Love our Challenger

[oldgold]

Originally Posted by Hoosier 26

That is amazing and exactly what I want to do. Could you post a list of parts and basic instructions?

Thanks.. forgot to take pics along the way. I'll swing by storage sometime this week and post. It was actually pretty simple. I'll probably make a new thread for it. If you're in a hurry PM me your email.

[SuperD]

That monitor looks great!!! I second Hoosier, would you please post a list of what's needed and how you installed please! I hate my radio monitor, to far out of sight line, have to lean over to see it, terrible picture. Did you change the rear camera?

[oldgold]

Originally Posted by Hoosier 26

That is amazing and exactly what I want to do. Could you post a list of parts and basic instructions?

The other idea I had was to install a camera inside pointed at the rear of the coach to watch the kids on the couch. I would keep my phone mirrored on the Axxera and have the inside camera on the 4th feed.

I'm not sure how to get HDMI hooked to this screen to get my phone to work yet.

[oldgold]

Originally Posted by SuperD

That monitor looks great!!! I second Hoosier, would you please post a list of what's needed and how you installed please! I hate my radio monitor, to far out of sight line, have to lean over to see it, terrible picture. Did you change the rear camera?

Didn't change cameras. There is a video switch under the dash that I grabbed the wires before it went into. Hooked power to supply side for the dash fans. That was about it. If I had known everything beforehand this would have been a 30 minute mod. I'll post more soon.

[oldgold]

I bought everything from www.rearviewsafety.com. Here is the parts list from them. Also you will need 18ga butt connectors.




I tied the power supply into the incoming power wires to the dash fan switch. This makes the screen only power up when the RV is running or in the on position and it was the easiest to steal power from.

Unplug the wiring harness to the dash fans. Crank up the RV and use a volt meter to test which wires are hot. My wires were two of the multi color wires. Make sure you have correct polarity. Turn RV off double check with volt meter to make sure no volts before cutting. Cut wires about a foot away from the switch and tap into them with the power leads on the wiring harness for the screen. Once tied back together, make sure your dash fans still work.


On the back of the Axxera there is a video cable. Follow it backwards till you locate a black box with 4 inputs and one output. This is the video switch box. It is about the size of a deck of cards.

Unplug the 3 video feeds at the ASA connections. Note which ones are CA 1,2,&3. On my unit CA1 was left, CA2 was right and CA3 was rear. You might have to switch them back around if the wires are mislabeled or different. Plug the incoming video feeds into the screen harness using the adapters which are 5 round female to ASA female. At this point you can turn on the screen and make sure your feeds are the correct camera label on screen. Turn it back off.

Next, the 4th cable hitting the switch box is the trigger wire set. Follow it out from the switch box to the backside of a connector plug. There will be multi color wires before the connector and should be labeled CA 1,2,&3 as well. On my unit, the wire colors actually matched the colors on the screen harness. Hopefully they will on all units. Cut these 3 wires. Use a butt connector to attach each of them to their corresponding video trigger wire on the harness.

Power on the screen and TEST, TEST, TEST!!!

The blinkers on the RV should trigger the corresponding side camera. Shifting the RV to reverse should trigger the rear camera.

I unplugged the harness from the screen and then ran the cord thru the hole just above the left corner of the Axxera. This way you don't have to drill thru the dash cap.

Mount the bracket arm. I chose the flat spot just above right of the HDMI port. MAKE SURE THERE IS NOTHING BEHIND IT BEFORE YOU SCREW ON THE BASE!! I installed the screen on the bracket arm with the thumb turn facing down so you can get to it to tighten.

That should be it. Congratulations, you now don't have a crappy Axxera as an issue anymore for video feeds!! Lmao... Let me know if y'all have any questions... I tried to be fairly thorough. I highly suggest looking under the dash before ordering everything. As much as manufacturers switch stuff around, it would be a PITA to get all this stuff and not have the correct adapters, etc.

I'll try to get some more pics to go along with this soon.

[Huck]

Originally Posted by gmc

Interesting on the CVT - as Subaru seemed to stop allowing flat tow when they went to CVT... Possible for other reasons then...

The Jeep is a great toad - but it isn't known for it fuel economy or nice smooth ride... No substitute when you need it - but mileage in low teens and harsh loud ride.

