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

[Chadx]

@Chadx thanks for taking time to share all that. Very helpful/ insightful as always.

I must say I haven’t run into the problems you’ve experienced with mine. With one notable exception. None of my cameras worked at all with the tailgate removed but once plugged the replacement camera they all came back.. strange.

I do not have the phantom breaking and problems that some others have. I think that’s because I opted for an XLT without those features for this exact reason. In fact my previous 2017 Tacoma I felt was a prize as well since it was the last year without all the nanny features that honestly kind of suck Offroad.

Be interesting to see how you deal/ disable some of this stuff or how people work around them. Seems a lot of these more and more modern vehicles don’t like to be taken Offroad I truly like these features on my daily driver, my lighting can just about drive itself to work for me but the Tremor requires a lot more attention! In fact I don’t even have adaptive cruise on the Tremor.

Anyway, congrats!!!! I can’t wait to see the Supertramp on your truck I think the colors are going to look awesome!!!!

To clarify, I've never had unexplained phantom braking, but like you, I've heard of those that have. My situation was entirely due to the Rock Tamer hitch mudflap bar running 4" behind all my backup sensors. The sensors were doing their job. Sensors: You are 4" from backing into something! ...And still 4"! ...and still 4"! (even though I was backing up the entire time, the "object" was affixed to the truck and moving with it). Ha. Turning that off through the screen menu will likely be what I need to do every time I tow using the rock tamer or when I have a hitch rack (MTB or Dirtbike) on the truck. It will become second nature once I do it enough times. As I recall, it's only 3 clicks deep on the menu. I just didn't want to bother and so paid the price with the squealing alert/popup menu and the one low speed, baking-up-in-the-yard brake application when it thought it was doing me a favor. It was kind of an experiment on my part really. Now I know what it will do and that it's worth the few seconds of menu manipulation to off some things.

My pickup doesn't have adaptive cruise control either. The used vehicle my wife bought this year has it and when first using it, I thought it was great. The more I use it, the more I prefer standard cruise control though and often, when driving her vehicle, I'll long press instead of short press when turning on the cruise which activates standard cruise control rather than adaptive. When I do use adaptive, I put it on the least sensitive setting. I prefer the longer following distances of the most sensitive setting, but then it is too aggressive on keeping the exact following distance (acceleration and deceleration) and will even tap the brakes to keep the following distance. The least sensitive setting is less abrupt and tends to let off and coast more; rarely using the brakes.

 

[toximus]

Rostra would be the choice for a fixed angle housing.

Oh this is perfect! I just contacted them asking how/where to purchase! Thanks!

 

[toximus]

Anyone have the part # for the 2022 OEM 360 camera? Rostra wants $765 for it alone...

 

[rwalk]

Anyone have the part # for the 2022 OEM 360 camera? Rostra wants $765 for it alone...

This is where I got my kit. Much cheaper than Rostra direct, but still more than Camera Source.

250-8660 2017 + Superduty 360 Camera Relocation Factory Ford Camera

M&R Electronics Inc. specializes in automotive electronic repair. We offer: car radio repair, bluetooth handsfree car kits, backup camera repair and much more. We also offer thousands of electronic car parts and auto accessories.

www.mnrelectronics.com

They also sell just the housing/wire extension separately if you can find a cheaper source for the camera

250-8661 2017 + Superduty 360 View Camera Relocation Housing

M&R Electronics Inc. specializes in automotive electronic repair. We offer: car radio repair, bluetooth handsfree car kits, backup camera repair and much more. We also offer thousands of electronic car parts and auto accessories.

www.mnrelectronics.com

I am pretty sure this is the correct camera part # based on the picture and some forum searching, but not 100% sure. Worth a try for the price I guess.

2017-2022 Ford Camera HC3Z-19G490-X | TascaParts.com

2017-2022 Ford part # HC3Z-19G490-X - Camera

www.tascaparts.com

 

[Chadx]

HC3Z-19G490-X is the camera part number for 2017 - 2022 Superduty camera. The sites that sell it say that part number is NOT for '23 and '24 Superduty, even though the connection looks the same. Anyone know or confirm if camera plugs are identical between '22 and earlier an the '23+? On their kits, Rosta simply says 2017+ which seams to indicate they would work for '23 and '24, but you know how that can go...Someone created the description in 2018 and hasn't updated it since the '23s came out.
Edit: Found this on Rosta's site. They have different kits and part numbers depending on year. https://www.rostra.com/ford-superduty-360-around-view-camera-relocation.php

It's my understanding that the cable, to run between the pickup plug and camera, is a "RG58 Fakra Z Female to Fakra Z Female Coaxial RF Cable" which you can source on Amazon and many places for a 1/3 of what the camera "kits" charge for that cable. And, you can get them in appropriate length for where you mount and avoid having an unnecessarily long length of cable bundled up and tucked someplace. 3', 10', 25' etc. When sourcing the appropriate length, make sure you get female/female and not female/male.

