Nothing more fun than operating an 8 ton truck with blind spots. So I decided to invest in a camera for the sake of the small vehicles and pedestrians around me. I found a backup camera based on two criteria; ability to add additional cameras and customer reviews (4 3/4 stars and over 400 reviews on this model). This particular system can add two additional cameras for a total of three. The only part it’s missing is the ability to record which could be an advantage while it’s stored in a storage lot. Here are the items I bought to get this built.
All this fun stuff is so that I can bolt it into the custom header and make it function like a rearview mirror with firm adjustments. First and foremost, I had to cut the flat nut on the back of the “screwball” to make it fit into the back of the monitor. The one that came with it was a lot smaller (both the ball and the flat nut). Now if you want to use the mount they send you and stick it to the header or the window that’s option as well. Below you can see the difference between the two mounts and why I upgraded.
The most difficult part is running the wire, from the rear to the front. I put wire-loom on the camera cable and ran it down the passenger side rail of the truck with the rest of the wiring. I did leave about 2-3′ of wire at the rear for when I extend the back of the habitat past the length of the rails.
The best place to run the wire into the cab is on the passenger side. There is a large boot with the exterior wire running to the interior under the Power Distribution Panel. I used one of the holes that had only a few wires running into the cab and wire-loomed it together with the camera cable.
This is the boot behind the grill on the passenger side, the loom at the middle left is where I tied in the camera cable. I went ahead an placed the brain of the monitor under the fuses and wired it accordingly. I have yet to wire it into the reverse signal because I need an extra set of hands.
builtmfg.com 