Interior rear door release (2 Viewers)

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I know this is an old thread but I’m hoping to do something similar. Im very curious, did you ever end up successfully installing that recliner latch?
I did not. I just did a simple vertices pull wire to place a knob or something at the top of the rear door like everyone else. For now I have a loop of paracord back there until I find a knob I like. Might just leave it there. It's quiet and strong. I have 4 kids, my son likes sitting back there and uses it all the time. Also while camping - we sleep inside.
These pics show where I have wire and holes drilled. I actually had to drill a home through the rear door sheet metal in order to get a drill bit at the right angle to drill through the door mechanism lever.
If you need more pics let me know. To install any of the other handles would involve a lot more work and modifications that wasn't worth it to me unfortunately. Would make it look clean like a prado though.
To connect to the door mechanism unused wire, them looped it and connected the doubled paracord loop through it.
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I did not. I just did a simple vertices pull wire to place a knob or something at the top of the rear door like everyone else. For now I have a loop of paracord back there until I find a knob I like. Might just leave it there. It's quiet and strong. I have 4 kids, my son likes sitting back there and uses it all the time. Also while camping - we sleep inside.
These pics show where I have wire and holes drilled. I actually had to drill a home through the rear door sheet metal in order to get a drill bit at the right angle to drill through the door mechanism lever.
If you need more pics let me know. To install any of the other handles would involve a lot more work and modifications that wasn't worth it to me unfortunately. Would make it look clean like a prado though.
To connect to the door mechanism unused wire, them looped it and connected the doubled paracord loop through it.
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Thanks for the reply. Going to save this for future reference when I do mine. Yeah I also sleep inside so having an inside release will be great. I’m actually in contact with someone else who made one using a bike brake type handle, but he just ordered that recliner latch and is going to try install it. I’ll report back if it’s successful. May try go that route if there’s no metal cutting besides drilling, but from your response it sounds like it may be required. If not, I’ll probably just get a simple pull handle. Thanks again.
 
question, is it possible to put a hard turn point on some part of the door metal (like a wire / cable clamp) , directly above the latch mechanism? and then run the cable and sleeve around somewhere else in the middle of the door perhaps in the net cavity and mount a door latch?
 
question, is it possible to put a hard turn point on some part of the door metal (like a wire / cable clamp) , directly above the latch mechanism? and then run the cable and sleeve around somewhere else in the middle of the door perhaps in the net cavity and mount a door latch?
Someone has done something similar I saw on GXOR facebook page. They ran bike brake cable and installed and actual bike brake mechanism/handle in the center door, in the door pull recess area. (Pic is a screen shot I took of it, looks like actual 3D printer bracket) I was going to try and do something similar back in the day to make it look "clean". I was going to use the same bike brake cable and install an actual door pull handle from an old camry or Corolla from a pick and pull place, but just did a simple pull cord. It's proved wise as ive removed my rear door panel for a dozen or reasons since then.
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I have been searching for OEM door handle solutions for hours. what I've come up with so far.

unsure if it's possible to use the OEM rear door exterior handle as it might be electronically engaged and disengaged when the door is locked or unlocked? unsure, just doesn't provide any force when the door is locked, like it's a dead handle, not connected to a latch. plus it has a big mechanism shrouded in lots of plastic.

looked for flush mountable door handles / levers.

there's a glow in the dark lever that's lexus oem for several vehicles, it comes in two pieces and seems like it could sandwich interior plastic with the lip retention, but it's originally made for the carpet like trunk lining in a lot of sedans. also this lever can easily be accidentally actuated by stuff kicking around in the back, with a swing to the side door, I wouldn't take that risk.

the 06 camry interior door levers seem to be pretty flush and are a one piece assembly. probably not strong because of a 1 piece assembly, but this isn't a frequent access lever application.

other model years of camry interior door levers are either two piece or just harder to flush mount.

the ancient tacoma interior door handles (those old rectangles) are very flush mountable, but there seems to only be cheap knock off replacements on the market.

the 01 camry exterior rear passenger handles are pretty flush and they don't have key holes. the lip retention clips seems to be the right thickness for the plastic in interior paneling (that's what they're made for).

