hitching with a backup camera...

**John in Santa Cruz** · 09-09-2023, 01:50 PM

let me say, WOW, thats SO much easier. for decades I've towed with vehicles that had no backup camera, and hitching was always a trial and error thing. 2nd time I've hitched my Escape 21 to my new-to-me 2019 Expedition, and that backup camera makes it SO easy, first try today I got the ball directly under the hitch in the sweet spot to postively latch the $#@$#@ Escape's hitch.

and, WOW this Expedition is SO much easier to maneuver than my longbed F250 was.... The Eff TwoFiddy had a 62.5 foot turning circle, curb to curb, so backing the trailer up into a tight campsite, or making U turns was really challenging. This Expy has a 42 foot circle, swooop, and you're there. I do have to be careful not to turn TOO sharply or my cargo bin can scrape a $#@$ expensive LED tail light if the road surface is uneven.

Centex · 09-09-2023, 02:13 PM

Welcome to the wonderful world of 'hitch cams'

Great to see the 'new' rig in total, John, looks sharp, congratulations!

Appears in this pic you're running an extended 'stinger' for tailgate clearance and no WDH, is that correct?

Great devices but I love a rig that doesn't need a WDH, hitch-and-go is such a breeze!

**John in Santa Cruz** · 09-09-2023, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Centex

Welcome to the wonderful world of 'hitch cams'

Great to see the 'new' rig in total, John, looks sharp, congratulations!

Appears in this pic you're running an extended 'stinger' for tailgate clearance and no WDH, is that correct?

Great devices but I love a rig that doesn't need a WDH, hitch-and-go is such a breeze!

I am. Thats the 12" (or is it 14") ball mount I'd gotten so my F250's tailgate would clear the jack handle... I'm leaving it on the Expedition for now, as it increases how tight I can turn before smacking the $1000 LED tail lights and to turn the rig around in my driveway requires a pretty tight U turn, I have about 50 x 50 feet to make said U turn, and I do NOT want to back out into the road out front, people come around a blind turn going way too fast.

Bea · 09-09-2023, 06:15 PM

Congrats again on your new Expy! We love ours!! The Back up camera is nice, isn't it?! I just wish ours was HD - maybe yours is HD? As for turning radius, yup, it's very good - almost too good. When backing up and turning, gotta really watch that angle closely! Oh, and if you happen to accidentally back up too close and break a tail light - the Ford dealer in Smithers BC has them in stock and for a very reasonable price!

If interested here are some upgrades we did to our Expy:

Tow mirrors. The original ones were OK...but I found it hard to see all the way down the trailer on both sides - so we used clip-on tow mirrors until we found this: https://www.1aauto.com/2015-17-ford-...6/i/1amrp01678 Not sure if these will fit on your 2019 but if they do, they are worth every penny.

Coil Spring Stiffeners. We installed something like this:https://realtruck.com/p/supersprings...ng-stiffeners/ We like the support this gives since we primarily haul camping gear vs people in the back. The ride is still very comfortable.

Moved the exhaust pipe location. When hitching up, we did not like that the exhaust was right in our faces (

) so we took it down to our local muffler shop and they easily switched the location to the side. Now we can let it warm up while we hook up without being overcome with fumes.

Spare tire. It said it came with a 'full size spare' but it wasn't! Since we primarily tow with it we changed our spare out with an exact match to the other tires. We also upgraded all our tires from Passenger tires to truck tires (P to E).

Metal Stems. With the truck tires, we run the PSI higher so we installed metal stems for a TPMS for the Expy (as well as the trailer). Nice to know where ALL the tires are at!

Mucram · 09-09-2023, 06:17 PM

I finally upgraded to a 4runner w backup camera. What a game changer for hitching!

Pauly D · 09-09-2023, 06:51 PM

That's a very nice set up indeed! Thanks for sharing.

The backup camera in our 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee (high altitude trim) works well for helping me find that "sweet spot" when hitching. This Jeep seems to have a bit more roll after parking then our 08 Jeep Commander, which we used to tow our previous trailer, a 1979 Trillium 4500, so this takes a little getting used to.

One thing I learned to do recently was go into backup camera settings and turn off the lines that are designed to help in gauging direction and distance, and this has helped greatly. There was an annoying broken line down the middle of the camera, intended I suppose to help in lining up with the coupler, but it actually blocked the view. With these lines turned off, the view is sharper and more accurate.

**John in Santa Cruz** · 09-09-2023, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bea

...Tow mirrors. The original ones were OK...but I found it hard to see all the way down the trailer on both sides - so we used clip-on tow mirrors until we found this: https://www.1aauto.com/2015-17-ford-...6/i/1amrp01678 Not sure if these will fit on your 2019 but if they do, they are worth every penny.
...

I had TrailRidge mirrors on my 2002 F250, absolutely awesome, they were based on the 2008 SuperDuty mirrors, but wired for the 2002 1st gen SuperDuty.

But, no, I don't think those work on my 2019.... 2017 Expedition was 3rd gen, 2018-2021 is 4th gen, and there's probably a ton of differences. My mirrors have the down-looking cameras for the '360 degree' view, which is awesome when you're parking this big beast in a tight space. And the mirrors are power retract, AND have turn signals on them AND are defrosting. Yes, my Limited Stealth Edition has nearly all the bells and whistles. It has electronic controlled suspension dampers (shock absorbers), which do an amazing job of taming the otherwise rough ride of the 22" /45 series wheels.

