Hey guys, thought id share with you my attempts at creating a
lock for my tailgate. It uses the same principal as above in locking the handle by one of the tabs inside the tailgate. Originally i did buy a trucklok from wolf 4x4 however they had run out of stock for the MN. I thought id give it a crack myself. All of this cost me 16.50 so far, alls left to do is wire it in. So unless i spend $260 on wiring I'm sure I've come out with a win.
So essentially i have bent sheet metal into a shape in order to hold a simple bolt style
lock and the actuator. I tapped a hole in the bolt
lock and connected it with a longer screw since it wasn't long enough to reach the actuator without getting in the way.
once the actuator is set off it essentially blocks the handle from going up. this is what it looks like installed. sorry for the poor lighting i hope you can still see the general idea of it. Ive also added some foam on the back to stop it from rattling on the inside of the tailgate. thats the black stuff on the back you might be able to see
I have seen someone fire pins into the side of the tailgate to the tub and i believe this would be a much better way to install a tailgate
lock, however the gaps were too great for this actuator so i may change it down the track. I feel this would work better because, with my
lock, if someone still wanted to yank hard enough they would still be able to break the handle. Then you'd have a broken handle as well as your canopy window
however, It would stop the opportune thief hopefully.
Let me know what you guys think, if you want any info on it ill try my best to answer questions