Sounds like you want a permanent installed brake system and lights... As mentionsed earlier in thread - Invisibrake certainly fits the category for brakes. There are kits available that allow powering the vehicle lights from RV - while still isolating the systems (diodes).

I don't think you have driven a jeep made within the last decade...LOL I have a 2012 Jeep Wrangler 4 door and on the highway I usually get around 25 mpg. When I had my hardtop on it was just as quiet as any other truck I have had, and with the all terrains that it came with it was a pretty smooth ride too. Of course now that it's lifted 4" and has mud terrains and a soft top it's a little more noisy and rough, but around town (because we don't have many highways in Hawaii) I still get 18/19 mpg. The worst gas mileage I've ever gotten was around 13 mpg and that was while off-roading in four wheel drive all day. I haven't gotten an RV yet, but am pretty certain that I will get a Thor if for no other reason than the 8000 lbs hitch LOL. I'm pretty sure my jeep tow weight will be at or above 5000 lbs when I put the hard top on it to ship it off this island.

[Hoosier 26]

Finally set for my appointment to get the toad ready. I purchased a 2017 Ford Fusion Energi Titanium. It will be outfitted with a Blue Ox base plate next Wednesday and then I will pick up the car with the Challenger so they can get it all set up right. Local RV 4 Wheel drive center that does performance mods seems to be best qualified in my area to do the work. Reasonable price and experienced techs. The rest of the set up includes the Blue Ox Alpha tow bar, the Blue Ox Patriot II brake system and the Blue Ox accessory kit. I'll post a follow-up next week to let you know how it ends up.

[oldgold]

Originally Posted by Hoosier 26

Finally set for my appointment to get the toad ready. I purchased a 2017 Ford Fusion Energi Titanium. It will be outfitted with a Blue Ox base plate next Wednesday and then I will pick up the car with the Challenger so they can get it all set up right. Local RV 4 Wheel drive center that does performance mods seems to be best qualified in my area to do the work. Reasonable price and experienced techs. The rest of the set up includes the Blue Ox Alpha tow bar, the Blue Ox Patriot II brake system and the Blue Ox accessory kit. I'll post a follow-up next week to let you know how it ends up.

Congrats! Post some pics! I just finished up the jeep over the last few weeks. Did my post of the camera monitor install make any sense? I can take pics today or tomorrow of the wiring if y'all need it. Let me know if you get started and have any questions.

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Hoosier 26

Finally set for my appointment to get the toad ready. I purchased a 2017 Ford Fusion Energi Titanium. It will be outfitted with a Blue Ox base plate next Wednesday and then I will pick up the car with the Challenger so they can get it all set up right. Local RV 4 Wheel drive center that does performance mods seems to be best qualified in my area to do the work. Reasonable price and experienced techs. The rest of the set up includes the Blue Ox Alpha tow bar, the Blue Ox Patriot II brake system and the Blue Ox accessory kit. I'll post a follow-up next week to let you know how it ends up.

Great! Now you can pick up one extra accessory: A Clipper Creek LCS-20P EVSE (charge cable) for 50A circuits. Using this cable you can charge up your Energi in 2 hours or less (from completely empty). I have one for my C-Max for use at campgrounds. Note that you may have to do a little surgery on the plug to make it work in 50A plugs at campgrounds.

Granted if you aren't in as much of a hurry you can use the one that comes with the car (which plugs into a regular 15A 120V outlet).

[Hoosier 26]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

Great! Now you can pick up one extra accessory: A Clipper Creek LCS-20P EVSE (charge cable) for 50A circuits. Using this cable you can charge up your Energi in 2 hours or less (from completely empty). I have one for my C-Max for use at campgrounds. Note that you may have to do a little surgery on the plug to make it work in 50A plugs at campgrounds.



Granted if you aren't in as much of a hurry you can use the one that comes with the car (which plugs into a regular 15A 120V outlet).

