Clifford the Big Red Truck with guest blogger Corey Martin

Friends eating off the hood of the new truck

Ever since buying the bigger and heavier Winnebago Micro Minnie travel trailer, Autumn has been looking for a tow vehicle with a little more headroom in terms of towing capacity. However, most economists will tell you that the last 12 months have been the most difficult time to buy a used truck since the steel rations of WWII, what with the supply chain disruption constraining new supply, and the booming construction industry driving up demand and gobbling up old stock. So when a family friend said they would be selling their 2007 Ford F-150 STX Supercab 4x4, we felt we needed to snatch it up before it reached the open market.

I brought Clifford home for an inspection and extended test-drive in early May of 2022.

The mechanic's inspection found nothing fatally wrong with her (Clifford), just a few concerns typical for a truck of this age and mileage that did not require immediate attention and would be relatively inexpensive to address. With that, we knew the truck could satisfy our needs, and a few days later, papers were signed, money was exchanged, and Clifford legally became property of Autumn Welles.

This is not to say Clifford did not need any work. Quite the contrary. However, the work that she needed (in the near term) was not mechanical in nature, and could be completed by any number of out-of-work engineers for the cost of parts and materials, and, luckily, one such engineer "in between opportunities" happened to reside at the same location as Clifford. Which is how I, dear reader, come to be guest-authoring this blog post today.

Requirements and Initial Assessment

The attributes of a vehicle that can safely tow the intended travel trailer (2017 Winnebago Micro Minnie 1700BH) can be enumerated into the following list of requirements—some of which Clifford may have already satisfied:

Towing capacity > 3800 lbs 🤷‍♂️
Hitch weight capacity > 380 lbs 🤷‍♂️
7-pin trailer electrical connector ❌
Trailer brake controller ❌

The towing and hitch weight capacity items above were assessed to be "sort of" satisfied. This model of F-150 comfortably exceeds the required parameters, but a decade of being parked within 500 ft of the intercoastal waterway had resulted in the accumulation of a concerning amount of rust on the existing hitch receiver.

Original rusty hitch receiver and 5-pin trailer electrical connector

The above picture shows the 5-pin electrical connector (where a 7-pin connector is needed), and rust on the existing hitch receiver (this is the best picture I have from the pre-work, the rust was more significant that what might be seen here). Whether the rust had permeated the steel of the hitch receiver deeply enough to cause such significant strength degradation that a catastrophic mechanical failure posed a realistic risk is unknown. However, what is known is that such a mechanical failure (when hitting a bump on the highway at 70 mph) would be indeed catastrophic (and expensive), and the preventative remediation (replacing the hitch receiver) would be relatively cheap. So items 1 and 2 above are deemed unsatisfied for safety reasons.

Work Item Enumeration and Classification

The work items whose completion would result in the satisfaction of the above requirements can be classified into 2 categories: functionally required and health-and-safety concerns:

Functionally Required

Install trailer brake controller
Install 7-pin electrical connector

Health and and Safety Concerns

Replace hitch receiver
Replace running boards

The running boards have hitherto been unmentioned, but they posed a safety risk of their own. Clifford's decade long tenure near the salty water of the intercoastal waterway had also resulted in rust here as well, so much so that the tubes were rusting though and the plastic pieces were falling off on the highway. It would only be a matter of time before someone (or some dog) cut themselves and became infected with tetanus. For this reason, their replacement (or at least removal) was classified and a health and safety work item.

Quality of Life Improvements

In addition to the imperative work items enumerated above, several quality-of-life and cosmetic improvements were identified whose completion might tie in nicely with the work already slated. These improvements are listed below:

Replace stereo head unit
Install reverse backup camera
Install rear seat dog protection (for Gambit and Loki)
Install front center dog seat (for Jean)
Install tailgate pad (for bikes)
Replace floor mats

Component Selection

With the requirements well defined, we were ready to research, identify, and procure components that would satisfy those requirements. Below is what we came up with:

Hitch Receiver

Curt is the ubiquitous brand for towing hardware, so was naturally the first place we looked. We settled on their class 3 #13360.

Trailer Brake Controller

We decided to trust Curt with our towing electronics as well, and went with their #51160 controller (and accompanying #51515 wiring harness).

7-Pin Trailer Electrical Connector

Continuing our trust with Curt, we selected their #58155 heavy duty socket and related mounting hardware (#58510 & #57202) to strap it to the hitch receiver.

Running Boards

Autumn looked on Amazon and found these simple, stylish, and effective running boards.

Stereo Head Unit

We knew we wanted a unit that would satisfy its own set of requirements:

Touch screen
Backup camera input
Wireless Apple Carplay
Wireless Android Auto
Hard volume controls (preferred)

The supply chain disruption has made commodity electronics hard to get and consumer electronics expensive, but the Jensen 710W satisfied all our requirements at a palatable price.

This model is difficult to recommend to everyone, however, owing to its lack of support for the Radio Data System and HD Radio and only supporting satellite radio up to SiriusXM 2.0. We were willing to swallow these deficiencies since we would primarily use Carplay, Android Auto, or Bluetooth Audio; occasionally use FM radio; and never use satellite radio.

Backup Camera

Crutchfield led us to the Crux CFD-03 backup camera that would stylishly replace the original tailgate latch handle.

I was already getting exciting thinking about using the backup camera to line up the hitch ball with the trailer coupler.

Wiring Planning

With our components picked out, it was now time to look at their I/Os and installation documentation and draw up a wiring diagram.