I've just purchased a 2005 F250, the ford oval emblem is on the lower right of the tailgate. I want to add a backup camera, can I get one of the ford emblems with backup camera and just bolt it in the center of the tailgate?

 

The emblem is not where the camera is. Camera is actually mounted in the plastic chrome piece behind the emblem. If you have the emblem on the side you may not have a hole in the tailgate the camera wire threads through. Your best bet might be a license plate mounted rear view camera.

FYI - both ford and my regular mechanic wanted $600-700 to replace the back up camera. I bought the camera from Ford for $169( i know the parts guy) and installed it myself in about 25 minutes- including shining up pieces of the tailgate that will never see the light of day again. When removing the emblem you pretty much have to break the plastic tabs to get it off. Some heavy duty two sided tape will reattach it without spending $50 to replace it from the dealer.

 

Yes you can buy the ford emblem with the back up camera, however the emblem is "large" (about the size of the one on the front grill) and intended for 2008 and later trucks. I suppose you could drill some holes and mount the emblem in the center of your tailgate but I would think it would look odd....just a thought... maybe pick up a 2008 tailgate from the salvage yard (don't know if or how it would fit maybe "borrow" a buddy's 2008 tailgate for a test) it has the correct mount pad for the emblem. Russ

 

I went through all that with my '06 f 350, I then tried getting a different tail gate handle to see if I could retro fit a camera into the handle, that really didn't work for me either. I ended up making a mounting bracket for the rear bumper just above the license plate.
I figured the only way a camera was going to go into the tail gate was to get a new gate with the emblem in the center of the tailgate.