 

[toximus]

Ordered! Ended up being only $218.03 out the door for everything.

 

[Chadx]

Found this on Rostra's direct site. They do make different kits depending on year, but it doesn't explain why (camera different size or resolution? Housing different is different, but not sure why.
https://www.rostra.com/ford-superduty-360-around-view-camera-relocation.php

So, for '23 and '23, these are the rostra kits:
250-8701-H - Camera housing only. You supply the camera and "RG58 Fakra Z Female to Fakra Z Female Coaxial RF Cable" cable.

250-8701 - kit with housing and cable only (no camera). beware, the number are very similar with only the 0 and 1 swapped.

250-8710 - full kit with housing, cable and camera:

https://www.mnrelectronics.com/250-...0-non-360-view-digital-camera-relocation-kit/

 

[TRAMPER]

@Chadx

Do you have your Supertramp???????

 

[Chadx]

@Chadx

Do you have your Supertramp???????

Indeed! Absolutely great morning, today, at Supertramp Campers. Install went FAST and we bombed out of there to make it 2/5 of the way home today as we are trying to beat a storm rolling in mid day tomorrow. Found a spot along the North Platte River southwest of Casper, WY and will get an early start in the morning.

More photos and updates this weekend, but for now, here is ol' number 95:

 

[TRAMPER]

What a cool color combo that is!!

 

[Chadx]

Thanks @TRAMPER. STC experience the same thing as I do which is that the Ford Glacier Gray Tricoat Metallic paint really messes with a camera's auto-color balance. I have yet to take a photo of it that doesn't make it much more blue than it does to the naked eye. I'm going to color correct my photos before I post them in an effort to display it more accurately. But I am extremely happy with how they blend. All my worry was for nothing and I'm glad that my wife and the owner of the Battleship Gray STC that met us both thought they matched great and got me off the fence to or Battleship Gray camper.

When we arrived home yesterday, we beat the storm by enough that I was able to pop the top, pull out the mattress and cushions, open all windows, vents, cabinets and bench storage, remove the honeycomb shelves over the water tank and our side storage, and let everything air out for a few hours. Like others have mentioned, the off-gassing of the fiberglass, honeycomb panels, cushions, etc. is rather powerful so I decided to give it all a change to air out a bit immediately.

We had STC throw in 8 to 10 gallons of water for the drive home so I could wash hands, test water heater, gray water tanks, etc. Was pleasantly surprised by how quiet the water pump was compared to our last camper. I think some of that has to do with the fact that the Truma Combi holds 2.64 gallons (10 liters) and acts like a little accumulator tank and buffers things compared to the Truma AquaGo instant hot water heater which only held 0.35 gallon (1.3 liter). Trade-off being the Combi will take 10 - 20 minutes to make hot water compared to about 1 minute of the AquaGo. I'll know more after our next outing, but probably won't replace water pump or add mini accumulator tank since the water pump noise seems quite acceptable.

Emptying graywater tank, emptying water tank and winterizing were a piece of cake. Love the gravity-fed winterization with no need to pump in RV Antifreeze. Can winterize and de-winterize on a case by case basis quick and easy. Going to be winter here for a while yet (18F tonight) so didn't want to have to keep things heated since our next use will likely be our mid-April UT trip. I'll flush out the water tank/plumbing again, but STC said they did it twice already. Nice touch on their part. I did plug in the Truma Combi Plus to test the electric-only heat. Worked great last night with the camper closed up but pop-top left up position. Kept camper 50F overnight when shop was down to about 20F. Kill-A-Watt meter says it used 2 kilowatts to do so. On Level 1 electric-only setting, the Combi draws about 800watts when running. Draws about 1,700watts on Level 2, but I didn't test that. Plan to today for a short period, but that is too many amps to leave on a circuit long term. Test will be fine. And level

 

[Chadx]

Here is an image dump from the last few days across 3 States:

 

[TRAMPER]

How’s that little giant as a means of entry/ egress?

 

[Chris-DTA]

@Chadx Congrats. Looks great!!!!!!

 

[Chadx]

How’s that little giant as a means of entry/ egress?

