So I installed the Nichols Manufacturing Harness and Plug in the bed of the truck. Since Ford doesn't make one I bought the one Nichols makes. And let me tell you, it is one very nicely made piece. Its aluminum and comes with a rubber gasket. The welds on this are beautiful.
Being Canadian, it cost me more with the exchange and the duty but in my opinion, worth every penny.
It took about 30 minutes to install and looks better than the factory one. The kit comes with an extension harness to go from the plug near the bumper up to the bed of the box. I zip tied it all up to other harnesses. I also put beck the original 7/4 pin plug in the bumper.

This is the Plug housing...



I was a little leery about drilling but the instructions were spot on and it was really easy mode. Below is the piece cut out.




This is the opening once everything is cut and ready to go. I used some touch up paint where there was bare metal from drilling and I also sprayed the bolt clips as they are steel. (I've seen some pics of those clips rusting and making a mess.
As well you can see where the factory plug was, its not exactly water tight or dust proof.




All that was left was to plug the harness into the plugs and bolt it in place.



Like I said, extremely easy to install and looks better than the factory IMHO. Hooked up the trailer to test everything out.

I'm 100% glad I went this route. There's no way I could stand having the camera harness gerry-rigged from the 5th wheel to the bumper. Looked like crap and I'm sure it would end up getting pulled out or wrecked.
Hardest part of the whole install was fishing the camera harness and plug through the kingpin area.

 

So where is the camera? I lost mine when I pulled the OEM gate and put on the 5W gate.

 

This is for the camera that mounts on the back of the 5th wheel trailer.

 

Thanks I thought it was the OEM backup camera mounted in the tail gate. It could be useful in hookup, I'll just keep looking over my shoulder.

 

Nichols has a harness to relocate the tailgate camera to a 5W tailgate. I have no experience in it but the option seems to exist.
TAILGATE CAMERA RELOCATION HARNESS $49.99

 

I have installed the same in-bed plug-in. Definitely a good setup.

 

So here is the before and after pics. The first set is from the dealer install. Note the 3m Command strips on the rear. On the front, the bungee cords were meant to hold up the cable from the trailer to the plug in the bumper so it didn't drag on the ground.




Now here is the After, I used the Nichol's extension and ran the plug up through the front of the 5th wheel and brought it out by the kingpin. On the rear I ran the wire across to the ladder and used cable wrap to go down the ladder. Much less conspicuous.
Really happy with the outcome.



Now If I could get the camera to work while driving that would be awesome. But I don't think that's going to happen.

 

I hope the didn't charge you for that mess, much more professional looking. Camera while driving? Trick it into thinking it's in reverse?

 

2017 - 2018 FORD F-250 SUPER DUTY / F-350 SUPER DUTY / F-450 SUPER DUTY (SYNC 3) ULTIMATE TRAILER TOW CAMERA SYSTEM IN MOTION BYPASS