Ok -2 things:
First - to Brutal_HO and gator6 - thanks for the grease suggestion. We went camping this weekend and getting the plug in and out was MUCH better! I think I was nervous that the camera cable is so unique that anything that touches it would kill it - I was wrong. Works like a charm. I still want a bag of those o-rings though and haven’t heard back from anyone I’ve contacted on exactly what size and/or part number…
Second - on my concern about the camera automatically pointing down in reverse, I learned in real time you CAN NOT adjust this setting while in reverse! That really screwed up my plans. Now, this may have been obvious to everyone else, but it just dawned on me today that since it always starts in the position you left it in (meaning, whatever you’ve set for brightness controls, up/down, L/R, level, is where the camera/mirror is when you start the truck with the camera plugged in), I could just reset the visual field location to be what I want when the camera is in its lowest position. Just did it and tested that when it goes in to reverse there’s no where else for it to travel! So it will keep the view I want and it’s almost exactly in the position I originally set it to. While there are many click points on the mounting bracket, they’re not micro-millimeters apart - but it’s close enough for jazz so I consider this a victory in terms of tricking the camera to do what I want!