Needs one more step expected. The three step Little Giant Safety Step is what we used for the FWC and OEV CAMP-X and it was perfect for those on the Tundra. We knew the Supertramp on a Superduty would require another step, but wanted to wait until we have it to decide how to implement. Your Brody steps are great, but we often have bike rack or trailer or are going on trails where departure angle is critical. Unfortunately, the Little Giant won't fit in the rear camper slide out tray; stool width is too wide by an inch+. For this trip, we put it where we've always stowed it; vertically in the backseat behind the passenger seat. The 3 step fits there but the 4 step will be too tall.

Right now, the two leading ideas are staying with the 3 step stool and finding or having made a single receiver hitch step to be the forth step. I have a combination receiver hitch extension and 2.5" to 2" reducer that I could have a Brody step, or similar, welded to. That would give us a stable forth step and we could continue to use our existing 3 step step stool which I've found handy to move and use around the camper and camp. The 3 step will then fit in the back seat. The other stool storage location we are considering is the rear molle panel. It can handle 50lb and the 3 step is 20lb and 4 step is 27lb. Could put some brackets to hold the vertical weight and then strap in the ladder against it soundly. Could do the 3 or 4 step if that is the case.

I may also look for a different model or brand step stool that fits in side the rear camper tray. If that is found, we may go 4 step stool in there.

For a brief moment, I also considered the mod to remove the outer/rear legs of the stool to leave only the collapsible steps which would mount to a bracket by the door, but then the stool could only be used there and not free-standing. (Below is one of many videos where someone modified a stool in such a way). And if we went that route, could just as well do the Torklift Smartstep, Brophy scissor steps or similar.

Until we decide, the 3 step is adequate. That last step is just a doozy.

Example video for modding:

 

[PJPVI]

Here is an image dump from the last few days across 3 States:

That is an absolutely beautiful setup! I love the color combo.

 

[gmoon]

This is how I get in trouble -

1. Come up with a theoretically awesome idea for a battery mount using scrap bits I already have that costs me nothing.
2. Realize that in practice, idea is not awesome.
3. Pivot with a quick fix that, yeah, costs money, but isn't too terrible.
4. Notice while browsing for a battery that Victron has really lowered their pricing from what it used to be.
5. Notice that they also now have a 330Ah battery that looks quite small.
6. Wait, two of those would fit the battery tray in the trailer. And then I could use one of the old ones in the truck!
7. $3,500.00 later....

Depending on the model some Victron batteries require external BMS which is such a pain. I also prefer to have internal heating, but if you dont travel to cold climates its less of an issue. At all of the Distributor meetings I keep telling Victron to PLEASE add internal heating but they dont have the desire.

 

[gmoon]

Here is an image dump from the last few days across 3 States:

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Looks awesome! Congrats on the inaugural trip!

 

[Andrade]

I knew I had seem this truck somewhere.. I follow you on YT! great looking machine!

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[Ejl04]

Just finished reading all 53 pages. Damn, that’s a lot of great info. It’s amazing seeing thoughtful and logical discussion's on the internet.

I’m in the market to upgrade my pop top from a FWC Fleet to a Supertramp or OEV Backcountry. I currently have a ‘18 Tundra DC with a HD Dobinsons Lift/Leafs, 35” E-rated Duratracs and airbags. It handles the camper decent (2000+lbs with full gear, water, racks, and bikes), but rides like a pogo stick with the camper off, which is usually the case during the winter. It also feels like I’m pulling anchor when on the highway. I’m regeared with 5.29’s.

That leads me to looking at a Superduty for whichever camper I’m going with. I don’t love that it’s getting longer and taller, but I definitely look forward to less driving fatigue on long trips. So my questions are:

- Is the Tremor package worth it if I end up changing suspension components to Carli or One Up and Deaver? I’ll miss the limited slip front, but not sure if I really need the extra off road modes. I’ve always had sliders on my rigs, but I do like the idea of Amp Research steps for my wife with this rig. Edit: I would love to keep the suspension as stock as possible.
2nd edit: forgot to mention that Sumo’s look to be a good option to replace factory bumps and leave the factory leafs in place.

- I’m out in Central Oregon and often travel around the West on a lot of long washboard roads. How do you feel the Tremor handles those unloaded? Upgrading the suspension would make it more compliant, but then do you lose the ride quality when loaded? I’m not expecting a smooth ride, just don’t want it to be teeth rattling insane like my current setup.

- Thinking about the Lariat Ultimate for the Adaptive Cruise and added safety features. Can’t believe those are not standard in Lariat or XLT Premium.

Here’s a pic of the current rig. If it were just me, I might keep the Tundra, soften the suspension and put a SuperPacific up top.