Truck Campers Only, w/ an Overland & Off-roading theme

[the_great_white]

did a 20-point U-turn .

How'd that feel on a scale of 1 - Austin Powers....

 

[gmoon]

Tremors, Baja, and Trout fishing.. enough said!

@PJPVI that sportsmobile is so rad. Always loved the older body style, with the cool swing out cabinet. I have a Sportsmobile/Field vans pop-top on our Sprinter and while I love the retro aspect, Im kind of surprised by how many design flaws it has. Back then I think it was probably cutting edge but nowadays its hard to comprehend the $16k price....

@TRAMPER I dig the trout emphasis. Hoping my dad gets a similar use out of his Sprinter.

@TX03RUBI 30 years of fly fishing. Oh the water you have seen? Im only 8 years in and I have a hard time finding a better way to spend a day.

 

[Briski]

Don't take this offensively (not intended to be in any way) but that sounds like something my parents say regularly. When I was trying to drive to S. America in my Sportsmobile in 2020 they both insisted as soon as I crossed into Guatemala I'd be killed for my van.

This probably isn't the thread to get into it, but I'll just say that my time in Mexico and Guatemala revealed the kindest people I had ever met. In short, I'm not worried about the cartel but I am aware of my surroundings and do avoid certain regions and tourist areas. Perhaps a Mexico thread as gmoon recommends would be great to get deeper into the topic.

My girl friend was just in Mexico and had gun fire near her hotel. She is Mexican and that made her not thinking about moving back. Just saying. It changed my mind to venturing there. Good luck to you brave souls. Cheers

 

[TRAMPER]

Happy New Year everyone. Hope 2024 brings you all happiness and adventure.

 

[TRAMPER]

Came back from my road trip driving up the US-395 yesterday. Did some off-roading on my way up to Bristlecone Pine Forest. Came to this really steep section of the trail with a very short top before the hill would drop down again. Got a bit nervous because when I slowly climbed up you do not see anything where you are going. At a 14% incline all you see is the sky. I chickened out and did not do the drop down on the other side, but reversed and did a 20-point U-turn . The picture does not do justice how scary (or cool) this looked in real life.

View attachment 139169

Were you running the front camera while doing this? I’m not saying that would have made it better just curious if it helped at all?

 

[Gunshotwoundshurt]

Gentleman -- Appreciate all of the input on my inquiry of MPG while loaded with a camper on the 7.3. Information will definitely help with route planning.

2nd inquiry -- Has any fix been provided for dead cameras when the tailgates off ?

 

[TRAMPER]

Gentleman -- Appreciate all of the input on my inquiry of MPG while loaded with a camper on the 7.3. Information will definitely help with route planning.

2nd inquiry -- Has any fix been provided for dead cameras when the tailgates off ?

So as soon as you plug in a replacement camera the 360 cameras all work again.

When removing the tailgate there are 5 different plugs to unplug and cap (with the caps in your glove box) but the only one required for the cameras to work is the single “RCA” style plug.

My camper company offered a plug and play option and it worked perfectly however if you can’t or don’t get this ordering the correct camera from a place like CameraSource or similar and plugging it in would be fine.

 

[Gunshotwoundshurt]

So as soon as you plug in a replacement camera the 360 cameras all work again.

When removing the tailgate there are 5 different plugs to unplug and cap (with the caps in your glove box) but the only one required for the cameras to work is the single “RCA” style plug.

My camper company offered a plug and play option and it worked perfectly however if you can’t or don’t get this ordering the correct camera from a place like CameraSource or similar and plugging it in would be fine.

Don't know why, nor did I know they did, but my truck didn't come with the caps you mentioned. Trip back to the dealer I guess.

 

[TRAMPER]

Don't know why, nor did I know they did, but my truck didn't come with the caps you mentioned. Trip back to the dealer I guess.

Yeah they’re just set of small plugs that come in a plastic bag to plug all the wiring harnesses to prevent corrosion. Should be in your glove box, but I guess they could be somewhere else.

 

[gmoon]

@TRAMPER @Chris-DTA would you guys mind sharing pics of the camera?

I REALLY need to tackle this asap.. Im blind as a bat right now... Especially with my rear parking sensors yet to be installed, the result of an installer who through up their hands on designing and manufacturing a custom bumper has been thrown back on us, the customer despite having our truck for 5 months....

I know some go the Rostra route, some go with camerasource. I Looked back through photos of both of your rears (lol) and noticed your camera configurations are different.

Rostra's tend to have a large black rectangle (which I have seen on some of the earlier STs. @TRAMPER 's seems similar but still different... And I dont see @Chris-DTA but that likely means its on the tray.

Camerasource has some smaller units like this but also some larger ones like this.

I did not remove my camera before selling the bed/tailgate (idiot) so I can get another from Ford and place into one of these universal moutns from Camerasource or Rostra, or order something new altogether. I just dont want a bad quality.

 

[TRAMPER]

@TRAMPER @Chris-DTA would you guys mind sharing pics of the camera?

