OK, Its taken me a week and two stops at two different dealers to get all of the parts needed to do a full conversion of the non-locking tailgate over to the locking tailgate that is now a standard option on all trucks built after December of 2008

This post is for all those who desire the option but have not been provided all the information. It is a very simple job and it takes 3 parts to make it all happen.

Part 1 - Handle - Part #68044904-AB - $64.99





Part 2 - Control Unit - Part #68044867-AB - $49.39



Part 3 - Link - Part #68049240-AA - $11.25 (need 2 of these)



Just open up the back panel of your tailgate and you will find a very simple latch that looks like this:



Remove the 2 bolts holding this whole thing together and disconnect the rods connecting to the latches on the tailgate. Remove both rods and the latch (control unit). Make sure you keep the rubber isolators off of the old rods and put them on the new rods. Take the old handle out of the back of the tailgate.

Insert the new locking handle and the new latch (control unit) into the inside of the tailgate. Make sure the key cylinder lines up with the back part on the new latch. This controls the locking portion. The rod of the key cylinder should be inside of the black ring as displayed in the photo.



After that is complete bolt it down with the nuts you took off earlier and connect the new rods to the latch. Your pretty much done, but make sure you test it before closing up the gate. Just flip the black lever to to disengage the locking clutch and open the handle. The rods should not move. Move the latch back and move the handle again and the rods should now move. Leave the cover off and close the tailgate with the gate UNLOCKED

Now this next step is very important because you have one shot at getting this done or you will be buying a new handle.

Take your key for your truck and insert it fully into the key cylinder. Turn the key to the left and then back to the right 180 degrees to set your key to the cylinder. Again if you do this wrong you will have to purchase a new handle.

Your install is now complete. You should be able to lock and unlock the tailgate. Open the tailgate and reinstall the cover panel and your done.

That's it. Its a 15 minute job and now you know exactly what parts you need to order to make it happen.

You can even take it one step further and order the Locking Rear Tailgate and Keyless Lock Actuator Kit for the truck and tie it into your keyless entry. I don't plan on adding that option yet since its another $100 bucks that I don't have right now. You need to do this 1st before doing the kit.

Later

 

Smoothbassman- Awesome! Gonna save all of us a lot of time!

 

Great job man

 

hey how long did it take to get the parts for doing the tailgate lock?

 

Great write up, fortunately I won't need it, but still very well written and documented.

 

did the handle come w/ the lock cylinder? whats different about the lock rods?

 

Dodge has gotten some new suppliers for some of the parts. I had all of the pieces within 2 days of ordering them at the dealer. I asked them to check availability before putting in my order as well

The problem came with one dealer telling me that the "control unit" included the handle in which it really didn't and I ordered a cylinder that I DIDN'T NEED. I went to another dealer to order the handle and it included a cylinder.
Went back after getting the handle and returned the cylinder to the 1st dealer.

 

The handle comes with the lock cylinder already installed in the handle. Thats why its like 70 bucks.

You actually can use the old rods from the original handle if you take off the rubber isolators that are on the rods. It will be a tight angle but they work. Additionally the rods bang on the inside of the tailgate while your driving without the rubber isolaters on the rods.

The original rods are a different height than the new ones for the locking unit. The locking control unit is about one inch 1" taller than the original one changing the pass line of the rods.

I didn't want those rods banging the inside of the tailgate so I spent the extra 20 bucks to get the right ones.

 

Im glad mine came with the locking tailgate, i would hate to have to do all that work lol

 

I THOUGHT that mine had a locking tailgate since that was on the dodge website. I didn't check it until a week after I bought it and to my surprise NO LOCK!

I was pissed and the dealer said that anything build before December was considered "pre production" and some options were not available and if I wanted it I had to buy it seperatly.

To top it off, they had no idea what parts I needed to get the locking tailgate. I just waited a few months to get all the part numbers and got it done in 15 minutes.

I needed it since I have a cover and a bedrug on my bed. Want to keep my stuff secure when I'm not around especially my ATV on the bed.