5th Wheel Hitch alignment Camera

[elshamardo]

I recently upgraded from a bumper pull travel trailer to a 5th wheel. I have a stock back-up camera on my f250 tailgate but it doesn't help with the king-pin alignment like the tailgate camera did for my bumper pull.

I also have an aftermarket backup camera on my 5th wheel that will accept two cameras. I was thinking about ordering a second camera to help with the pin alignment (cheaper than the divorce if I ask my wife to help, learned that from my boat experance). Does anyone have any thoughts on the best place to mount it? On the trailer looking forward at the hitch or somewhere on the truck looking back.

[bucky]

Irish2 that's awesome. I have that same camera from ou TT days but never thought of putting it behind the pin. Thanks

[Bob_Vaughn]

I mounted my back up camera level with the top of the 5th wheel hitch so I can use the remote to raise or lower the king pin when backing up to the 5th wheel. It is mounted under my tri-fold cover when it is folded to the front.....I love it as I do not have to get out of the truck to raise or lower the front of the camper.....

[rhagfo]

bpounds wrote:
I can see my hitch in my rearview, but even if I couldn't I think a camera would be overkill. Nice thing about a fiver is, you don't need to be lined up so perfectly as you do with a bumper pull.

I can hit it just centering my truck box with the trailer body, in the two side mirrors.

A nice thing about the Vee tailgate, is that if I center my pinbox in the Vee of the gate, it's still going to be centered close enough when the pin approaches the hitch.

I know you guys love your cameras, which is fine too.

X2!
With a 5er close counts, so even if I couldn't see the hitch I would use the sides of the 5er to align the pin.

[bpounds]

I can see my hitch in my rearview, but even if I couldn't I think a camera would be overkill. Nice thing about a fiver is, you don't need to be lined up so perfectly as you do with a bumper pull.

I can hit it just centering my truck box with the trailer body, in the two side mirrors.

A nice thing about the Vee tailgate, is that if I center my pinbox in the Vee of the gate, it's still going to be centered close enough when the pin approaches the hitch.

I know you guys love your cameras, which is fine too.

[Irish2]

I use the wireless camera and hit the spot everytime.

[pennysmom09]

elshamardo wrote:
Can't you see hitch via center mirror OR by looking at it thru back window?

No, I failed to include an important fact, it is a 4-door crew cab and the rear seats have headrest. I can see the front of the trailer in the rearview mirror and that gets me in the general area. I was thinking the camera would speed up the process.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Based on the pictures, it looks like the best place to put it is near the cab looking down and back.

Btw, we have a similar truck and removed the middle headrest, since only our dog sits back there.

[brirene]

brirene wrote:
When I was considering doing that, I always planned on mounting it towards the top of the rear window. You'll find that the more you tow, the easier it will be to get the right position without any visual aids. I just look in the mirror and am usually within an inch or two of center. Works for me. By the way, welcome to the forum!

I neglected to mention that I have a trifold tonneau so can't actually see the hitch. You get used to where it is.

[Nicholsfamily05]

WTP-GC wrote:

Nicholsfamily05 wrote:
We had one on our 2012 and I used a small piece of aluminum and mounted the camera to it and then used Velcro to mount it to my truck box. It was a straight on view and worked great. Then when we were done with the RV I could just pull it off and unroll my cover.

Tried the look over your shoulder thing but with a mega cab it wasn't easy. The camera connected right into my Good Sam GPS an helped great no arguing with the wife nothing

Tell the truth...with that many stickers you can't see out the back window. Probably has nothing to do with the megacab LOL

Haha I know I know. They went on afterwards. I also had 5% window tint on there too. But when you would open the rear slider you still couldn't see anything because of how high the window was compared to the bed.

Took me maybe half hour to install and run the wires. Only hard part about it was running the power wire and a switch so it only has power when I want it too.
Other than that it was easy to put in.
Bought the camera off Amazon for 15 bucks and the GPS is the Good Sam one forget the model number but 3 years old now.
Wife controls the up and down as I back up and bam done takes no time at all.

Currently have to remake my stand for it as the gas tank I installed in our new truck is smaller cause I didn't do truck box this time. Still not easy to see

[elshamardo]

Can't you see hitch via center mirror OR by looking at it thru back window?

No, I failed to include an important fact, it is a 4-door crew cab and the rear seats have headrest. I can see the front of the trailer in the rearview mirror and that gets me in the general area. I was thinking the camera would speed up the process.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Based on the pictures, it looks like the best place to put it is near the cab looking down and back.

[Me_Again]

I took an old smart phone I had, my MiFi, a spare 10" tablet, and an APT called IPCAM. Takes a minute or two to set it up. Chris

[WTP-GC]

Nicholsfamily05 wrote:
We had one on our 2012 and I used a small piece of aluminum and mounted the camera to it and then used Velcro to mount it to my truck box. It was a straight on view and worked great. Then when we were done with the RV I could just pull it off and unroll my cover.

Tried the look over your shoulder thing but with a mega cab it wasn't easy. The camera connected right into my Good Sam GPS an helped great no arguing with the wife nothing

Tell the truth...with that many stickers you can't see out the back window. Probably has nothing to do with the megacab LOL

[pennysmom09]

Fishhawker wrote:
The folded bed cover on my truck obstructs a clear view of the hitch
so I put a plastic water bottle between the hitch jaws

when backing in to connect, the top of the bottle is clearly visable and guides me in for a perfect hookup

When I see the pin moving the bottle I get out and remove the bottle and continue the hook up

Works for me

Our tape works well....but this is a very good idea!! Have to try it!

[pennysmom09]

DH put a piece of tape on the edge of the folded bed cover, and 2 pieces of tape on the hitch plate giving him a very accurate target. I do the "c'mon back" to the hitch plate, adjust the height, but if not, he can quickly eyeball it himself, make the adjustment and hitch up without me. We have a back up camera in the truck but it is only good for getting fairly near the target, a good start in other words.

[Fishhawker]

The folded bed cover on my truck obstructs a clear view of the hitch
so I put a plastic water bottle between the hitch jaws

when backing in to connect, the top of the bottle is clearly visable and guides me in for a perfect hookup

When I see the pin moving the bottle I get out and remove the bottle and continue the hook up

Works for me