I REALLY need to tackle this asap.. Im blind as a bat right now... Especially with my rear parking sensors yet to be installed, the result of an installer who through up their hands on designing and manufacturing a custom bumper has been thrown back on us, the customer despite having our truck for 5 months....

I know some go the Rostra route, some go with camerasource. I Looked back through photos of both of your rears (lol) and noticed your camera configurations are different.

Rostra's tend to have a large black rectangle (which I have seen on some of the earlier STs. @TRAMPER 's seems similar but still different... And I dont see @Chris-DTA but that likely means its on the tray.

Camerasource has some smaller units like this but also some larger ones like this.

I did not remove my camera before selling the bed/tailgate (idiot) so I can get another from Ford and place into one of these universal moutns from Camerasource or Rostra, or order something new altogether. I just dont want a bad quality.

So, sadly I’m at work right now so I can’t get you a super close picture while my truck is at home, but looking through my photos these seem to show it best. When I get home tonight I’ll post up some closer ones.

I “think” mine is a factory Ford Camera in a 3D printed housing…. But i certainly could be incorrect.

 

[TRAMPER]

Looking back through my emails this is the one I got from ST in regards to ordering my camera. Doesn’t specifically state which camera they are using.

@Chadx you seem to be the resident expert around here in Supertramp research and I know you are not opting for the camera on yours, so. What’s the go to Camera that you plan on using??????

 

[TRAMPER]

@TRAMPER @Chris-DTA would you guys mind sharing pics of the camera?

I REALLY need to tackle this asap.. Im blind as a bat right now... Especially with my rear parking sensors yet to be installed, the result of an installer who through up their hands on designing and manufacturing a custom bumper has been thrown back on us, the customer despite having our truck for 5 months....

I know some go the Rostra route, some go with camerasource. I Looked back through photos of both of your rears (lol) and noticed your camera configurations are different.

Rostra's tend to have a large black rectangle (which I have seen on some of the earlier STs. @TRAMPER 's seems similar but still different... And I dont see @Chris-DTA but that likely means its on the tray.

Camerasource has some smaller units like this but also some larger ones like this.

I did not remove my camera before selling the bed/tailgate (idiot) so I can get another from Ford and place into one of these universal moutns from Camerasource or Rostra, or order something new altogether. I just dont want a bad quality.

Ok climbed up and got the best picture I could get. Doesn’t look 3D printed so maybe it’s just an aftermarket housing I don’t really know. Does this help??

And yes you do need to tackle it! The fact that it kills all the cameras is SUPER annoying, I guess it didn’t do that on the 22’s and older but without the tailgate all my 360 cameras turned blue!

 

[Chris-DTA]

@TRAMPER @Chris-DTA would you guys mind sharing pics of the camera?

I REALLY need to tackle this asap.. Im blind as a bat right now... Especially with my rear parking sensors yet to be installed, the result of an installer who through up their hands on designing and manufacturing a custom bumper has been thrown back on us, the customer despite having our truck for 5 months....

I know some go the Rostra route, some go with camerasource. I Looked back through photos of both of your rears (lol) and noticed your camera configurations are different.

Rostra's tend to have a large black rectangle (which I have seen on some of the earlier STs. @TRAMPER 's seems similar but still different... And I dont see @Chris-DTA but that likely means its on the tray.

Camerasource has some smaller units like this but also some larger ones like this.

I did not remove my camera before selling the bed/tailgate (idiot) so I can get another from Ford and place into one of these universal moutns from Camerasource or Rostra, or order something new altogether. I just dont want a bad quality.

Here is my setup. Left camera is the Wolfbox G930 4K and the right one is the one from CameraSource.

Plug & Play Camper Camera Kit, Mini Universal Cam Fits Ford® Super Duty - SKU: CS-FTRSD-LP-1722-15

The Wolfbox camera is fantastic and significantly better than the Camerasource cam. Honestly, the Camerasource camera is low-end aka cheapish. I am planning to upgrade it to something better.

If you are looking for a picture how it is on the 12" screen, I can take one in the morning.

 

[TX03RUBI]

Tremors, Baja, and Trout fishing.. enough said!

@PJPVI that sportsmobile is so rad. Always loved the older body style, with the cool swing out cabinet. I have a Sportsmobile/Field vans pop-top on our Sprinter and while I love the retro aspect, Im kind of surprised by how many design flaws it has. Back then I think it was probably cutting edge but nowadays its hard to comprehend the $16k price....

@TRAMPER I dig the trout emphasis. Hoping my dad gets a similar use out of his Sprinter.

@TX03RUBI 30 years of fly fishing. Oh the water you have seen? Im only 8 years in and I have a hard time finding a better way to spend a day.

30 years of trout fishing, but only 17-18 on the fly. I didn’t start fly fishing until my senior year of high school, and I’m now 36. I learned to trout fish all over northern NM as a young kid, but it was on salmon eggs and spinning tackle. I hve found some gorgeous waters though. Catching is only icing on the cake.

 

[Potato Wilson]

I have to ask, you guys don’t worry about a cartel member taking a liking to your rig and assuming ownership? I lived in SD for 12 years and had many friends experience this kind of experience. Maybe it has changed. The was in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
If it’s changed, I would love to adventure there.
Cheers

I used to go to Baja quite a bit in the 80’s, and experienced several roustings by the “law”. I’m curious what that scene is like now too.

