Hello all,

I attended the 2017 Super Duty Drive Tour in San Antonio this morning. It was the first time I have been able to see the new trucks in person. I drove a 450 Platinum and then had a chance to explore the 360 camera systems and reverse backup system on a 350 King Ranch SRW. Very nice trucks and I can't wait for mine to get here.

However, I did see something that I was not happy about... I have ordered a truck with the 5th Wheel/Gooseneck Hitch Prep Package, Tow Technology Package and with the Trailer Camera Prep Kit as I want a rear facing camera for the back of my 5th wheel camper. The problem I saw on the 350 King Ranch (which had the camera system, the external camera for the trailer, and the 5th wheel prep) is that there is no place to plug in the external trailer camera in the bed of the truck. The 5th wheel prep package installs an outlet for the lights/brakes but there is no outlet in the bed sidewall for the camera. The only camera outlet is down on the bumper. This is not good. If you install a wired camera system on a 5th wheel camper (which I have done on two different 5th wheel campers), you will want to run the camera cabling all the way to 5th wheel pinbox just like the lights/brakes cabling. Now with the Ford has done this, I will have to run the camera cable out of the pinbox across my tailgate and down to the bumper outlet. Duh! This is just short sighted and a bad decision.

So Ford had idea and a potentially great solution and didn't it right. Uhhggg!!

-Chris

 

Chris, we've discussed this before and I'd say we all agree with you. That was a major oversight by Ford. Some have suggested that instead of mounting the camera plug in the bumper in place of the 4 pin that you instead make a new hole in the bed for it. Or perhaps enlarge the existing hole that's there for the in bed 7 way.

 

This has been discussed before. Whether Ford does anything about it waits to be seen. Yes it makes no sense since most that tow and would want the camera will have a gooseneck or fifth wheel.

 

Dang you beat me by a minute!

 

Sorry - I didn't realize there was a thread already on this. Thanks.

 

There wasn't. It was brought up in a general thread a while back. I think it was Josh's experience thread. No worries.

 

I was typing as fast as possible as I knew you'd be right there at the finish line!

 

Gascan,
I'm glad you pointed this out, as I also had missed the previous discussion regarding this issue. Sounds like the gurus have a good fix for this though, shouldn't be too much trouble to move it into the bed near the 7-way plug. Still have to deal with the hole left in the bumper though?

BTW, I thought I saw a post a few days back that said the cable for the trailer camera was only long enough for a 30' or so trailer. Anyone know if this is the case? Sorry, I'm trying to get up to speed but not much time to keep up with all the great info on this forum...

Thanks,
Gentry

 

Yeah, I was already hoping I could move the outlet to the bed assuming there is enough cable lengths and room to route it. I installed a connector in my current 2011 for a camera system so it can be done.

As for cable length, according to the rep I spoke with this morning the "Trailer Camera Prep Kit" comes with 3 cable lengths one of them being 50 feet. I hope it long enough. My RV is 40 feet but I want to mount the camera at top of the rear and it is another 10 feet from the bottom of the RV to the top as I would run the camera along the bottom of RV frame. Worst case - I can splice in some extra length.

As well as 2017 is it sure seems like Ford didn't quite think this one through... Very frustrating. Net-Net - I think I can work around it.

-Chris

 

This is the Quick Connect/Disconnect system I have in my current truck.

Rearview Safety Quick Connect

Anyone know if the pinouts for the Ford camera outlet are available? Might be able use the above system - cut and splice this in and make it work. I can't image the Ford camera system needing more than 6 wires which is what this system is.

-Chris

 

Yeah, I'm in the same boat regarding the cable length (RV is about 42.5' long). But I can solder & heat shrink with the best of them so no worries.

Can't wait till it gets here!

 

There has been talk that the trailer tow camera has 5' lengths of extensions for the cable. It might be a nuisance but one or two of these should alleviate the problem until a better solution (IE a plug in the box) comes around. Press your dealer for a free one.

 

Amen brother - same here!!

-Chris

 

Gentry, there won't be a hole left in the bumper. When you order the trailer camera kit, it comes with the bumper outlet for the camera. This outlet replaces the stock 4 way plug. So, instead of replacing the 4 way with the camera plug, you leave the 4 way and mount the camera plug in bed. Connection method hasn't been established but shouldn't be too hard...

 

Heads are exploding around here when guys are reading "3 different cable lengths and 1 of the being 50'..."

What do we believe????? LOL