Build Chicken's GX

[stupidchicken03]

Made the first section of harness.
Male plug end will obviously plug into the port next to the 7-pin connector.
The other end of this will follow the trailers 7-pin wire harness up under to the trailer underside. I used stranded cable to make it flexible and easy to move around. Under the trailer Ill solder connections to solid copper wire (the sprinkler manifold loom) and run it the length of the trailer from the underside. Run it up the rear of the trailer to the roof and to the camera.

Ill put some wire flexible sheathing over it once it's in place.

Solders each wire to each pin. Then shrink tubing over each wire. Then 1 larger piece of shrink tube over all 4 wires.

One end done.

 

[stupidchicken03]

Female port complete.

Now just need to extend the camera wires in the back of the GX to the underside and put the other side of the weatherproof connector on.
Then ill test the camera to make sure everything thus far is working as it should.

 

[stupidchicken03]

Well, this is slightly annoying
When I looked up the wiring for the camera, it said there were 4 wires inside - and the connector has 4 pins. Guess it was for a different cam...
I cut open the 3rd camera wiring to prepare for extending the run in the back of the GX (to see what i was getting into) and there are only 3 wires.

So I didnt need to buy the 4 port weatherproof connectors, I already have 3 port. I didnt need to buy 5 strand comms cable, could have gotten 3 (i didnt see 4 when originally searching).

Oh well.. continuing on.

 

[stupidchicken03]

Wires passed thru the gromet under the carpet in front of the OEM jack storage.

The rearview mirror side of the Wolfbox wire harness changed colors on me.. So I pulled out the multimeter to do a continuity test to make sure everything was going to the correct terminals.

Ill I have left on the GX side of things is soldering the wires from the mirror to the wires I just passed through the gromet! Going to try and get that done after i hop off the computer. Then ill wire nut the camera to the start of the trailer harness and plug it into the GX to see if ive got video.

 

[OG Zuninja]

Is that coax I see in that cut end or is it just the jacket for those tiny wires?

 

[stupidchicken03]

Is that coax I see in that cut end or is it just the jacket for those tiny wires?

In the last pic, to the right side? If so, that was just the wire to my heat gun for all the heat shrink over the wires hehe

 

[stupidchicken03]

Well after dinner last night I popped back out into the garage. Soldered the last connections together.
Brought the trailer tongue wire harness into the garage and plugged it in before I installed everything. I just hand twisted all the wires from the 3rd cam and trailer harness together to test.

Luckily, everything is working as it should!

Got everything bolted back up under the car and all the interior back together.

Before/after

Now just have to make the under trailer harness to the roof and mount the cam to the rear of the trailer.

 

[aztoytec]

That it awesome! I love to have that even on my car trailer!

 

[OG Zuninja]

In the last pic, to the right side? If so, that was just the wire to my heat gun for all the heat shrink over the wires hehe

View attachment 4135869

I was referring to this pic but I see that isn't the case from the other post since its working as intended. I'll shut up now and crawl back under my rock. lol

 

[stupidchicken03]

I was referring to this pic but I see that isn't the case from the other post since its working as intended. I'll shut up now and crawl back under my rock. lol

Yea it was just the plug end from the Wolfbox camera

 

[stupidchicken03]

The end of the run for the rear of the trailer just buttoned up.

Now just need to pull some trim off the trailer and start running the wires - and also figure out how ill mount the camera haha.
Will mount the cam and run the wire from the rear to the tongue. Then ill just snip off the extra wire and solder the harness ive already made.
Its supposed to be 95* today, so maybe ill start on that tomorrow when its 10* cooler.



Also just dropping this here for my notes if ever needed in the future

 

[stupidchicken03]

Pulled the trim off and tested the wire to make sure it would fit in the channel below the trim - it does!
I decided to cover all the screws with some RTV just in case the trim leaks after I put the cable under it.

Got some wago connectors out to test everything. Pulled the GX out and backed it up behind the trailer.

After everything was plugged in and the camera was sitting temp in place, turned ACC power on the GX, we have video!

Just need to dial in how I want to mount the cam. Give it 24hrs for the RTV to cure, and then run the wires and put the trim back in place.

 

[stupidchicken03]

Cam mounted this morning!

it's the smaller one on bottom. Figured Ill leave the original for the wireless monitor if we ever tow with the wife's Telluride.

Ran the cable down the trim and under the trailer to the front of the box. Now just need to solder and heatshrink the connections and the project is done.

 

[stupidchicken03]

Front harness meets rear harness

I left the 4th wire (blue) on the front harness and tucked it up under the "skid plate" of the trailer. If there is anything in the future, Ive got a spare wire to the trailer from the plug on the GX.

FINISHED!

First test in 9 days

 

[Rednexus]

Very nice! That would definitely be helpful as opposed to having Mrs. Rednexus spot me while backing up .

 

[stupidchicken03]

Very nice! That would definitely be helpful as opposed to having Mrs. Rednexus spot me while backing up .

Ive got it angled so I can see about 4-5ft to the ground behind the rear trailer bumper. I could angle it down more to see the complete bumper, but id rather have more rear distance for cars driving behind us.

 

[OG Zuninja]

Very nice! That would definitely be helpful as opposed to having Mrs. Rednexus spot me while backing up .

Why do you think I installed that front facing camera in my grille? Mrs. Zuninja has an awful sense of direction and hates wearing her glasses.

 

[stupidchicken03]

One of the few pics I took all weekend lol

First time towing since the rad, hayden cooler, and cam mods.
CFS and Hayden cooler made a MASSIVE difference. Trans temps stayed really cool, even going up a crazy pass. I was not intending on using it, but temps were staying really low up till then, so I tried it. Speed limit was 55 and i was holding 40-45 basically the whole time. The pass was about 9 miles long and had grades 12-14%. Trans temp peaked at 206*

Last year one a similar, 10-13% grade, I was hitting 248*.. So big big big difference and Im really happy.

Wolfbox cam mod did fantastic. One thing I learned was that since i tapped into the reverse light on the GX, the cam on the rear license plate will automatically take over the screen as a backup cam - regardless of which you were viewing previously. Simple hack was to just unplug the rear GX cam on top of the mirror while backing up the trailer - baddabing. Also, if you have the screen displaying all 3 cams at once as a split screen, you get a deeper field of view. Still think im going to adjust the angle, but other than that, good to go.

Now I just want to get an oil change and 2-3 more qrts from the trans swapped out before our next trip in mid July.

 

[stupidchicken03]

Just filled the GX up since camping. Only driving without the trailer was this morning dropping the boys off and then to the gas station. That 12-14% grade im sure didnt help

 

[Rednexus]

8.8 mpg with a full-size trailer like you have is not bad at all! I've found staying <65 mph helps a ton with my low-profile trailer.