10 dollar tailgate rear view camera

After doing some research and price checking I decided against paying big bucks for a tailgate camera and just make my own by adding a camera to my existing tailgate handle . I found the camera on line ..E-bay..NEW for 10.00 with free shipping and it was from here..america ..and while on line bought the chrome tailgate cover for the tailgate handle with the hole for the camera more to know exactly where to drill the hole than for looks. Although once I took the tailgate access panel off I saw a circle already on the handle where the stock camera would go. The 10.00 camera came with not only cables but a little hole saw to cut the circle.
First I put a piece of masking tape over the tailgate handle, held the chrome cover in place and drew an outline of the circle and made my hole...

Next I ran the cable to the bottom of the tailgate but after not finding a hole on the drivers side where I wanted to go I did have to remove the tailegate and drill a hole in it...I painted the hole with some clear I had just to make sure the edges were covered since I live in Cleveland and we have salt on the roads...I then looked thru my tool box and found a weather pak connector..i used this so that I could unhook the harness in case I had to remove the tailgate in the future. I ran it through the oblong hole in the body and have it zip ties right next to the factory trailer harness in the rear..

At this point I just followed the factory harness and zip tied to it every foot until I got under the rear passenger seat on the drivers side..there's a plastic plug that come up into the storage compartment under the rear seat...from there I went under the carpet to the console after just popping off the rear console cover..i ran the cable thru the console and plugged it into my Lockpic and it was done...sorry no picture of the harness being put it..it was starting to rain so I had to hurry...but you can see the finished picture...all for 10 bucks..

Thats awesome

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since you have the older radio didnt you still have to have the dealer program the XAC sales code to turn on the option in the radio? if so you dealer didnt charge you at all?

i have a '13 and did the same thing a few years ago, but i had to get the dealer to turn on the sales code so i had to paay them for their time

No...I bought a lockpic on e-bay for 120.00 and it totally unlocks the radio..I can add rear,front and side cameras...punch in GPS addresses while moving and if I want..or if the passenger wants I should say....view dvd's while driving and all without dealer programing......I'm gong to try hooking up a western digital media player to it and see if I can also plug in MPG's and AVI movies via a jump drive and play them...the media player should hook to the lockpic and has a built in codecs to view different audio/video formats. I have one hooked to the TV and use it daily......anyway,that's the next project

so in that case it was really $130 then!

not at all...the lockpick has nothing to do with a camera....it was bought mainly because I'm tired of not being able to punch in navigation addresses and being told I can't watch a video while the truck is in motion....the fact I can now add 4 cameras without getting "permission" from the dealer is a bonus that I took advantage of...as well as the added RCA jacks for video inputs and monitor outputs. I'm surprised there hasn't been a class action lawsuit against Dodge/Chryslers for locking out the functions of a radio that belongs to the customer. Cell phone companies use to do this until they were taken to court. If you own it you should be able to do what you want with it ... with maybe the restriction of the ability to play movies in the main screen...but they should play on all rear screens....I'm sure in time that will change once people realize what's going on....so many have no clue since they don't work on their vehicles themselves anymore and just assume its not capable ...not that it's locked out.

By the way...A rear tailgate camera runs between 130.00 for the crime stoppers version up to 259.00 + for the factory one.... 10 bucks is a pretty good alternative for those that know how to work on there own trucks. And No matter what you buy or where you go your going to have to either have the dealer unlock it...or add something like a lockpick.

ORRR have a dbl din radio that you can hook up to and not worry about dealer stuff and codes ect....Im guessing this cause i have the same idea but i have ddx 470 head unit..

radio replacement is always an option..I put a pioneer avid 910bt in my ford f-150..it had HD radio..Sirius..MP3's via USB flash drive or I-touch..Bluetooth phone..unlocked DVD... turn by turn navigation... back up camera..sd card reader..and you could change the background color of all the buttons to match whatever color your factory buttons are.... I kinda miss it.... and I bought the interface to make it connect to the steering wheel controls. The 2 things I miss on the factory radio are the HD channels and the ability to play AVI's and MPEG's.... I love the pioneers..i have on in my Harley ultra classic to