Prepping Ram 2500 for Hawk question

[CreekRob]

I've got a 2023 Ram 2500 crew cab I'm putting a Hawk on. 6'4'' bed and from what I've see the Hawk will extend out a bit out from the bed and over the bumper.

Also, it appears the rear of the Hawk at the bottom has a bit of a lip extending down beneath the door.

The reason I'm asking is that I'm relocating the rear backup camera, and the exit port for the wiring is on the bed, and I'm wondering if I can access that hole once the camper is mounted. Whether the lip will press close against it, or whether the lip reaches down enough so that I can't reach in there. If anyone knows and has a similar truck/camper combo.

I can set up some wiring and tape it down temporarily, but I'd prefer to do all the routing once the camper was on, if possible.

thanks

 

[Jon R]

The camper body is 80 inches long, and it has roughly 3 inch thick bumpers on the front. The front and rear walls extend 1/16 to 1/8 inch below the bottoms of the cleat boards on the bottom of the floor tub, so the rear wall will not block openings on the rear of the bed below the bed floor level.

 

[CatButt]

You can access that part of the bed. I did my camera after the bed was installed. I used the stock camera in a plastic molded box and mounted it high on the driver side next to the door. The 360 areiel view still works just fine. I used an extension...there is a company that supplies all the stuff but I can't think of the name right now. I'll see if I can come up with it.

 

[RLS]

I'm in the same place as you CreekRob. I'll be picking up a new Hawk in a few days. Putting it on a 2021 Ram 2500 crew cab. Every photo I've come across online seems to show the Hawk extending passed the bed on the Ram 2500 w/ 6'4" bed. I'm wondering if it is possible to cut down those rubber stops on the front to allow the camper to sit further forward in the bed. That's something I will be asking the folks at Mule Outfitters on the day of install. Good luck CreekRob.

 

[CreekRob]

Thanks all. I have the camera relocation kit from Camera Source and will probably put it smack in the middle of the door. Got enough wire to easily do that.

I'm not sure about moving the Hawk up. It might mess with the angle and location of the turnbuckles. I assume the length and position of those was chosen to end up with the weight optimally set over the rear wheels, but not sure about that. One wants the turnbuckles to have opposing angles if possible. But let us know what they say RLS.

 

[Jon R]

The thing that limits whether or how much you can cut down the bumpers is the geometry of the rail at the top of the front bed wall. On my gmc the rail extends 2 inches aft of the wall where the bumpers hit, so I get about 1.5 inches of clearance with stock bumpers. You want some clearance for shifting to occur on rough roads without that front rail hitting. I’d feel comfortable reducing my clearance to about 3/4 inch, but I have no reason to reduce it with my Grandby in an 8 foot bed.

 

[RLS]

Jon R, The rail on my Ram extends out about 1 1/2 inches. Even if you can cut down those bumpers, it seems like taking off maybe an inch would not amount to much of a change out the back. Oh well.
CreekRob, sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

 

[Jon R]

Yes, the Hawk is 6’ 8” plus bumpers, so it’s going to stick out a little on a 6’ 4” bed no matter what.

I have not cut my bumpers, but there have been other threads where people have described cutting them with little difficulty.

 

[RallyRock]

I've got a 2023 Ram 2500 crew cab I'm putting a Hawk on. 6'4'' bed and from what I've see the Hawk will extend out a bit out from the bed and over the bumper.

Also, it appears the rear of the Hawk at the bottom has a bit of a lip extending down beneath the door.

The reason I'm asking is that I'm relocating the rear backup camera, and the exit port for the wiring is on the bed, and I'm wondering if I can access that hole once the camper is mounted. Whether the lip will press close against it, or whether the lip reaches down enough so that I can't reach in there. If anyone knows and has a similar truck/camper combo.

I can set up some wiring and tape it down temporarily, but I'd prefer to do all the routing once the camper was on, if possible.

thanks

I have the same setup, 2020 ram 2500 6’4” and hawk. You can access the wiring hole no issue and no need to cut the bump stops. I even mounted my camera below the lip because there is a gap between it and the bed and I didn’t want to drill into the aluminum skin.