I think the winning contestant is the t100 tailgate handle. it's very simple, flush, no keyhole and has a very simple operating mechanism that has all the fixed points for mounting cables with sleeves.

I will probably attempt this over the holidays.
 
update.

did a little more shopping and research on door handles and went into the domestic car realm, looking for a flush mount door handle / latch. realized that I don't really want a pull to actuate handle as the finished handle will only be mounted to an interior plastic, and not much else. as such I narrowed the criteria down to handles that just pivot to unlock so no future passengers in the rear are tempted to pull the handle to shut the door.

found a great candidate and I am committing to this one for the project. found on amazon.

Dorman 77498 Exterior Door Handle for Select Cadillac / Chevrolet

don't know what this goes to, but it comes with 4 grade 5 bolts pre installed as studs. it's totally flat for flush mounting, only missing thing to make it perfect is it's not tan or beige. I could paint it, but maybe the black will stand out and draw people's attention to it to use.
 
update.

did a little more shopping and research on door handles and went into the domestic car realm, looking for a flush mount door handle / latch. realized that I don't really want a pull to actuate handle as the finished handle will only be mounted to an interior plastic, and not much else. as such I narrowed the criteria down to handles that just pivot to unlock so no future passengers in the rear are tempted to pull the handle to shut the door.

found a great candidate and I am committing to this one for the project. found on amazon.

Dorman 77498 Exterior Door Handle for Select Cadillac / Chevrolet

don't know what this goes to, but it comes with 4 grade 5 bolts pre installed as studs. it's totally flat for flush mounting, only missing thing to make it perfect is it's not tan or beige. I could paint it, but maybe the black will stand out and draw people's attention to it to use.
Looks good. Be sure to update us if you successfully install. I’ll probably be attempting mine next week.
 
small update, the tailgate handle arrived and to my surprise, it's all metal construction, which is even better. I had thought the base plate with the 4 studs would be plastic, like many other truck handles.

I ordered a Sequoia door cable

Amazon product ASIN B07T82M62F
it looks like it has some more cable length outside the sleeve than other door cables. I am speculating I may need that extra length of cable outside the sleeve to rig the necessary fixed points for the sleeve portion of the cable and still achieve the correct amount of throw to actuate the latch.
 
small update, the tailgate handle arrived and to my surprise, it's all metal construction, which is even better. I had thought the base plate with the 4 studs would be plastic, like many other truck handles.

I ordered a Sequoia door cable

Amazon product ASIN B07T82M62F
it looks like it has some more cable length outside the sleeve than other door cables. I am speculating I may need that extra length of cable outside the sleeve to rig the necessary fixed points for the sleeve portion of the cable and still achieve the correct amount of throw to actuate the latch.
Let us know how it turns out! Since I built my sleeping platform/storage system I’ve been dying to add an interior release, but I want to wait to see how yours turn out first.
 
I'll also be watching to see how yours turns out. I currently have a piece of small cord on the release mechanism for the rare instance that the battery is dead.

I definitely want a more permanent clean solution. Cable pulls like the ones for our gas tank seem like good choices as already shown in this thread with that bike lever.
 
update.

did a little more shopping and research on door handles and went into the domestic car realm, looking for a flush mount door handle / latch. realized that I don't really want a pull to actuate handle as the finished handle will only be mounted to an interior plastic, and not much else. as such I narrowed the criteria down to handles that just pivot to unlock so no future passengers in the rear are tempted to pull the handle to shut the door.

found a great candidate and I am committing to this one for the project. found on amazon.

Dorman 77498 Exterior Door Handle for Select Cadillac / Chevrolet

don't know what this goes to, but it comes with 4 grade 5 bolts pre installed as studs. it's totally flat for flush mounting, only missing thing to make it perfect is it's not tan or beige. I could paint it, but maybe the black will stand out and draw people's attention to it to use.

went and picked up nuts and washers today for this handle. they're 1/4x 28 (SAE sizing). also picked up some throttle cable brackets to mount the cable ends. took me a while to get the right search strings to find this type of bracket / product.
 
If anybody is interested. I have a compete Prado 120 back door latch, handle, cables, etc. I got it from Oz and was going to figure out getting it to work on the GX. However, I've sold my GX and just have this sitting around. $60 plus shipping. I can get pics later tomorrow.
 
