Making Hitching Up Easier
We are prepping for our cross-country trip this year. We will cover a little more than 6,000 miles, pulling our 32' TT with a Ford E-350 Extended van. The only real issue I had (other than paying for gas) was the wobbly nature of my 50'+ combination.
I've had a Reese dual-cam setup for a couple years, and it has done a decent job, but I decided to bite the bullet in advance of this trip, and get a Hensley Arrow hitch, and completely eliminate the sway factor. Fortunately, I found a used hitch on eBay, and was able to set it up without much difficulty.
I was warned, in advance that connecting up to the hitch was one of the (if the only) problem with using the Hensley. This trip will include unhooking/hooking almost every night, I knew I needed a reliable way to get the job done.
Since I had already installed a backup cam on the van, I decided to reposition the camera portion, to use it to ease the daily chore of hitching up.
I mounted the camera portion of the backup cam to the bumper, directly above the hitch mount, and angled down a bit. The wireless viewer is mounted on the dash. The camera instructions suggest connecting the power to the backup lights, but I connected the camera to the tail lights so it comes on whenever the van's lights are on.
Here is a video of the backup process, as seen through the viewer on my dash. I was taking the video with one hand, while backing up, which accounts for the sloppy camera work. However, at no time was I actually watching the back end of the van, nor did I have any help.
I've had a Reese dual-cam setup for a couple years, and it has done a decent job, but I decided to bite the bullet in advance of this trip, and get a Hensley Arrow hitch, and completely eliminate the sway factor. Fortunately, I found a used hitch on eBay, and was able to set it up without much difficulty.
I was warned, in advance that connecting up to the hitch was one of the (if the only) problem with using the Hensley. This trip will include unhooking/hooking almost every night, I knew I needed a reliable way to get the job done.Since I had already installed a backup cam on the van, I decided to reposition the camera portion, to use it to ease the daily chore of hitching up.
I mounted the camera portion of the backup cam to the bumper, directly above the hitch mount, and angled down a bit. The wireless viewer is mounted on the dash. The camera instructions suggest connecting the power to the backup lights, but I connected the camera to the tail lights so it comes on whenever the van's lights are on.
Here is a video of the backup process, as seen through the viewer on my dash. I was taking the video with one hand, while backing up, which accounts for the sloppy camera work. However, at no time was I actually watching the back end of the van, nor did I have any help.
posted by Scott at
10:23 AM
Scott Koegler is a technology writer with way too many gadgets, even in his
RV. He is journaling his travels this year in this Digital RVer blog at RVtravel.com, but you can also
follow him on Twitter (http://twitter.com/scottkoegler) and BrightKite
(http://brightkite.com/people/
4 Comments:
Excellent, helpful idea. Nice touch painting the hitch box opening red to provide some contrast for your camera.
By
Sean Woodruff, at May 29, 2008 12:42 PM
Excellent idea. I will have to show this to DH because he has mentioned doing this. We too have a Hensley and although we work well together using walkie talkies, sometimes the alignment, or lack of it, requires us to try it again.
By
ReneeG, at June 7, 2008 5:32 PM
These wireless backup cameras are a nice addition. However, from direct experience I can say you need to be aware that some of the wireless cameras are on the same frequency as wireless networks and can completely block out wireless network transmissions under the right conditions. I know as I am a desktop support person at a school and we kept losing our network bridge at the same time every day. By a very convenient fluke we discovered it was a result of a mom coming to pick up her child in an SUV with a wireless backup camera. Ain't technology great?!
By
Steve, at June 9, 2008 10:20 AM
We have a 19K lb bumper pull trailer and we use PullRight hitch. When specing out the trailer, I called Hensley and they recommended I use PullRight. We have fulltimed for three years, and setting up the hitch is so easy, my 9yo can do it. I have had ABSOLUTELY no sway issues.
By
OldBlue560, at June 11, 2008 7:26 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home