Mounting front camera - 3rd gen - 'standard' grill

ladies and gents,

2020 access cab, 4wd, 4 cyl,

Asking for advice on mounting location....front camera in the grill of my truck
from anyone who has done a similar mount to this specific type of grill.

I already have the anytime camera kit installed, i just need to get the front camera mounted
in the correct location/oriented correctly. This is the 'Natika' camera from the 'anytime' kit.
I have seen other related threads...but not for this specific grill.

I believe there is a (radar?) sensor behind the toyota emblem on the grill so obviously
I don't want to screw that up with this camera mount.

I attached 2 pics. 1 of the grill..with positions A and B and
one of the camera

My guess is to mount it at "A" by drilling a hole(from under the hood) in the grill. and pushing the camera wire/threads up through it and securing it with bolts etc. basically so that
its oriented just like in the 'camera' picture.

If any one has done a similar mount to this grill type and has pictures (outside or inside
the grill...where the hole was drilled), feel free to attach them.

Thanks,
tl

 

I have a feeling if you mounted it in location B, based on the angle of the camera, it'd be predominantly facing up, and you'd get a view of mostly sky. I think position A give you a much better view. Also, the models that do come with a camera installed, there's are also mounted from the top (like position A)

 

I thought about this before....but forgot about it until a short time ago.
My truck came with some big black plastic mounting sheit for a front license plate.
Never put it on since front plates aren't required in my state.

I am wondering if its worth it to try and mount the camera in there 'somehow'
and 'sort of' disguise' it with some kind of plate with graphics on it.....
I think some kind of 'the good, the bad, the ugly' themed plate.

Hmmmmm.........

 

I decided to put on the front license plate bracket...that came with the truck.....
and mount the camera inside said bracket. I used the lag screws that came with the license plate bracket.
Eventually I'll replace those with bolts when i get my act together and put some kind of decorative plate
in the license plate bracket......

 

Looks good. You could have drilled a hole in that plastic flap below the emblem and put it there. The screw and/or some jbweld could secure it.

 

possibly.....except i don't know sheit about that radar sensor and i didn't want to muck with
taking that grill off...and had no idea if 'that' could be done with the grill on.

I figured this was a safer bet......on my part.

It took me about 2-3 hrs total to install the whole kit at the point to where it is now.
In sub freezing weather........


next up - puddle pods..................

 

I put mine in your location "A." Used a hand drill to drill a hole in the grill. Works great.

 

I forgot...i cut the 'white' wire(mirror image) for the camera so that the front camera image displayed correctly.
This is for the higher end 'Natika' camera kit.

 

How did you guys route the wires to the head unit?

 

Mine is an SR5 grill but verify similar. I mounted my camera off center towards driver side and as you can see I have more space between the grill crossbars than below the emblem and even mounted flush with the front of the grill I still pickup some of the crossbar underneath on my camera. Mounting from underneath with camera oriented like the picture you posted you will definitely see the crossbars below. I seen another SR5 with the premium camera mounted horizontally directly underneath the tss. Hope this helps!

 

Not sure of any of this will help............

I didn't take any pictures of that but...

I *carefully*........routed them down through the rats nest of harnesses and crap behind and underneath and left of the headunit.
I remember specifcally using a craw grabber tool(3ft?) to help pull the camera wire through that sheit.

I found a bolt that was grounding something else and grounded to that.
I remember it being to the right the steering column behind all that trim.

I specifically remember taking off the following trim:
1) head unit piece
2) piece to the right of the steering column..or maybe i just loosened this one......
3) piece surrounding the ac/fan controls...so i could get to the panel below it and mount the switch.
4) drivers door threshold (because it covered the harness box piece).
5) the piece that covers the harness box (i don't know what its really called)
in the bottom left of the drivers side footwell...so i could get to the firewall grommet and run the front camera wire through it.
6) the piece under the steering wheel above the footwell.

o) wrapped all connections in tape and double wrapped the ones in the engine bay
with self sealing tape.

There are some video's on youtube that may help with more specific stuff.
I didn't find any "all emcompassing ones" specifically for the 2020tacoma.
I watched a couple of those and they also helped with installing the switch.

 

Very helpful, thank you!

 

I used a fiberglass rod to feed thru the rats nest of wires, then taped the wires to that to pull them thru. I mounted the relay below the head unit, then attached the ground to the head unit frame.

 

I forgot to post this a while back.
I ended up attaching a clear 'bubble' cover (from Amazon) onto the front license plate mount
...mostly to 'help' protect the front camera from any sheit on the road..and in theory rain etc.....at least a little.

I had to alter it (shave down parts of it) to fit the stock plate mount.

So far so good., Its been at least 2 months.

anytime camera system works for the reason i bought it...to provide a front view and help me from
running/pulling up over sheit in front where i can't see.

 

I just got this kit in the mail late last week and have not installed it yet. I ask in another thread about how to mount it to the 2020 SR/5 grill. I cam to the conclusion that I was going to go for location A in your picture or go to the left of the emblem if there wasn't room with the radar sensor.

 

I ended up using the license plate bracket mounting.
It was close quarters to attempt to drill that hole without removing the grill and i didn't want chance.
And i didn't want to remove the grill of chance mucking with that sensor.

With that said...the install seems to be working without issue.

 

I have had my Grille off before to take out the chrome surround and replace with a black one.
It's not hard to remove, a few 10mm bolts and some clips. drilling it might be a problem but I have a right angle drill that helps in smaller spaces. I will have to post results when I get it done.