Passive Entry Tailgate handle

[VA-RAM]

Posted in the 4th Gen Forum also...

Was scanning the forum tonight , just hangin out and a thought occurred to me.... yeah, I know, could be pretty scary!!

I looked around the forum and used the search bar but came up empty....

So, has anyone here tried a mod to install a passive entry/proximity in the tailgate handle? I wind up sometimes trying to get into the bed but fob is in my pocket and maybe not wanting to have to remotely unlocking the truck to just get in the bed... grabbing the tailgate latch and having it unlock like the front doors do, might be pretty handy...at least for me.

Anyone done this? Would a MOPAR drivers side door handle work and wire it into the circuit there?

Seems like a good start to a thread and discussion...

 

[tron67j]

Interesting idea

 

[VA-RAM]

I get them every now and then....

since the part behind the driver (or pax) handle is the sensor, it would have to be incorporated in to the tailgate latch handle underneath...but it is longer than that latch handle is wide, so it would have to be modified or trimmed to fit. There are both metal so that shouldn't be a barrier. I think the actual fitting of it into the latch handle would be the easy part...getting the computer to recognize it and wire it would be the challenge....

 

[chrisbh17]

I get them every now and then....

since the part behind the driver (or pax) handle is the sensor, it would have to be incorporated in to the tailgate latch handle underneath...but it is longer than that latch handle is wide, so it would have to be modified or trimmed to fit. There are both metal so that shouldn't be a barrier. I think the actual fitting of it into the latch handle would be the easy part...getting the computer to recognize it and wire it would be the challenge....

Some who have added keyless enter n go have connected rear door handles to the wiring for the front handle on the same side. Trucks never had rear proximity handles but they work fine connected that way, they just act like the front door handle was touched.

So, just run a wire from the sensor back to any of the front door handle sensor leads.

I think the hard part will be removing the sensor from an existing handle. I wonder if it's possible to use an off the shelf type sensor.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[VA-RAM]

aha..

Didn't see where someone had added the passive entry to the rear doors. If it acts like the front doors, then you could be right...might be harder to remove a sensor from a front handle and incorporate it into the tailgate than getting the signal and power from the front to the tailgate.

Now if I can just find a working passive entry handle at the junk yard...........​

 

[bobbo7915]

my 2021 has a passive entry tailgate handle with the remote tailgate release. will unlock the tailgate but not the doors, I haven't looked to see if there is a way to lock the tailgate from the handle. should be doable like mentioned above

 

[VA-RAM]

Well...surprise. Just checked my wife's 2020 Laramie and lo and behold, the tail gate does have a passive entry switch and does not unlock the cab doors, just the tailgate. There isn't any way right now...to lock it from the tailgate latch (like the doors and their small buttons), but might could be added later.

One issue is the 19-20-21 Laramie tailgate latch is about twice the size of my 17 Laramie.... need to find one to see if it can be retrofitted in to mine.....