Group buy: Pop N Lock Tailgate Lock (Ends April 08, 2009)

x6 blah, need more beer. 1111 posts, yay

 

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Has anyone run across a picture of the PL5300?

 

I missed out on the group buy since I traded in my 08 Prerunner for a 09 4x4 trd Sport. My dealer called yesterday and I picked up my PL5300 lock today. I will put it in tomorrow after the rain stops. It looks like a total replacement handle with 2 small screws that take out a small square section of the handle for people who have the cam. The install looks easy.

 

From user AaronMillar at ToyotaNation

 

That looks very nice. I was surprised that the camera got moved to the other side of the handle.

 

Is the handle assembly metal or plastic?

 

Yeah, it's hard to tell but it doesn't look as clean as the OEM handle. I like that the OEM handle hides the camera. This looks more obvious and more prone to scratches.

Guess I'll just have to wait it out to see if it was worth the wait.

 

You got the wait part right.

 

The handle is plastic and it looks clean.The quality seems to be OK.

 

I tried to install my PL5300 this morning. Big problem. I have to remove the camera from the old mounting bracket and screw it into the Pop & Lock bracket. Guess what? The bracket does not come off the old camera housing. There are plastic stops that lets you jiggle the bracket on the housing but not take it off the housing. If I cut it off, how would i get the new one on? I went to my Toyota dealership, they knew sh*t. I then called Pop & Lock tech support. Mike, seems like a nice guy, does not have a camera there to see what the problem is. He will call me back later today. Threre is another guy with a wire problem. He might have the answer. Also, There might be more then one design of camera on the Tacoma. He is going to check with Toyota.

 

Maybe you should PM the guy that installed it in THIS post (over on ToyotaNation.com). He obviously found a way to do it.

I hope there is no cutting involved.

 

I finally got my PL5300 installed. The directions are not that good but Mike, from Pop & Lock support, provided the solutions. When you take the camera out of the old handle, it is in a housing with a plastic bracket that attaches the cam to the handle housing. This bracket has to come off the cam housing so the Pop $ Lock bracket can be attached instead. The trick is to look for the clip on the cam housing, press down hard and pull it apart in 2 pieces. When the housing is in 2 pieces, slide off the old bracket and put on the Pop & Lock bracket on. Then, push the 2 housing pieces together and they will clip together. This attaches the Pop & Lock bracket to the cam housing.

The cam wire is also too short since the cam is on the dirver's side of the handle now. You have to cut the tapes that holds the wire onto the inside of the tailgate to get more length. You can still use the clip closest to the door to secure the wire cable. I used plastic ties for this. I also used a big plastic tie to tie the wire cable to the inside of the door to keep it away from the metal rod that opens the tailgate.

Besides that, it went in ok and everything works fine.

 

Thank you for reporting back on the installation process. Sending some positive rep for your efforts.

We also like pictures

 

I am not complaining... Basically, I sell P&L as a service to customers... We make basically nothing on it.,...

I wouldn't care if we stopped selling it tomorrow other than some customers want it so we need to carry it to complete their orders as they buy covers, etc...

I know a few dealers have pulled the product because of this very GB...

I realize you guys like the price you got. But, have you really thought about exactly what this means.

Assuming you work somewhere or have a job how would you feel if the suppliers that allow you to turn a profit and or have a job started selling products to retail customers at cost and put you or your employer out of business?

Its great to get a good deal... but when you start cutting out the middlemen altogether you put people and jobs at risk... generally speaking of course, this GB is not a big deal.

 

I am not complaining, I was stating fact. What P&L did was short sighted. It will likely cost them some dealers. But they tend to fumble a lot which is why you are still waiting on locks months later. I personally don't care as we offer P&L as a service to customers buying other items and don't try to sell them alone ourselves... I would not likely have done a GB had you offered me a chance because there is no profit in them and I know how difficult they can be to deal with. Unfortunately for DGerm I don't think he had a clue what he was getting into.

To address your numbers directly... you must not own a business...

47.99-3% credit card fees ($1.44)=46.55-$30.00 part cost = 16.55 - $6-8.00 shipping and insurance average = 8.55 to 10.55 - $2-3.00 box and packing supply cost average = $5-6 average profit per unit - .99 I give you guys... Yep, I am making a killing on PopNLocks... Then I get to deal with customer yelling at me when PopNLock runs out and customers have to wait for weeks or in your case months...

Explains why many dealers charge $60 plus for it...

You got a great deal in that DGerm was willing to do all the work for you and charge you nothing for it... yet I see people getting on his case...

 

Thanks for the update. I looked at the thread at Toytotanation and there were some pics of the mechanism installed. What really concerns me is all of the plastic parts and potential durability issues. I have a tonneau that locks from the inside and if one plastic part fails I have a real problem. I would have thought that P & L would have utilized the Toyota handle and added to it, not replaced it with a $10 plastic POS .

 

Add in overhead and your selling at a lost, people don't understand the cost of running a business.

 

When we got our order in I was suprised to see an all plastic setup...

 

Are the other lock models metal or plastic? This really concerns me. I have been waiting since October and P & L comes out with a plastic Mickey Mouse lock?