Great idea! I wondered about that possibility. Many campgrounds we have seen have 50 Amp/30 Amp plus a couple of 110 outlets. Do you know what the result/benefit of using the empty 30 amp plug would be? I'm no electrician. I know enough not to attempt things that might end my life if I mess up. LOL[emoji41]

[JamieGeek]

Originally Posted by Hoosier 26

Great idea! I wondered about that possibility. Many campgrounds we have seen have 50 Amp/30 Amp plus a couple of 110 outlets. Do you know what the result/benefit of using the empty 30 amp plug would be? I'm no electrician. I know enough not to attempt things that might end my life if I mess up. LOL

The best I think you can do using the 30 amp plug would be this guy. It would supply 20amps to the car--you'd have to put the proper end on the cable to plug into the campground's 30 amp connector (actually a pretty easy thing to do--I made my own adapter for my Clipper Creek Level 2 unit for a campground's 50a plug. You can get all the parts at Home Depot).
Given a completely "empty" battery that would likely charge up a Fusion Energi in about 3.5 hours (instead of 5.5 hours from the normal Ford 120V adapter). Note that using the 50a plug and the LCS-20p would take only 2 hours to charge to full. You do have to be careful on a hot day though, LOL.

[carboss]

Originally Posted by bigben

So we've had our Challenger 37TB for 10 months and 15,500. Been coast to coast, dry camped for 2 months and have found all the features on our coach to be great. Yep we've had some issues - goes hand in hand with the first year of ownership - but gotta say its been great.

With all the time we've spent dry camping in our coach the 100 gals of fresh water and the 80/80 of black/gray is tremendous. We've got a washer and dryer on board, added two batteries (total of 4) and rearranged some of the storage and DW takes a nice hot shower ever day - it all works.

When you look at lots of other coaches out there, as we look around at some of the things others have to do to dry camp - the Challenger is a home run. We have quiet time from 11 PM - 7 Am - rig runs my CPAP, residential fridge and whatever else without issue.

So - I guess we've got a gasser - some even call it an entry level - it's not a DP but better than most DP relative to storage, water and on board amenities.

We'd like a bit more room in the front and may put in some recliners but gotta say - bang for the buck - NICE.

I've just ordered 37yt. It's a 2018 and will be in in may. 2018 has zero options everything is standard. Just adding satellite washer/dryer. Heavy duty sway bars and 5 star tuning.

[Techn0]

Originally Posted by carboss

I've just ordered 37yt. It's a 2018 and will be in in may. 2018 has zero options everything is standard. Just adding satellite washer/dryer. Heavy duty sway bars and 5 star tuning.

Congratulations. I would recommend adding a surge protector to protect all your electronics and possibly the Safe T Plus steering stabilizer. You could also save some money by just doing the Cheap Handling Fix (CHF) for the say bars.

[carboss]

What is safety plus steering system and what does it cost. I already have a very good surge protection

[Hoosier 26]

Originally Posted by carboss

What is safety plus steering system and what does it cost. I already have a very good surge protection

Safety plus is a steering stabilizer. It keeps the steering from reacting too quickly to input from road surface or most importantly a front tire blow out. The side effect is that it makes the steering more precise. A lot less vague feeling and wandering on center with this device. Less driver fatigue from the constant battle to keep the coach tracking straight down the lane.

Price is generally around 550.00 for the parts. Camping World installed mine for free as a part of my purchase deal.

I think this is an important safety issue with some great benefits for the drivability of the coach.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

[carboss]

Originally Posted by Hoosier 26

Safety plus is a steering stabilizer. It keeps the steering from reacting too quickly to input from road surface or most importantly a front tire blow out. The side effect is that it makes the steering more precise. A lot less vague feeling and wandering on center with this device. Less driver fatigue from the constant battle to keep the coach tracking straight down the lane.

Price is generally around 550.00 for the parts. Camping World installed mine for free as a part of my purchase deal.

I think this is an important safety issue with some great benefits for the drivability of the coach.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Great thanks. Will definitely have it installed. I'm also installing 5 star tuning. The reviews are stellar.

[oldgold]

I still have all of my fingers.. CHF done today on our TL. Took it out for a test spin, you can feel the difference, but now needing a realignment. Started to pull slightly rightward. Definitely worth the hour or two and risk of finger injury.

[carboss]

I'm having dealer do everything ��

[oldgold]

Originally Posted by carboss

I'm having dealer do everything ��

What's the fun in that?!? Lol. It's much more rewarding slamming your hands up into a leaf spring trying to torque a bolt.

[rcmark]

I thought I would post this here. A couple of weeks ago I took our 2017 Challenger to Phoenix and on the way there the check engine light came on. Panic set in slightly so I had to wait till I got home to take it in to the Ford dealer. Come to find out there is an overspeed sensor and it is pre-programed to go on when the rv is driven over 68 mph. Just fyi .....