Rear Camera & OE Tow Hitch

[Tall One]

Hi folks - new here......
Have had my MY22 L494 RRS D250 a few months now, and I'm pretty happy with it....ngl. It joins my F-Pace 3.0 supercharged in the garage (never thought I'd have a pair of Brits in my garage - i'd always been a German devotee).... Anyways - I went to hook it up to my boat trailer recently, and was gobsmacked to learn that i cannot see the tow ball in the reversing camera. No way..!!! Had to go back to the practices of last century & get the good wife to guide me onto the trailer. Amazing. Factory fitted tow hitch, and it is completely obscured from the camera - the tongue would need to be 50mm longer to be visible.
I complained to JLRA, and was referred to the dealer....who virtually said 'Sorry.....nothing i can do'.
Anyone else had this experience??

[Gregz]

Hi Tall One, and welcome,
Yes the tow ball is obscured from view and not centred in the view either. I recently had to turn my hitch upside down to get the hitch higher for recent caravan purchase. Also changed to D035 pin with a red plastic cover, now I can just see the top of the cover in the rear view camera. If you put some bright plastic thing on top of your towball while you are reversing maybe that will help.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Um,, I can see mine [bighmmm]... and my ball is Oh So Close to the rear panel its scarey when hooking up :eek2:( I truly dont expect it to remain unscathed)... also the "tow assist" app? shows the correct reverse path to the ball.
a change for the not-better in later models?

[Desert Traveller]

I purchased an extended aftermarket solid hitch. The standard one was too short, problems lining up but the MAJOR problem was that in tight situations (offroad turns and parking) I destroyed my rear lights on two occasions. Serious dollars to replace the lights. With the longer hitch I am able to manoeuvre the van in very situations without worrying about damaging my rear lights.

[Disco4SE]

I bought a solid extended tow hitch for towing my boat. Can see the towball easily.
Have changed back to a similar to original one for my new van as it is quite heavy and the extended hitch is a concern.
Go through your handbook. There is a section in there about reversing onto a trailer. If you tap the screen while in reverse it certainly helps

[Geedublya]

The reverse screen will put a red dot where your ball is and a line to help line up the towball with the trailer. This may not be enabled on some cars (it wasn't on mine) but can be done with an IID Tool.
The Hayman Reece towbar has a longer hitch which gives you a visible towball but I have gone to a shorter hitch as the closer the hitch point to the rear axle the better for stability.

[Tall One]

Appreciate all of your comments and suggestions.
You've helped me to learn a little more about it, including some good detail from the owners manual......so I'm a little better off. [smilebigeye]
Yes - the guide line to the ball does display on the screen when Tow Hitch Assist is switched on......and Yes - the location of the tow ball is marked with red dot....but....whilst these features help with alignment to the towball, regrettably they don't show me how far to reverse. So I am still at risk of the boat trailer inevitably hitting the car bodywork.
I have considered lengthening the tow tongue section by the 50mm necessary to make the tow-ball visible, but am worried that it would be a long way off OE, and could potentially mess with the cars engineering, and software like Trailer Stability Assist. Plus it looks ridiculously long when not towing if the tongue is not removed.
I've also considered fitting one those Vee shaped steel catch-plates behind the towball that were used by old caravanners before we had reversing cameras. Or maybe I'll try attaching a mirror to the boat trailer to see if i can make that work.

It really is preposterous that this situation exists - I cant believe that the factory built & delivered it like this. I'm tipping that the electrically activated tow hitch they use in the UK is not afflicted with this problem.

Cheers guys....