 

[Adventurebound]

The Ram bed is not ideal for a Hawk, lengthwise. Not a deal killer by any means. I trimmed my bumpers down (on a table saw) so I'm sitting maybe a 1/4 to the front of the bed. No issues, been that way for a couple years.

I also relocated the camera to the door. 360° works just fine.

 

[trdt44]

I also cut my bumpers and have about 1/2" between the bed and the camper. Mine sits about even with my rear bumper. As mentioned there is plenty of room to access the tailgate/camera connection. The lip does not sit lower the wood strip on the underside of the camper. My turnbuckles are fine after moving it forward the 1" or so.

The Ram bed is not ideal for a Hawk, lengthwise. Not a deal killer by any means. I trimmed my bumpers down (on a table saw) so I'm sitting maybe a 1/4 to the front of the bed. No issues, been that way for a couple years.

I also relocated the camera to the door. 360° works just fine.

A couple of questions on your camera install. I am getting ready to install mine in the same location. My camera was on a tire carrier previously but I decided to ditch that. Did you run bolts through the door or just use the double sided tape? Where did you run the wire into the cab? How did you run the wire to the back of the camera? I was going to surface mount everything on the outside but yours looks so much cleaner. Any input you can provide is appreciated.

 

[Jon R]

I can offer an alternative to consider.

The camera mounting angle on my tailgate is 45 degrees, so I fabricated an enclosure for the same GM camera that is mounted in my tailgate using PVC fittings and used a FAKRA cable I bought on line. Camera was about $100, pvc fittings $6, cable about $20.

The doors on FWC models that have the optional rear wall steps have a 1.5” by 1/8” aluminum strip across the door to protect the door if it gets opened hard into a deployed step. This strip is at the same height as my tailgate camera, so I attached my pvc enclosure to that strip (really a replacement strip so I could save the original brush finished strip for a buyer who might want to restore the original configuration) and routed the camera wire behind the strip and down a groove in the door frame. It works perfect and the truck display grid lines are accurate, was cheap, and is fully reversible to original configuration.

I can give you measurements to locate the strip and provide closeups of the screw locations if you decide to use this approach. You can see where the strip mounting screws are in the frame of the door on the right side of the closeup picture. The extra holes in the strip are from a prior configuration I tried. I will eventually get a new piece of metal so it looks better but that’s low priority.

 

[Adventurebound]

I also cut my bumpers and have about 1/2" between the bed and the camper. Mine sits about even with my rear bumper. As mentioned there is plenty of room to access the tailgate/camera connection. The lip does not sit lower the wood strip on the underside of the camper. My turnbuckles are fine after moving it forward the 1" or so.


A couple of questions on your camera install. I am getting ready to install mine in the same location. My camera was on a tire carrier previously but I decided to ditch that. Did you run bolts through the door or just use the double sided tape? Where did you run the wire into the cab? How did you run the wire to the back of the camera? I was going to surface mount everything on the outside but yours looks so much cleaner. Any input you can provide is appreciated.

I drilled a hole in the door and ran the wire inside the camper door. Then used some white wire channel I picked up at the ol Home Depot and ran the wire across, bridging over the hinge to the door side, down the inside next to the door, through the floor and plugged in at the factory location at the rear of the bed.

 

[CreekRob]

My installation looks very much like ramblinChet's; it's in the exact same space on the door and I used the same conduit.

A few differences though.

I used 3M tape mounted tabs that accept zip ties for anchoring the conduit.

I used the Camera Source camera and housing.

My camera seems to use a different connection. My truck is a Ram 2023 and it has a single cable FAKRA connector. Rather than pass it through the tailgate orifice as shown, I use a connector I found near the spare tire underneath the bed, so I bypassed that opening. Sort of six of one, but I had extra cable and easier to store it there.

The result is great. I LOVE having the modern cams. Best thing about a new truck.