I started this project today, but it's not finished yet. I don't know if everything is going to function in the current orientation.

I won't cover taking the door card off, although I broke one of the plastic posts that holds the plastic tension clip. I fixed it, if anyone is interested in seeing how I did that, let me know.

to take out the latch from the door, you will need to unbolt 3 torx bolts, size is t30. the latch is also attached to a wiring harness pictured below. unplug that harness. the entire assembly comes out but pushing slightly toward the outer skin of the door and the pulling to the left.

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once the latch is out you can see the orientation of the factory pull cable.

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the cable is essentially in line with the black retention clip that's on the "outside" of the cavity.

to remove the cable from the latch, move the sheath of the cable out of the retainer on the latch housing. then rotate the cable toward the "gate" for the cable to slip out of the yoke that pulls it.

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as you can see, what I did was take the factory cable out, then insert the sequoia cable. after that I reinstalled the factory cable, which effectively locks both together in the yoke.
 
next I started trying to figure out where the pick up truck latch handle should go and which side of the pull yoke to use. I decided the bottom one will likely be best.

as mentioned in previous post, I purchased a generic throttle cable bracket and in order to capture it on the back side of the truck latch handle, I had to increase the hole size to 15/64". after drilling out the hole, it fit over the studs on the truck latch.

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I tried to orient everything so that the bracket holds the cable in line with the yoke and the direction it will pull.


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ran out of daylight and brought the door card inside to fix the plastic post that I broke. more to follow tomorrow.

I am hoping I don't have to install a throttle cable bracket on the other end of the cable. right now, the pull kind of works when I pull with my fingers on the handle end. but all this is tentative and I won't know the final results until everything is really together and bolted down.
 
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started out today brainstorming how I would place the door latch. the issues I was considering were whether or not the latch would have enough backspace to operate. I had to find a void behind the plastic door car deep enough to house the whole mechanism as well as look good on the outside. I saw that the speakers in the door car require a big back space, so I placed the latch between the factory door pull posts and the speaker on the driver side of the cargo door.

I then proceeded with stenciling the truck latch gasket.

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this thing is NOT sufficient as a final shape for cutting. right off the bat, the hole for the mechanism needs to be rectangular, forget the diamond shape on the bottom. the whole mechanism rectangle needs to be at least 2mm wider on each side so that there's clearance to get the mechanism in and for it not to bind on the plastic that's framing it.

in order to even cram the mechanism in, I had to cut off the leg of the yoke I wasn't using. I knew where I wanted to place my cable, so the motion of the cable was already determined, I felt comfortable cutting it off.

the holes will need to be larger than 15/16" unless you are really precise with how you mark and star the holes. my drill bit wandered in the plastic and I had to do a lot of extra clearancing.

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mine was a tight fit and not pretty, hope those that follow can do better with the tips I gave. I had to measure and fit so many times, the opening was not square, plumb or straight. but it works.

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next I started trying to figure out where the pick up truck latch handle should go and which side of the pull yoke to use. I decided the bottom one will likely be best.

as mentioned in previous post, I purchased a generic throttle cable bracket and in order to capture it on the back side of the truck latch handle, I had to increase the hole size to 5/16". after drilling out the hole, it fit over the studs on the truck latch. I tried to orient everything so that the bracket holds the cable in line with the yoke and the direction it will pull.


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ran out of daylight and brought the door card inside to fix the plastic post that I broke. more to follow tomorrow.

I am hoping I don't have to install a throttle cable bracket on the other end of the cable. right now, the pull kind of works when I pull with my fingers on the handle end. but all this is tentative and I won't know the final results until everything is really together and bolted down.
Woah nice. Hope it works out for you. Definitely more involved than the simple pull cable I did, but surely this will be nicer if you get it working. Which plastic piece are you referring to that you broke? I broke one of the two tabs on the inside door handle when removing, I’m hoping it’s that and you were able to fix it, but it sounds like it’s something else yeah?
 
