The latch on my truck’s tailgate failed last week (the plastic bar that pushes the rods which pull the pins from the side broke). I ordered a new part from eBay for $27 with free shipping. I was going to ask my repair shop to swap it out but I watched a video on YouTube that made me feel confident about replacing the part myself.
The latch itself has an opening for the back-up camera. My truck did not originally have a back-up camera but after the second theft of my stereo I opted to add it to the replacement unit. It appears the geniuses at CarToys decided to use the existing screws from the old latch to secure the camera to the latch and did not replace the original screws that held the latch to the tailgate — which explains why the latch was always loose and rattling around. I visited Ace and picked up a couple extra screws and washers for about a buck and secured everything in the tailgate.
I wonder if I had not seen the video on YouTube would I have even considered doing this myself… probably not. I’m sure my repair shop would have charged me $50 or more to do the same. Not counting the travel time to Ace and back the entire replacement took about ten minutes.
