screw. You need to slidethe lock as far over to the right (passenger side) as you can. The throw on the bolt is not that long and if it is not installed far enough over, there is enough play in the handle to allow you to still open the tailgate when it is 'locked'.
Connect the short wire to the long wire and snake it up to the front of the truck. For this you can just follow the OEM wiring harness.
I found no easy place to route the harness back into the truck. From inside the truck, just to the left of the steering column there is a wire/cable (have no clue what it is) that goes outside. Pull on the rubber boot and it slides right out giving you easy access. I did not run the wires up the boot as it is a *very * snug at the bottom end, I just cut the loom and pushed it back and slid the rubber plug back into place.
Run the wire along the OEM harness and make your connections, I had barely enough wire to make it this far. I guess if I needed to, I could have pulled some of the short wire harness from the tailgate to make it reach. Test to make sure that it locks when it is supposed to, if not, you may have to flip your connection.Put everything back together,go back under the truck and use the zip ties in a couple of places to hold everything in place, and you are done.
NOTE that your handle will now stick out a tad further than it used to as it is now sitting on the mounting plate.
It took me way longer than it should have because I was trying to find the wires in theinstructions behindthe kickpanel. WhenI finally called tech support theygave meseveral wire combinations to try, but they were adamat that I had to tie into the harness behind the B pillar.
Dakota3rdGen