Centex · 09-09-2023, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

.... My mirrors have the down-looking cameras for the '360 degree' view, which is awesome when you're parking this big beast in a tight space. ....

Oh yeah, you're enjoying the almost* full-suite of Ford's latest cam technology.

"Ain't it great!"

*maybe lacking integrated support for trailer-mounted rear cam

Randy in Maine · 09-09-2023, 08:31 PM

I painted a thin vertical white line (using white nail polish) on the hitch to allow me to see it clearly while backing up. $1 well spent.

**John in Santa Cruz** · 09-09-2023, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Centex

Oh yeah, you're enjoying the almost* full-suite of Ford's latest cam technology.

"Ain't it great!"

*maybe lacking integrated support for trailer-mounted rear cam

Yeah. My wife's daily driver is a 2016 Mercedes E350 4matic wagon for which 360 cam was an option ours doesn't have and I always wondered how it works, now I know...

**John in Santa Cruz** · 09-09-2023, 09:18 PM

And, yeah, now I wanna research trailer cm mods, hah hah

Centex · 09-09-2023, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

And, yeah, now I wanna research trailer cm mods, hah hah

I think some Superduty's with SYNC3 similar to yours supported the Ford Accessory integrated trailer cam (and trailer TPMS), so maybe there's hope there with some DIY module re-programming (FORScan) and harness mods.

Otherwise methinks you're looking for an aftermarket solution to get another cam to display on the SYNC3 screen.

My F150 has SYNC4 (Ford released that in 2021), so getting the Ford Accessory integrated trailer cam (and trailer TPMS) to work with it was a different challenge; likely nothing I learned in doing that would be of any help to you. But yes, it's swell if you can get there!

I'm sure you'll find all the possibilities discussed on Expy forums, Have Fun and Good Luck!

**MrLynn** · 09-10-2023, 06:29 AM

My 2013 Expy has a tiny backup-camera image that appears in the mirror—pretty useless for hitching. But I recently bought a wireless magnetic camera and monitor. I put the camera on the top of the frame with the liftgate open and the monitor on the dash, and it gives me a great view of the hitch and trailer. Still have my wife guide the last few inches, though.

**John in Santa Cruz** · 09-10-2023, 08:02 AM

The gen 4 Expedition body is all aluminum, so nothing magnetic sticks to it.

**MrLynn** · 09-10-2023, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

The gen 4 Expedition body is all aluminum, so nothing magnetic sticks to it.

As is my liftgate, but open that up and there's a panel or beam across the top inside that is steel. Magnet snaps onto that with alacrity.

**SageRpod** · 09-10-2023, 04:59 PM

Not as exciting as all of the tech on the latest and great vehicles, but still exciting to me; Linda hitched up the 5.0 100% by herself today. She placed the Andersen ball right under the cup as if she had been doing it all her life. Only got out of the cab once! Really proud of her!

**John in Santa Cruz** · 09-11-2023, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SageRpod

Not as exciting as all of the tech on the latest and great vehicles, but still exciting to me; Linda hitched up the 5.0 100% by herself today. She placed the Andersen ball right under the cup as if she had been doing it all her life. Only got out of the cab once! Really proud of her!

sherminator · 09-11-2023, 10:07 AM

I purchased a 2017 Expedition XLT almost a year ago and have found it to be an excellent tow vehicle for us. I do wish my 4" dash monitor was larger because in the picture the ball and hitch are hard to separate, even when zoomed. It helped a lot when I spray painted the front part of the hitch bright yellow.

John - treat those mirrors on your Expy well. My son, who was a Ford service advisor and now is a Ford body repair estimator, told me the replacement charge for those things are somewhere in the $3k range, each. I'm happy with my Trail Ridge tow mirrors (with heat & turn signals) and they were only $300 for the pair.

**John in Santa Cruz** · 09-11-2023, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sherminator

I purchased a 2017 Expedition XLT almost a year ago and have found it to be an excellent tow vehicle for us. I do wish my 4" dash monitor was larger because in the picture the ball and hitch are hard to separate, even when zoomed. It helped a lot when I spray painted the front part of the hitch bright yellow.

John - treat those mirrors on your Expy well. My son, who was a Ford service advisor and now is a Ford body repair estimator, told me the replacement charge for those things are somewhere in the $3k range, each. I'm happy with my Trail Ridge tow mirrors (with heat & turn signals) and they were only $300 for the pair.

hah, I bet. I looked them up on fordparts.com for my VIN...

note this doesn't include the top shell or a couple mounting bits but it does include the camera and motors and stuff.

RangerMan · 09-12-2023, 07:10 AM

I use a 'redneck' solution to this problem. I know what my trailer looks like when being towed. Using my mirrows I can see down both sides easily.

When backing up to hitch, I want it to look in my mirrows just as it does when I moving down the road. I'll stop when a few feet from the hitch and get out to check then distance to the hitch.

I leave my driver door open and watch the bottom edge of the door and the ground to judge how far back i've moved. I rarely have to adjust more than a few inches. Then there's the getting the latch down on the ball .....

I did say it was a 'redneck' solution. Works for me.

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