rear view camera mount to go over large spare tire -- fabbed and installed

[jmg222]

Got tired of not being able to see out of my review mirror (thanks to the 35" m/t on the rear tire carrier) had rare couple of hours free this weekend , so welded up a quick-and-dirty mount for a review camera to sit on top of the tire, wired into my double-din video in -- works great! (thinking of adding in a third brake light on it):

 

[techno1154]

The video graphics look good. I like.

How do you get a double din in the XJ?

 

[jmg222]

The video graphics look good. I like.

How do you get a double din in the XJ?

Was not a pretty project.. involved cutting into the hvac ducts behind the existing radio, moving the hvac controls down and getting rid of the center vent, blocking that off, modding a standard bezel, and then I switched from horizontal mechanical hvac controls to dial mechanical hvac controls, since they were a bit shallower (which required a set of relays to convert from neg to pos edge trigger, reworking vaccuum lines, etc). I don't recommend it.

If you have a 92 or newer (or whenever they went with the new interior) , it's supposedly far, far easier, basically just modding the plastic bezel.

 

[jmg222]

heres a better pic of the double din in case you're interested:

 

[techno1154]

heres a better pic of the double din in case you're interested:

OK. I see wat you did there. Nice project. When I get my DD back on the road I may try that.

My XJ is a 1996. It should not be too difficult.

 

[thetastelingers]

Sony makes a single din unit that you don't have to do so much cutting.
Here it is molded into my 01

Pay no attention to the mismatched color. I gotta fix that soon.

 

[jmg222]

Sony makes a single din unit that you don't have to do so much cutting.
Here it is molded into my 01

I know, I didn't want one of those pull-out screens though.
you're version interior is super easy to do, I did that for one of my friends, took less than a quarter of the time as my '88. looks good too

 

[bajabronco]

Like you I couldn't see crap behind me with my 37's so I installed a rear view camera as well. My camera was one of the license plate ones - I just cut the license plate mount strip part shorter, drilled two holes , and then mounted mine directly to the spare tire with two bolts. My camera is in my rear view mirror.


Camera mounted to rear tire - I simply have to remove the two bolts if I need to ever use the spare.

Rear view camera in the mirror

Spare and camera

 

[jmg222]

looks good, I just bought a 12" full screen rearview camera to display the video. I considered putting it in the wheel itself, but have as cover over the wheel with storage/ Molle pouches, I didn't want to dive those up.

 

[jmg222]

OK. I see wat you did there. Nice project. When I get my DD back on the road I may try that.

My XJ is a 1996. It should not be too difficult.

I believe the '96 has the same interior I have.
If that's true, I don't recommend doing it... it's far, far more trouble that it's worth, requires hacking into hvac, and pulling cutting all sorts of crap inside the dash. It was miserable work. when I did it the single din head units with the pull out screens were horrible -- now, the screens are actually just as good as the Double dins. If I were going to do it all over again, I'd keep the dash stock and go with one of those.

 

[richheezee]

Like you I couldn't see crap behind me with my 37's so I installed a rear view camera as well. My camera was one of the license plate ones - I just cut the license plate mount strip part shorter, drilled two holes , and then mounted mine directly to the spare tire with two bolts. My camera is in my rear view mirror.


Camera mounted to rear tire - I simply have to remove the two bolts if I need to ever use the spare.

Rear view camera in the mirror

Spare and camera

What brand back up camera is that? I have been looking at a lot and have not pulled the trigger. Thanks.

 

[bajabronco]

The camera is an autovox - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HZM70NU/

 

[richheezee]

The camera is an autovox - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HZM70NU/

What rear view mirror did you use?

 

[jmg222]

there are a bunch of high quality, 12" , full screen 1440p (2k) mirrors on amazon.
I went with Karsuite

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W8422XM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


I went with this one because it came with cameras that use sony sensors, and also had the highest resolution screen I've seen -- 2560x1440, the screen is big, and the video fills the entire screen. Based on youtube reviews I saw, if you tilt your head in a certain way you can still see the mirror. I figured if this really is going to replace the mirror, I want something pretty big with excellent resolution, and high-quality sony cameras. Most rear cameras I've seen are 760p or worse, 640x480.

DMYCO also has a very similar spec'd system-- same sony sensors, same size mirror, same resolution .. and I think same price.

 

[techno1154]

I believe the '96 has the same interior I have.
If that's true, I don't recommend doing it... it's far, far more trouble that it's worth, requires hacking into hvac, and pulling cutting all sorts of crap inside the dash. It was miserable work. when I did it the single din head units with the pull out screens were horrible -- now, the screens are actually just as good as the Double dins. If I were going to do it all over again, I'd keep the dash stock and go with one of those.

In the past, I looked at some of those flip up screens and decided against them. I will take a look again.

 

[jmg222]

there are a bunch of high quality, 12" , full screen 1440p (2k) mirrors on amazon.
I went with Karsuite

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W8422XM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

dropped this rear view camera mirror in, impressed with it -- screen is high quality, camera is excellent (1440p resolution). Only downside is that there's no "off" switch, but it plugs in at the mirror with a standard mini usb, and I may just solder in a micro switch. Here's how the screen looks:

 

[bajabronco]

My rear view camera unit has two power on lines going into it, one is powered by the reverse lights when I put it in reverse, the second is on a switch that I have next to the shifter. I simply push the button and the backup camera turns on. It was pretty easy to setup.

 

[jmg222]

Yeah, this one has a wire that will trip from a positive edge switch (e.g. reverse lights or sinple.toggle switch), and will draw in dynamic backup lines. It also had an auto turn off feature that shuts out down after awhile if no moving video. I'd like a nice hardware switch though... amazon sells ine for $5 that is a usb extension with a built in on/off switch. Other than that minor gripe, the mirror is great.

 

[Goose_XJ88]

My rear view camera unit has two power on lines going into it, one is powered by the reverse lights when I put it in reverse, the second is on a switch that I have next to the shifter. I simply push the button and the backup camera turns on. It was pretty easy to setup.

What rear view mirror are you using?

That's a super super slick idea. Do you think that if you got a 3 pos switch and a second camera that you could put one on the front and use it like the new Jeeps?

 

[jmg222]

What rear view mirror are you using?

That's a super super slick idea. Do you think that if you got a 3 pos switch and a second camera that you could put one on the front and use it like the new Jeeps?

They pretty much all have the same thing... reverse trip wire that wires into reverse lights. I didn't wire it in, because I want it on pretty much all the time. most of them also have a wire you clip if you want the camera to include back up lanes, and another wire you clip to turn of reverse image (if you want the camera in the front)

If you want to multiplex the cameras, just get a rca mux.. amazon has tiny ones. These cameras have fairly standard outputs.. usually they're a micro 5-pin, and come with an adapter that separate it to a standard RCA video and DC input. (something like this -- though I'm sure there's something smaller out there : https://www.amazon.com/CIMPLE-CO-Se...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==)



The one I posted also has a front facing camera behind the mirror.. the mirror itself is a touch screen, swipe to the right once and it switches to front camera, swipe to the right again, and it switches to a split screen front/rear (basically the mirror is a mirror-shaped smartphone, swipe down and an options list comes up for resolution, recording (uses microsd to record) and other stuff)

I also wired in one of those tiny his res (2100x1024) under the front bumper, into my head unit to see oncoming rocks.. thinking of also putting on on t cross member facing the front diff, cameras are cheap enough won't be a big deal if it gets ripped off.

Here's the mirror showing the rear view camera, and the front view camera on the head unit:

and side-by-side mode on the mirror, streaming front and rear camera: