Need to buy a new truck to haul with Gooseneck. Anyone with experience with Ford’s back up assist?
I know people who love these, but if you have multiple things you tow, or you are a very experienced tower, skip it: they are more hassle than they are worth for most people with a lot of experience backing and hooking up a trailer.
Some of the ford trucks come with guidance cameras that place a black line where your hitch is. This is what my truck has, and I love it. And we don’t have to finagle it when we go to hook up another piece of equipment with different dimensions, like we’d need to with the backup assist.
just my 2c.
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My 2015 has it. It’s on the tailgate though so useless when it comes to hooking up the gooseneck. Helpful for the utility trailer though which is a bumper pull.
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Which feature are you talking about?
there is the backup camera, which all have.
there is the 360 ultimate camera, which gives you a top-down and 360 view,
there is the ultimate trailer tow camera which allows you to put a backup camera on the trailer.
and there is the whatchamacallit that allows you to back the trailer using a knob on the dash.
i have the ultimate trailer tow camera / 360 camera.
it does allow me to view the bed when hooking up, which is a plus. it also helps you back the trailer to an extent with a side camera view or the optional rear camera for the trailer.
the backup assist that allows the truck to back up using the knob does not work with gooseneck/5th wheel - only bumper pull.
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Thanks for the replies. I was looking at truck with knob that allows you to back up using a knob. Good to know it doesn’t work with a gooseneck. Dealer didn’t seem to know. Guess I will just have to work on my backing skills!
NOthing replaces good backing skills! Keep practicing and don’t let anybody rush you!
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It relies on a sticker that has to be placed on the trailer tongue. The 360 camera is useful to show me the blind side of the trailer when backing. Otherwise the knob feature is kind of hokey, it just does the same thing as putting your hand on the bottom of the wheel and moving your hand where you want the trailer to go.
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My truck has the trailer direction back up knob, as well as the trailer connection assist that self directs the truck to the trailer. I have not invested the time/energy to even read that section of the manual, forget trying to learn how to operate it and practice. The package of trailer locator stickers is unopened in the glove box. Wasted features in my mind. (They were already on the truck, and the price was right).
I have it on my brand new truck; haven’t used it yet – but my contractor who has many trailers for his monster sized equipment, uses his all the time. He’s an expert backer-upper without it and says that’s it’s great to have – makes trailer life so much easier.
Yeah - if you’ve got a bumper pull - does not work with a gooseneck. Which makes sense because most contractor trailers are enclosed bumper pulls.
I did not know that – now I do!
I didn’t read the other posts that also made that clear.
We have it on our F150 which we rarely use to tow but don’t think it was available on F250’s. We ended up getting a Ram 2500 but remember looking for it on the F250’s we looked at. Interesting about the gooseneck thing.
