Inexpensive camera for hitching 5th wheel

Trent McCain · 07-31-2016, 06:47 PM

Our local parts house had the Peak 4.3 in digital back up camera on sale for I believe around $75 bucks. My father picked up one as he wanted to mount it on the rear of their new Bighorn so he could see what's behind him. I commented it looked like a good deal, so for fathers day, my wife and little girl gave one to me. My father installed his, and the results are fair, decent for the money spent no doubt. I had intents of installing mine on our Mobile Suites, but after his review, decided on an alternate plan. I figured with the 2017 SuperDuties having a trailer cam, I might as well have one on our new '16. I already had mounted the monitor when we got the truck, and so I needed to figure out the camera. I rigged up a 12V power supply and temporarily mounted the camera to see if it would even work for my purpose. The result was very promising. So I rummaged around the shop and found 2 shelf repair L brackets. I covered them in black heat shrink tubing and mounted the camera to them. I then screwed the bracket to the rack behind the cab. For 12V, I wired them into the flood lights already installed and triggered through the factory upfitter switch in the cab. The lights won't bother anyone during the day, and would be on if hitching at night anyways. Peak is supposedly going to release an aux camera, so I figured I could install it on the trailer later if I thought I needed it. Sorry the pictures aren't the best, they were taken in my shop.

xcntrk · 08-02-2016, 03:09 PM

Nice!

Have you seen the Ford Mytouch Lockpick? You could ditch that secondary monitor altogether and support numerous camera feeds.

https://www.coastaletech.com/mytouch.htm

I sort of have a similar setup where I use a wireless backup cam installed on the rear of my toy-hauler. It then transmits to a receiver mounted in the cab of my truck, which produces a wired camera input. From there you can plug into any monitor including Lockpick. Presently I plug it in as a camera source to a Garmin RV GPS, but might go the Lockpick route in the future. Just thought I'd share the various options...

Pull Toy · 08-02-2016, 03:29 PM

OL' School:

20 cents worth of white electrical tape on 5th wheel style tailgate, centerline of pin box, and rear window of tow vehicles to line up hitch... to hook up, Kind of like a rifle sight. Rear view mirrors to back onto site + practice .............. works every time for the last umptigratz years. Never missed yet! (Don't be afraid to straighten out, and try again, once it's crooked, all the backing in the world, won't fix it....

Any skill worth having, is worth working for!

cpaulsen · 08-02-2016, 03:32 PM

Is there a problem hitching up without a camera??

Trent McCain · 08-02-2016, 05:58 PM

Not a problem at all, as for skill, I have plenty, probably could have sex standing up in a hammock, but why do things the hard way? Lol! I own and operate a trucking company, and with as many times as I've hooked trailers, I still get out and make sure the pin is centered in the funnel before backing under a trailer. If it's not centered, it's a good way to bend the landing gear when the trailer shifts to the side. The main reason for this mod, was when hooking up a gooseneck, I get tired of getting out to see if I over or under shot the ball. I can see the 5th hitch in this LWB fairly well if I stretch, in the previous SWB, it was impossible.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

xcntrk · 08-03-2016, 03:40 AM

I'm not ashamed to admit I lack the ability to hit the king-pin in the hitch pad, and end up getting IN/OUT a umptigratz number of times which is a huge PITA. I don't have a hitch camera but could definitely use one.

I think my setup is different in that I can't see my hitch (at all) in the bed from within the cab. I have a quad cab and a short bed, combined with a roll-up bed cover that sits above the rails blocking the view down into the bed from within the cab. I'm not going to take my bed cover off, that unit is priceless in protecting the contents in my bed from weather and theft, when not towing. That leaves me with little option other than jumping out a few times.

I suppose I could use a similar approach to "Pull Toy" and snap a centerline on my rolled up bed cover, and extend it onto the cap of my 5'er to help alignment.

gkainz · 08-03-2016, 05:59 AM

When hooking up my 5er with the Andersen Ultimate, I can easily see the side to side alignment in my mirror or over my shoulder. What I have a hard time judging is fore and aft alignment (am I directly over the ball?).

Easy solution? Borrow my wife's iPhone, connect the 2 with FaceTime and put hers on the wheel well with a view of the ball and connector block.

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