Hatch release thing?

[3rzrunner]

Hey guys I have a 3rd gen (97) which I use for camping and sleeping in a lot. The problem is I cant get out the back hatch or put the rear window down to get air so I was thinking of putting a second always on rear window switch in the rear cargo area (which I already have the switch) and some how a door latch release (yes I know you can roll the window down if I put the always on switch and reach out and open it but I would also like the door release so if its raining or the window is covered in mud I can still get out)

I am mostly interested in the door release lever.

So my question is if any of you have done these 2 mods and HOW you did them any help would be appreciated thanks!

 

[seanshreds]

I just wrote a post on what you could possibly do for the handle but then I remembered that you need to take in to consideration the back window. when it is rolled down, it will make it so you cannot reach the cable that the stock handle is attached to for the latch. Best way to figure this out would be to take off the back panel and roll the window down so you can see a good place to route a new cable to the existing latch cable. then roll it back up and down to see if the new cable would get in the way at all.

 

[Brianrietta]

Because I'm too tall to sleep in my 4Runner without, I always have the rear seat bottom/s out when I'm camping so my easy fix is just to use the rear doors not the hatch. It's easier to tarp over the sides and I can step down onto my slider rather than have to jump out over or slide down on the even more filthy rear bumper:

Since several phone calls and an e-mail to Otrattw went unanswered I've put my rear electronics on hold but my plan was to simply put a 3 switch panel back there. This was planned to house a momentary-off-momentary switch, run off the FRONT window switch which I'd rewire to receive constant power. While the rear tailgate keyed window switch always has power, it's on a 3s delay so as I understand it you'd have to hold the interior switch for 3s before it started to do anything. Worth the hassle to run the wires to the front in my opinion. Although I would be doing that primarily because I'm a perfectionist and not because it's necessary as normally my rear window is wide open while camping anyways with my bug screen over it.

So as it turns out I'm not really much help on the actual door release thing... Sorry. It's just that every time I looked at it myself I decided it was way more effort than I was willing to put into it what with the relative ease of wiring the window switch, making a bug screen for the rear window, or even more simply just going out the front. :canada: