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Custom designed to fit your vehicle so it can be safely towed behind your RV, this base plate has easily removable arms that offer a seamless look when you're not flat towing. Base plate bolts directly to your chassis, so no welding is required.
Features:
Specs:
This base plate's hidden design creates a clean and seamless look. The bracket arms are easily removable, creating a slick appearance when you're not flat towing. Because the arms can be removed, you also won't have to worry about banging your leg into any protruding arms when you walk by.
Attaching and removing the bracket arms is a breeze. To attach the arms to the base plate, simply insert them into the receivers and rotate them until they lock into place. Once you're finished towing and want to remove the arms, pull the pin to disengage the lock, rotate the arms, and remove them from the receivers. Finally, plug up the now empty receivers with the included receiver covers to help keep dirt and debris out of the base plate and provide a finished look.
Flat towing your vehicle is much more convenient than using a trailer or a tow dolly. These other options take up much more storage space, leaving you less room both at home and at the campsite. In addition, securing your vehicle to a trailer or tow dolly can be a hassle and more time consuming than hooking up with a tow bar.
There are 5 basic components needed when flat towing a vehicle: a tow bar, a base plate kit, a safety cable set, tow bar wiring, and a supplemental braking system.
The tow bar links your towed car to your motorhome. It attaches to the custom-fit base plates that install on the frame of your towed car. Safety cables ensure that your towed car does not separate from your motorhome in the event that your tow bar becomes detached. Tow bar wiring allows your towed vehicle's signal lights to sync up with your motorhome's tail lights, which is required by law in most states. Finally, the supplemental braking system - also required in most states - brakes your towed car when the brakes in your motorhome are activated, preventing wear on the motorhome and decreasing braking distance for your entire setup.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (3032 Customer Reviews)
Custom designed to fit your vehicle so it can be safely towed behind your RV, this base plate has easily removable arms that offer a seamless look when you're not flat towing. Base plate bolts directly to your chassis, so no welding is required.I have been using this Blue Ox tow bar kit for a year now and have put over 10,000 miles on it. It has performed flawlessly and in my opinion it is an excellent product that I would highly recommend. etrailer is a great company to work with and their website is easy to use and has great information.
Over all the BX1690 is a very durable product. It's extremely easy to assembly if you use the install videos on etrailer.com as your virtual classroom instructor. The only advice I recommend is to either explain more in the videos or update the instructions explaining the lock nuts can easily break off or strip out if not properly seated with the upper 3 bolts uses to hold the baseplate. I'd also like to see is the a little more on torque specification for bolts because I couldn't locate them anywhere in the instructions. Maybe, I overlooked them but other than that, I'm impressed with etrailer to have a video for every year, make, and model vehicle. I have a 2012 SRX Cadillac and I was extremely happy that my vehicle was demo with installing the BX1690. Great job and I completed the whole install less than 6hours where etrailer completed their install within 21 mins. Movie magic I guess but great job. Thanks etrailer and see you guys on the road.
V,
Mr. G
Where-U-GoingRving
Installed a Blue Ox Base Plate kit on a 2015 Cadillac SRX. The base plate arrived promptly and was well packaged considering its weight. Watched the videos etrailer provides and used them as a step by step video guide. The videos were a big help. Installation is not too difficult if you're mechanically inclined. Had someone help with the installation but one person can perform the installation. I think the base plate is well engineered and everything fit as it should. Love the fact the installation is so well hidden. We have about 400 miles on the installation and have had no issues. Thanks to etrailer for a great price, great service, and great product support.
Good price, super fast shipping, excellent customer service. Received item as described. Thank you etrailer!
Don S.
1/30/2023
GREAT! Good Product.
First all items arrived quickly and well packaged. All went well watching your video regarding installation of base plate. Only real pain was having to drill all the holes required. Who new car steel was so tough to drill. Very satisfied and will buy from E Trailer again in the future as need arises.
Gary
6/6/2020
Still working as well as it did on day one. My only issue was I lost or misplaced my plastic pin hole plugs. When I wrote Blus Ox they told me a new set was I think $10-20. I went to Lowe’s and bought 2 black rubber corks for about $5. Been working just fine all winter long. They look nice as well.
I purchased and installed my Blue OX baseplate for my 2015 Cadillac SRX from ETrailer. Have to say that the experience was very good! Price was good. Shipping and packaging was good. Product is very good. Fit well. The online help was particularly helpful down to the specific information about removing the bumper cover. Would definitely do it again!!
E-trailers installation video matched my particular installation and was a tremendous help. Getting the side plate over the frame doubling joint was the only difficulty. This is my third install or their baseplates and I highly recommend Blue OX and E-trailer.
The baseplate fit perfect on my SRX and is not noticeable when pins are removed. I installed it myself which took me about 5 or 6 hours of labor and a couple hours of study. The etrailer videos helped tremendously.
We bought this baseplate for our 2016 Cadillac SRX AWD. Installed it ourselves and have not had one issue with it. Its working properly even after 1 year. The Cadillac SRX is a great SUV to pull behind a motorhome!
Not an easy job but did it all in one d ay.
Great company with good products, fast inter-state tracked delivery with very professional installation videos. The website is smart and informational as well while providing products' alternatives in order to help customers with best purchasing decisions.
The hitch was great and fit properly but3 of the 6 tethered square bots did not work because of manufacturing error. 2 had weld splatter in the threads and the 3rd was not properly centered so the bolt cold not be screwed in.
I have ordered several hitches & tow bars from etrailer every thing has been great
I have used Etrailer in the past and service and parts excellent.
Thank You
Tom
No problem installing this. The instruction vidio was spot on! Thanks
Fast and efficient
The size of the box terrified me but I had to do this one myself.
This project is not for the faint of heart. When you think about what could go wrong you could wet yourself. I went with my gut and just opened the box. Hmmm, packaged very well with everything you need for the install. No going to the hardware store for this or that. Sat there with a cold sarsaparilla and read the very detailed instructions, went back to the etrailer web site and checked out some vids and pics. Hmm, it didn’t seem that daunting of a job. On my 04 Lexus GX470 most of the holes were drilled. Before I knew it 5 hours had past and I owned a toad! I took it to my local Rv service center for an inspection and it was deemed safe to use.
This thing is awesome, tracs straight as an arrow.
Now, I have to figure out this diode lighting kit. Camping is fun! Yah!!! :) Noah and etrailer made this a tolerable project. I urge everyone to take advantage of the resources that are on this sight. I always learn something when I’m there. See y’all on the trail….Rod
Well, I'm glad I'm good with tools, grinders, drills, and such. It was not just bolt-on dal. The car grill was able to be used any longer as it was too tight of a fit. Some of the lower fascia had to be trimmed and also removed OEM nuts from the front, the angle wouldn't allow the stock nuts to work. But in the end, I got to work out. So prepare to spend around 4-6 hours playing with it to get it to work. I am positive it's going to work as intended.
everything bolted up easy, i simply drilled hole’s into were needed and supplied my own bolts straight through for easy installation.
I am really happy, not only with the product but the customer care I received. Very quick and helpful!!
I would make one suggestion. Take the headlights out when doing this on a Chevy Cobalt. It will make it much easier to get to the 3 bolt holding the fender to the fascia.
This kit fit well, had decent instructions, and performed perfectly every time once installed. If doing the install yourself, you'll need some metal fabrication tools to notch the D-ring plates behind the bumper but it's not complicated, just a little time consuming depending on the tools you're using. The look is also a little weird on the front of a new Bronco since you're losing the burly bumper D-rings, but it's a well engineered setup overall. I only used the tow bar setup a couple times before the vehicle was lost in a wildfire so I can't comment on the longevity, but I have no doubt it would still be working fine today.
Do you have a question about this Base Plate?
Info for this part was:
At etrailer.com we provide the best information available about the products we sell. We take the quality of our information seriously so that you can get the right part the first time. Let us know if anything is missing or if you have any questions.
Mike L.
5/15/2019
The torque specs are listed by bolt size on the first page of the installation instructions. We dont specifically mention the torque ratings in the videos because the manufacturer can change them over time.