power rear hatch

[acrbill]

I just got my power door lock kit that I ordered off of ebay. I also ordered an alarm so I could open the doors with a remote.

I had the guy send another actuator so I could figure a way to unlock the rear hatch.

It took a bit of thinking but I figured it out.

This first pic shows the lock mechanism from behind. If you pop off the little inspection cover you will see that when you turn the key the white plastic arm moves.

http://home.comcast.net/~job0b/1112.JPG

The lock kit comes with some strapping that you attach to the actuator and then bend it so you can screw it to the door frame. In this instance they would be too flimsy so I bought a length of #10-32 threaded rod.
I threaded it into the screw holes on the actuator and secured them to the door frame through 2 unused holes.

Here is a pic of the holes that I used. Its the 2 holes on the bottom of the pic.

http://home.comcast.net/~job0b/1113.JPG


If you look at the first pic you will see the open area on the plastic lever piece. This is what made the install sort of trickey. First off that entire mechanism moves when you press the button in. That meant that I could not mount the linkage solidly.
The other problem was that if you measure the swing of the end of the lever the actuator did not have enough push length to completely open or close the lock. As you move closer to the center of the mechanism obviously that swing amount lessens, but you lose leverage so I decided that I had to mount the linkage to the center of that arm slightly favoring the center of the lock.

Now that I had the theory worked out I needed to find something that would let me mount the linkage to the arm and still allow the button to be pressed without bending or binding.

What I ended up doing is securing a 1" #10-32 bolt to the lever. I used washers on each end and sandwiched the lever.


http://home.comcast.net/~job0b/1114.JPG


I turned the end of the actuator so that the rod would have an up and down range of movement.
I bent the linkage to line up with the bolt and marked the bolts location on the linkage. I then looped the end of the rod to attach to the bolt.


http://home.comcast.net/~job0b/1115.JPG

here in the last pic you can see the rod coming through the holes, the bent linkage and how it attaches to the bolt and lock mechanism.

http://home.comcast.net/~job0b/1116.JPG


Once it was all done I used my portable jumper cable box and triggered the
actuator to be sure that it fully locked and unlocked the mechanism. I had to open up the bend on the linkage a bit, but now it works good.

Next step will be to run the wiring, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

[IllusionX]

holy shit, you managed to do it :)

i actually used the OEM actuator for this purpose when i still had my echo hatch. lol

[mikeukrainetz]

nice job, something I wanna try when spring rolls around. Do you plan to remove the lock/handle off the hatch or is this pretty much for convenience?

[acrbill]

nice job, something I wanna try when spring rolls around. Do you plan to remove the lock/handle off the hatch or is this pretty much for convenience?

I will still need the handle and button to open it up. This is just to unlock it, not pop it like a trunk.

[twixt]

so how are you able to push the button in with it mounted like that? i dont get it.

[acrbill]

so how are you able to push the button in with it mounted like that? i dont get it.


the way the actuator head is orientated allows the linkage to have an up and down movement. The loop around the bolt is loose enough to allow the movement as well.

[Kitt]

Yeah i did the same, it is easy to install the actuator but belive me, cabling is the most difficult part of the job, connecting them was easy, just connected the actuator to the central lock of the alarm... i"ll post some pictures soon, I also connected the door switch to the main door circuit, it was not an option in my car but now it is...

[paultyler_82]

Wow! great write up, I'd been asking how to do this forever, but no one seemed to know the answer, thanks much, acrbill!

[paultyler_82]

Just one more thing, Acrbill, who did you get your kit from on eBay, I haven't been able to find anyone but a1electronics selling the cable type actuators for the Yaris front doors rather than the rod type everyone seemingly has. Also, are you going to wire your unlock for driver's door priority? (click once driver's unlocks, click twice all unlock) This is ideally what I want, and I'd like to know if anyone else has done it this way, and how.

[acrbill]

Just one more thing, Acrbill, who did you get your kit from on eBay, I haven't been able to find anyone but a1electronics selling the cable type actuators for the Yaris front doors rather than the rod type everyone seemingly has. Also, are you going to wire your unlock for driver's door priority? (click once driver's unlocks, click twice all unlock) This is ideally what I want, and I'd like to know if anyone else has done it this way, and how.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=9707284264&rd=1&rd=1

I don't think that would be an option for me. The relay box for the power lock kit plugs right into the brain for the alarm. It has no way of distinguishing the seperate locks. Since I added the third power lock actuator I am going to have to set up an additional relay to get power back to the hatch.

There might be setups that allow you to do that though.

[acrbill]

I had some free time today so I ran the wiring. It was a pain trying to get the wires through the hatch at first but after that it was smooth sailing.

First thing you have to do is pop off the flexible grommet between the hatch and body. Once that is off you can try and fish something semi ridged up through the pillar area of the hatch and into the open area. Then you pull the wires through the flexible grommet tube. The next step will be to pull the plastic cladding off the c pillar so you can fish the wires from the hole in the body into the c pillar area. Once you are done there you pull the plastic trim down away from the headliner and push the wires into the opening. Follow all the way down to the b billar where you will have to pull the trim away a bit. After the b pillar there is a soft rubber trim that you pull down and push the wires between it and the headliner. Follow that all the way down the a pillar and push the wires into the fuse box area.

Thats pretty much where I am at right now. Next time the weather get above 40 I will attempt to install the door locks.

[IllusionX]

doesn't the rear hatch alreaady has wiring for the power lock actuator?

my echo had it, what i did was slice the OEM wiring from the roof (after the hatch) and use the OEM wiring from there. saves time from running brand new ones through.

[acrbill]

Just checking in with my 6 month review of this setup.

Surprisingly I have had no troubles at all with the hatch lock. I figured I would have issues with the nut backing out but there is no issues at all.

If you figure I have at least 8 lock/unlock cycles per day that would be around 3,000 movements by the mechanism.

[andru47]

Just wondering, while I was trying to remove the hatch panel, I kept losing the little white clips that hold the the panel to the metal. Is there an easy way to manage them, are they reusable, or is there a pack of those clips I can buy somewhere? What happens if the clips fall into the door? Thanks.

[Jerkratt]

toyota sells them cheap.... if they cfall into the door and u cant get them... i dont think it would matter but u might hear it bounce around every now and then