The Poor Man's Accessory Trailer Camera: Make Your Own

Bare-E Raws · May 26, 2025

Anyone who is having the black screen for the camera. Try pinching the silver part of the DVB-T PLUG. That silver part is the ground for the cable apparently and needs to contact the silver ring in the bumper plug. My camera showed black and I thought I was screwed until I did this. Hopefully this helps some people.

Also a pretty solid housing for 20 bucks was a Go Pro Hero Session Underwater housing. But of Dremmel and sealing work and you got a waterproof housing. Mine looks pretty rough but it works.

namtaru · May 28, 2025

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EDIT: The first correct camera I bought off eBay was defective, a brand new one directly from GM worked. Get the same camera you have in your tailgate!

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Well, I attempted to try this again on my new truck, with just as much failure and no resolution still. This time a 2024 3500 AT4.

First I ordered camera part # 85813746 which is the newest camera part number, and I already had a cable from the last time I tried this. Once I got the camera in I tried simply plugging it in to see if it would show up, but all I got was a black screen. Side note, during all these tests, I was also plugging in my trailer. Anyhow, I tried everything under the sun including the door trick, deleting the trailer profile, squeezing the end of the cable to make a better ground connection, plugging in the camera then the trailer, plugging in the trailer then the camera, no combination of doing anything gave me anything but a black screen on that camera view.

So, I ordered the previous camera part # 85573256 off eBay, but same results. OK, maybe the cable is bad, I ordered a new cable, but again, same results.

Edited June 2, 2025 by namtaru

RobinChris · May 28, 2025

I had the same issue, buddy at the dealer told me the camera has to be the same model # as the camera for the back up camera in the tailgate. Once he confirmed the model #, got that one and it worked perfectly.

He said there are many different models and they may vary from year and model.

Hope that helps.

namtaru · May 28, 2025

1 hour ago, RobinChris said:

I had the same issue, buddy at the dealer told me the camera has to be the same model # as the camera for the back up camera in the tailgate. Once he confirmed the model #, got that one and it worked perfectly.

He said there are many different models and they may vary from year and model.

Hope that helps.

That does help, a lot. I confirmed the camera in my tailgate is 85573256, so at this point I either have to have a defective 85573256 camera, or two defective cables. Guess I'm ordering yet another camera.

RobinChris · May 28, 2025

29 minutes ago, namtaru said:

That does help, a lot. I confirmed the camera in my tailgate is 85573256, so at this point I either have to have a defective 85573256 camera, or two defective cables. Guess I'm ordering yet another camera.

Maybe use a volt meter and check for continuity. Maybe a break in the cable somewhere?

namtaru · June 2, 2025

Got a new 85573256 camera in today directly from GM, and it worked immediately.

My conclusions: 85813746 may be the newer model camera, and is specifically stated as being the replacement camera for 85573256, but it would seem that if you don't already have camera 85813746 in the tailgate then it doesn't work. The first 85573256 camera I ordered I got off eBay, it was the right part but seems like it was defective.

It would seem that by far, the easiest way to figure out what camera you need to order is to simply pop out the camera in your tailgate (took me <5 minutes) and order that exact same camera

RobinChris · June 2, 2025

25 minutes ago, namtaru said:

Got a new 85573256 camera in today directly from GM, and it worked immediately.

My conclusions: 85813746 may be the newer model camera, and is specifically stated as being the replacement camera for 85573256, but it would seem that if you don't already have camera 85813746 in the tailgate then it doesn't work. The first 85573256 camera I ordered I got off eBay, it was the right part but seems like it was defective.

It would seem that by far, the easiest way to figure out what camera you need to order is to simply pop out the camera in your tailgate (took me <5 minutes) and order that exact same camera

Further to that, to make it even easier, I just phoned my dealer and he was able to tell me within minutes what camera model was in the tailgate by the VIN lookup. And they had one in stock, I just bought it from them, the price difference wasn't enough to bother me...

I still can't understand why they charge so much for the camera setup. Blows my mind.

Marpet77 · December 4, 2025

Hey. I have this kit since 3 years and work. Fine But I change my 2022 1/2 aide screen for a 2026 , and caméra didnt work Option appear in the screen but picture is black Amy idea ?

dawsonar802 · February 3

On 12/4/2025 at 11:11 AM, Marpet77 said:

Hey. I have this kit since 3 years and work. Fine But I change my 2022 1/2 aide screen for a 2026 , and caméra didnt work Option appear in the screen but picture is black Amy idea ?

You would need to get the specific camera model for that year of vehicle. Check with the dealer to see what part number it is as this seems to be a common thing where the part number changes year to year with the year of the vehicle. Some may fit a range of trucks, but I had a similar issue and only until getting the correct model camera it had the same back screen.