Inexpensive camera for hitching 5th wheel

[Trent McCain]

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.