Woah nice. Hope it works out for you. Definitely more involved than the simple pull cable I did, but surely this will be nicer if you get it working. Which plastic piece are you referring to that you broke? I broke one of the two tabs on the inside door handle when removing, I’m hoping it’s that and you were able to fix it, but it sounds like it’s something else yeah?

while popping out all the little tension clips, the post holding one of them broke. a triangular piece fractured off.

it all still fit together as a perfect puzzle piece, so I melted them together with some lighter work and pinching with fingers. after that, I drilled tiny holes on both pieces for epoxy to flow through. once the holes were drilled, I mixed up some JB weld and covered all over so that the epoxy would dry as one piece and the holes and overhang inside and around the post would hold everything together. it's not pretty, but it should be stronger than stock.

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started out today brainstorming how I would place the door latch. the issues I was considering were whether or not the latch would have enough backspace to operate. I had to find a void behind the plastic door car deep enough to house the whole mechanism as well as look good on the outside. I saw that the speakers in the door car require a big back space, so I placed the latch between the factory door pull posts and the speaker on the driver side of the cargo door.

I then proceeded with stenciling the truck latch gasket.

View attachment 2510372

this thing is NOT sufficient as a final shape for cutting. right off the bat, the hole for the mechanism needs to be rectangular, forget the diamond shape on the bottom. the whole mechanism rectangle needs to be at least 2mm wider on each side so that there's clearance to get the mechanism in and for it not to bind on the plastic that's framing it.

in order to even cram the mechanism in, I had to cut off the leg of the yoke I wasn't using. I knew where I wanted to place my cable, so the motion of the cable was already determined, I felt comfortable cutting it off.

View attachment 2510379

View attachment 2510383

mine was a tight fit and not pretty, hope those that follow can do better with the tips I gave. I had to measure and fit so many times, the opening was not square, plumb or straight. but it works.

View attachment 2510389

final step was to fit the cable on and lock it in place and hope it worked. with the door card off, it worked so I began to reseal the moisture barrier and zip tie everything in place.

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I wanted the additional cable to follow the same path and direction of the factory cable.

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2 zip ties around this wiring harness to keep it flowing toward the factory door pull towers.

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the cable then naturally can bend around the top of the door pull tower and land in the spot where the throttle cable bracket is anchored to the truck latch.

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I tested everything again a bunch of times after slapping the door card tension clips back in. in general, it will sometimes not work on the first pull. time it didn't work, something is bound up in the works, or not throwing far enough, possibly because I didn't anchor the other end of the cable, but then more functioning of the latch brings everything back to working. I do have to exaggerate the pull of the latch while cycling for the door to open and maybe that's a good thing.

I can't believe this all worked out. the hardest part was definitely cutting the opening for the mechanism of the latch, I'm not much of a measure twice guy.

all the cargo door projects are complete.
 
not being satisfied, I took everything apart again and pretensioned the cable with zip ties. two on the hasp side and one on the handle side.
final step was to fit the cable on and lock it in place and hope it worked. with the door card off, it worked so I began to reseal the moisture barrier and zip tie everything in place.

View attachment 2510397

I wanted the additional cable to follow the same path and direction of the factory cable.

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2 zip ties around this wiring harness to keep it flowing toward the factory door pull towers.

View attachment 2510405

the cable then naturally can bend around the top of the door pull tower and land in the spot where the throttle cable bracket is anchored to the truck latch.

View attachment 2510408

I tested everything again a bunch of times after slapping the door card tension clips back in. in general, it will sometimes not work on the first pull. time it didn't work, something is bound up in the works, or not throwing far enough, possibly because I didn't anchor the other end of the cable, but then more functioning of the latch brings everything back to working. I do have to exaggerate the pull of the latch while cycling for the door to open and maybe that's a good thing.

I can't believe this all worked out. the hardest part was definitely cutting the opening for the mechanism of the latch, I'm not much of a measure twice guy.

all the cargo door projects are complete.

not being satisfied, I took everything apart again and tried to figure out what was causing the issues.

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this is the throw of the factory latch being pulled.

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this was the throw of the truck latch being pulled. I decided there was a little more pretension that could be set and decided to use zip ties to take up the slack in the line. two medium sized zip ties on the hasp side and one on the handle side.

I also lashed the two cable's sheaths together so there was less slop in the throw of the cables.


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now everything works cleanly.
 

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