Wolfbox rear cam installed inside 3rd brake light assembly

[robmock]

Wanted Wolfbox G900 Dash Cam for 3 reasons: blind spot mitigation, better view of cargo, and rear view with tailgate down.

Took me forever to install it because I hate hate hate the way it looks as an exterior installation; it looks like an afterthought to me. My eyes go right to them like a magnet, which is odd for me because I don't normally care about the way vehicles (mine or other folks') look.

Anyway, one day it hit me that maybe I could install it inside the 3rd brake light assembly. I asked an AI and it said yup, it'll fit. As an experiment, I ordered a $28 Nilight replacement brake light off Amazon. It is smoked, which helps hide the camera inside the unit. User Dave O did make a mention/question about this idea here, but I didn't see any followup by anyone.

Used a Dremel to chop out space for the camera. Black urethane roof sealant holds camera in place. Yes, this was a no-going-back sort of experiment. Worth noting that in chopping out some of the guts, I did lose (cover) 2 of the 6 red brake leds. The 4 remaining are plenty bright, and I'm not concerned about violating a DOT rule about # of lumens here. I like that the finished job looks 'intentional' and it disappears from notice. I do need to get a pic of the red lights when the brakes are on; 2 on each side of the camera hole, so it looks balanced.

The results? I'm delighted! I had originally thought about installing camera inside the cab, but the tinting costs too much light for my liking. See post here. Did I do a perfect job? Alas, no. While the urethane was curing (for a week), I failed to notice that I placed the camera a tiny bit off-center: see red arrow in above pic for the area I lost on that. I could bevel that edge of the hole and likely recover that area, but I'm guessing future me isn't going to do that. Walking around the truck, no one notices this; it looks perfect to passersby.

Lastly, a list of some thoughts

• Just connected it a day ago, so no idea yet if water will get captured in the camera hole. This may be an argument to bevel that outer edge.
• This video was great for getting up to the headliner via the passenger side C pillar. Only needed to do one side.
• Once the stock brake light is out, you can see 2 white "cones". These are a sort of clip you'll need to release. Squeeze them with needle-nose to release. You may need to rotate them (also with needle-nose) before you can squeeze them.
• Once I was done, it hit me that I really should have looked around for an extension M/F wire to get access to the brake assembly plug. As it stands now, if I want to put the stock light back in, I'll need to fiddle with the C pillar trim & headliner again because there is no other way to reach it. Adding a 6" extender in there would have been a great idea.
  

Edit 10/6 to add nighttime pics:

Also, drove through some steady (but not a real soaker) rain last week and had no issues with water droplets messing with the image

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[Glen Baker LLC]

Freaking slick.

It's always good to have a front and rear cam recording.


For those that say, 'Oh I have a rear view mirror.'
Your rear view mirror isn't recording.

 

[F150 2.7 TT user]

I chose to keep the rear camera inside the cab.

No extra tint beyond factory window. Yeah I pulled the back seat headrests for better visibility out the back.

 

[EffNo50]

I like this install ...very clean. For now I'm using the same camera that I've moved from my last vehicle, mounted inside:

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

I chose to keep the rear camera inside the cab.

No extra tint beyond factory window.

Me too.

HRG

 

[huckabeec]

Since the cargo light is the same as on some of the other Ford trucks that came with a cargo camera from the factory, I’ve wondered if that light body could be swapped out so you can use the factory looking setup on the Maverick. You’d have to finagle it a bit since the cargo camera is pointed down and the hole may need to be larger for an aftermarket camera. Just spitballing, but this setup looks great.

 

[tpollauf]

I did a similar setup BUT bought the Morimoto 3rd brake light which worked out well to where I was able to attach the rear cam on top of it. Not real crazy that is sticks up a bit (flush & recessed like what you did looks better) but our results are the same. Love the expanded view it offers. It has taken a while to adjust to looking at a monitor instead of a piece of glass/mirror

 

[Khrome83]

That is sick work. Love the idea. I ended up going with FITCAMX because I want to eventually replace my mirror with one from a Subaru forester or similar (compass, auto dimming, home link) but i thought about doing something similar for a long time.

As for the hole, I wonder how you could seal it off.

 

[EffNo50]

...As for the hole, I wonder how you could seal it off.

from the OP "Black urethane roof sealant holds camera in place"

 

[robmock]

Howdy, and thanks

As for the hole, I wonder how you could seal it off.

The camera is also glued directly to the rear face of the housing all the way around the hole with urethane roof sealer. I'm pretty confident (a risky way to begin a sentence, for sure) no water will get past that opening for the life of the truck

 

[Cancunbadlands]

Great quality

 

[notfast]

Wanted Wolfbox G900 Dash Cam for 3 reasons: blind spot mitigation, better view of cargo, and rear view with tailgate down.

I plan on getting the same dash cam, mostly because my topper has no windows at all. I'm used to not having a rearview mirror but when I found out about the Wolfbox, I figured it seems like a much better use of space to have both a view of the rear on a screen combined with a rear dash cam than a rearview mirror with a view of nothing. My intent is to install the rear camera above the rear license plate.

 

[boatfixer27]

I have the Wolfbox mounted in the holder above the 3rd Brakelight, the only issue is on dewy mornings is visibility sucks until I go down the highway for 5 miles, unless I wipe it with a microfiber cloth before driving off. If I had to do it again I think I would have mounted it inside.

 

[Retro1]

I have the Wolfbox mounted in the holder above the 3rd Brakelight, the only issue is on dewy mornings is visibility sucks until I go down the highway for 5 miles, unless I wipe it with a microfiber cloth before driving off. If I had to do it again I think I would have mounted it inside.

That's exactly what I was thinking when contemplating where to mount it. I already have one foggy rearview camera lens.

 

[GduB]

I did a similar setup BUT bought the Morimoto 3rd brake light which worked out well to where I was able to attach the rear cam on top of it. Not real crazy that is sticks up a bit (flush & recessed like what you did looks better) but our results are the same. Love the expanded view it offers. It has taken a while to adjust to looking at a monitor instead of a piece of glass/mirror

What camera did you use in that? I’ve wanted this 3rd brake light for awhile now but before I knew about Wolfbox I had already invested in the Rexing rearview dash cam. From what I can remember, it didn’t seem like the Rexing camera would fit inside this light mount. I ended up mounting mine to my backrack for a few years, but just recently found a cheap 3D printed bracket off Amazon that just screws onto the factory light with the factory mounting screws.

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