back up cam for $24

instead of getting a separate camera that you have to mount to the lisence plate holder (which i find repulsive) why not run down to the junkyard, grab the camera off an 09+ O/R Taco tailgate handle and the rearview mirror that houses the screen and put them in your truck, all you have to do is run the wiring...

 

McJosh, I may be in the same boat as you. A guy I work with has a newer tacoma than mine. It's a base model, but apparently they still installed the oem cameras in the tail gate handles, even though the screen in the rear view mirror was not included in his truck. He plans on trading it in soon for something else. I approached him and said I'd like to swap our tail gate handles, as the dealer will probably be none the wiser. He's OK with the idea, and I'll sweeten it with a little cash. Anyways, I'm curious what the OEM camera wiring harness looks like. I know they have to disconnect the camera when they take their tailgates off. Hopefully it's something I can work with. Only reason I'd go through this, is like I mentioned in an earlier post, I still can't really tell how close my rear bumper is to something. I can only see that something is behind me. From the angle of the OEM ones mounted in the tailgate handles, it looks like the edge of your bumper would be included in your image from the camera.

 

Lord knows what they want for the OEM camera. I'm sure it's several hundred dollars from the dealer, and any junk yard dude that half way knows his shit will still want quite a bit for those parts. Definitely doesn't hurt to ask, but I'm be surprised if they didn't want several hundred dollars for everything.

 

thats correct, the rear bumper is in view with the camera, ive been so accustomed to using it while backing up, when i get into a car without it, its almost like ive forgotten how to back up a vehicle...lol

As far as the wiring goes, there are a few wires that run from the tailgate to the side paneling of the truck where the taillights are, if you would like, i could take some pictures and post up here for you

yea a couple hundred bones is quite a bit for a back up camera, but i also like the clean stock look too(and being able to see the bumper/trailer hitch)...it all just depends on what you want to sacrifice, $$ or look/functionality

 

Holy crap for a 24 dollar camera that things got some good quality pictures.

 

As far as the wiring goes, there are a few wires that run from the tailgate to the side paneling of the truck where the taillights are, if you would like, i could take some pictures and post up here for you

please post some pic, i have a 07 and i bought a 2010 tailgate just for the camera i want to conect it to a pioneer avic z120bt but i am not sure about the power and RCA wire if some one can help me PLEASE and thank you

 

When you find a junk yard with a stash of these camera's and rearview mirror's report back to us.