 

[Chadx]

@Chadx you seem to be the resident expert around here in Supertramp research and I know you are not opting for the camera on yours, so. What’s the go to Camera that you plan on using??????

@TRAMPER This is timely conversation. I am having my final Supertramp order review with Kelsey this week and I've slacked on camera research. I was about to hop on here and ask for some input from you since you got the Supertramp solution and from @Chris-DTA who did aftermarket and BOOM, there was info. Ha. Since you picked up your camper recently and the quality of both the stock camera tailgate camera and the supertramp camera are fresh in your mind, would you say they are of equal quality? I know there are a lot of plug-and-play camera solutions out there from very cheap to rather pricey, including ones direct from Ford. For a installed solution for anything, Supertramp seems to charge about double what the equipment costs. Which is fine, it's just a matter of knowing what ones own time is worth if considering installing ones self. Being this close to decision time, I may end up just going with the Supertramp solution since it is positioned in a spot that seems like it would give good view. If it did it myself, I'd be tempted to put it low and settle for just having the backup camera so I can back up to a trailer with a receiver hitch.

If you get access to your truck, can you take a picture of the Ford screen while in reverse so I can get an idea of the perspective the Supertramp camera provides? with a ball hitch in the receiver would be even better. And does the Supertramp give two camera perspectives like the stock tailgate camera? It is both a backup camera and the camera that can zoom in on the ball hitch. Just curious if the Supertramp solution does that as well or what it does when you tap on the different views on your screen.

@Chris-DTA I'm interested in seeing the camera views on your screen as well. How is the resolution on the higher quality camera compared to the stock Ford camera? And same question to you as Tramper; what do the various views look like from your screen (are both backup camera and focused ball hitch camera both available)?

 

[TRAMPER]

@Chadx I’ve got a long shift at work today 6-6, but if I have time when I get home tonight lol try to hop in and get a picture or two of the interior screen with various camera shots.

I would say where you place the camera is a little dependent on what camera package your truck was ordered with. My truck is an XLT premium which includes the 360 camera option. With this as an option I think the camera needs to be mounted up higher so it can look down. While mine has been parked now for a couple weeks I do vividly remember it functioning perfectly allowing me to park and drive with it. The rear camera being higher definitely distorts the image slightly however. For example when backing up between two lines the lines appear more narrow than they really are because the camera is higher however if you pull in between them centered you still end up centered in the spot it’s just on the camera it appears like you’re a little bigger than you really are backing in.

The factory camera isn’t wired through any nifty channels or slick way, it’s just zip tied behind the molle panel and down the back of the camper. If you chose to mount one up high yourself it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Final thought for now is the camera picture seemed the same as stick, IE, when looking at the 360 view everything looks the same, not sure what camera they used but it’s the same quality as the FORD one.

I’ll see what I can do tonight in regards to a hitch but mine has stairs in there so a hitch ball won’t be an option.

I would say in my case the camera was worth getting for the simple fact I could use my camper for the 7-10 days after picking it up and have a camera, all my cameras, where as if I didnt get it I would have been blind until I got home and installed one. This includes backing down a very curvy driveway in Asheville NC that was no problem with the camper.

 

[Chadx]

Good input, @TRAMPER. Thank you. When you mentioned the wire routing, I went back and looked at your pictures. That is a fair bit different (and simpler looking) than the ones I'd previously seen that looked a lot more secured/complicated to mount (see images below). I'm going to reach out to Kelsey and ask for the camera part number they use so I can understand if it's a Ford camera or other and compare it to what else is out there. Seems like, if the camera housing is easy enough to source, it would be a simple matter of adhering with VHB tape and routing the cable as they did on your camper. I do have the same Ford "360 camera" option as you.

Understood on your steps being mounted so no need for a ball hitch in the receiver. Two images of what the Ford screen displays in backup mode and in the "trailer hook up" zoom, looking down on your steps in lieu of a ball hitch) would be great if you have time. Thanks!

This is an older example of what Supertramp used to mount.

 

[rwalk]

I ended up purchasing the full Rostra kit through M&R Electronics. It was the best deal I could find, Rostra only sells the parts individually now, but M&R still sells the package kit at a cheaper price.

I was planning to go Camera Source, but they stopped selling, or maybe are/were out of stock, on kits that included the actual camera. After doing a bunch of reading, the factory tailgate camera is very difficult to R&R, so if you ever plan to remove the camper and run the tailgate again it is advised to get a whole setup.

My understanding is that the housing with the Rostra kit is designed at the same angle as the factory tailgate camera, so it should be mounted at the same height, which would put it just under the window on my rear door. The Camera Source bracket is adjustable, so could be mounted above the door for a cleaner install, but as @TRAMPER noted, any variation in mounting height/angle is going to slightly mess with the 360.

No pictures yet as I currently have the camper pulled off the truck to do some work to each. The factory cameras are very poor quality, at least on my display, so don't think the Rostra will be any worse than OEM.