I finally did it.
After 8 hours of tedious labor, I now have a fully functional auto lock/unlock tailgate. It is wired into the Keyless entry system ?so when I choose to unlock the passenger doors the Tailgate unlocks and when I lock the doors, the tailgate locks.
I paid $20.00 for the power door lock actuator. ?It is neccessary to make minor modifications to the inside of the tailgate and getting to the inside is more then half the battle.
The tailgate is comprised of 2 parts. The outer skin which is the painted portion of the gate and the gate assembly itself. In order to install the actuator, I had to remove the outer skin. Very Very time consuming.... The outer skin is attached to the gate assembly with rivets and a lot of double sided tape. ?I ?have photos on my website.
It is imperitive to have a nice work area to lay the Tailgate on while removing the Skin and installing the Actuator. The Actuator is a basic 2 wire door lock unit. Since this was a first time for me, I ended up removing components that I did not need to remove.
The only components that need to be removed are as follows:
1. Remove Gate from vehicle (see owners manual)
2. Remove Grey plastic Key lock/handle cover (2 long bolts located on backside of gate)
3. Remove top gate spoiler piece by using 3M spray adhesive remover (citrus based). The flat top portion of the spoiler has a lot of double sided tape so take your time getting the adhesive to soften up. The bottom portion of the spoiler is held to the gate skin by angled hooks and will be released when the spoiler is pulled back.
4. Drill out the 6 rivets on the top portion of the Gate Skin and the 6 rivets on the bottom of the gate skin. Use as small a drill bit as possible. Once drilled you will be able to push the rivet through the hole and retrieve it later.
5. Aplly Adhesive remover to both sides of the gate in between the Gate Assembly and the Painted Gate Skin.
This takes time and will free the Gate from the Gate Skin.
You do not need to remove the hardware bolted to either side of the Gate assembly or the handle assembly nor do you need to remove the grey plastic panel on the bottom of the Gate Skin (has Avalanche Logo on it)
How I ran the wires from the factory keyless entry to the tailgate I am not going to post for security reasons. If you are a registered member and want some help doing it, Send me a private message and I will help you in tapping into and wiring to the keyless entry.
I just wanted to let you all know that it is 100% do able with factory type results. (even though the factory didn't do it)
Inside the gate with actuator installed
After 8 hours of tedious labor, I now have a fully functional auto lock/unlock tailgate. It is wired into the Keyless entry system ?so when I choose to unlock the passenger doors the Tailgate unlocks and when I lock the doors, the tailgate locks.
I paid $20.00 for the power door lock actuator. ?It is neccessary to make minor modifications to the inside of the tailgate and getting to the inside is more then half the battle.
The tailgate is comprised of 2 parts. The outer skin which is the painted portion of the gate and the gate assembly itself. In order to install the actuator, I had to remove the outer skin. Very Very time consuming.... The outer skin is attached to the gate assembly with rivets and a lot of double sided tape. ?I ?have photos on my website.
It is imperitive to have a nice work area to lay the Tailgate on while removing the Skin and installing the Actuator. The Actuator is a basic 2 wire door lock unit. Since this was a first time for me, I ended up removing components that I did not need to remove.
The only components that need to be removed are as follows:
1. Remove Gate from vehicle (see owners manual)
2. Remove Grey plastic Key lock/handle cover (2 long bolts located on backside of gate)
3. Remove top gate spoiler piece by using 3M spray adhesive remover (citrus based). The flat top portion of the spoiler has a lot of double sided tape so take your time getting the adhesive to soften up. The bottom portion of the spoiler is held to the gate skin by angled hooks and will be released when the spoiler is pulled back.
4. Drill out the 6 rivets on the top portion of the Gate Skin and the 6 rivets on the bottom of the gate skin. Use as small a drill bit as possible. Once drilled you will be able to push the rivet through the hole and retrieve it later.
5. Aplly Adhesive remover to both sides of the gate in between the Gate Assembly and the Painted Gate Skin.
This takes time and will free the Gate from the Gate Skin.
You do not need to remove the hardware bolted to either side of the Gate assembly or the handle assembly nor do you need to remove the grey plastic panel on the bottom of the Gate Skin (has Avalanche Logo on it)
How I ran the wires from the factory keyless entry to the tailgate I am not going to post for security reasons. If you are a registered member and want some help doing it, Send me a private message and I will help you in tapping into and wiring to the keyless entry.
I just wanted to let you all know that it is 100% do able with factory type results. (even though the factory didn't do it)
Inside the gate with actuator installed