Curt Custom Base Plate Kit - Removable Arms

Video Transcript for Curt Custom Base Plate Kit Installation - 2023 Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Hi, John with etrailer. Look, you deserve a great flat towing experience, and today we have the components here that are gonna do that for you. We have a 2023 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, the Z71, so that's gonna be the 4x4 package. So we have a motor coach here that has air brakes on it, and we're gonna take a look, quick overview of some of the components that's required to get this Chevy to flat tow behind the coach. First things first, we're gonna look at the physical connection here. This is gonna be our tow bar, and this links up the Chevy with the motor coach here.

Second thing you're gonna need is gonna be a supplemental braking system of some sort. Now, our coach has air brakes, so this is an air brake system. We also have systems for hydraulic or electric brakes. Third thing you need is gonna be safety cables. Now, in this instance here, this is a brand new Nighthawk tow bar.

It comes with the safety cables. So when you're looking at stuff like that, keep that in mind. Fourth thing you need, you are gonna need some sort of diode wiring. This is gonna transmit the signals, like turn signals, taillights, and brake lights from the back of your coach to the back of your Chevy. And the fifth thing you're gonna need is the base plate.

That's gonna be the physical connection that we actually attach to the front of the Chevy that hooks up to the tow bar to make all of this possible. Now, additionally on these Silverados, to be able to flat tow, you need one more component that not all vehicles need, but this one does, and that's gonna be a battery disconnect switch that mounts under the hood by your battery. Now, we installed one on this Chevy, and we do have a video showing the installation on our website. Now, specifically in this video, we're going to be taking a look at CURT's custom fit base plate kit with removable arms on the Chevy. This is the very starting point of flat towing.

This is the part, like I said, that we actually install on the truck. Now, the CURT kit installs right where your factory tow hooks are, on either side. Let's take a look at the operation of it. How easy is it to use We'll get the braking system out of the way. Now, your safety cables are included with the base plate kit. These arms are removable. The pins come with the kit as well. So to unhook, it's that easy. There is no crossbar. These are direct connect right to your truck. If you wanna remove the arms, they twist out, and so you're left with a clean factory look here. And you can work your way across, and you can go around town wherever you need to go. If it's time to flat tow again and hook back up, these go back in. (removable arms clanging) That easy. (tow bar clanging) Depending on your type of tow bar, installation is pretty painless to get back on the Chevy. So this is awfully nice if it's raining outside, which it usually is if I'm flat towing. This is a quick, easy method. I like the fact that it removes off of the truck for a clean look. When you're not using it, it has plugs. So if you're not using it, you can plug up the holes on the base plate itself to keep dirt and moisture from entering in there and causing you future problems. Now, something like this, as far as installation goes, on some of these trucks, it can get pretty involved. This one here, we didn't have to remove the bumper or anything, but we did have to remove the tow hooks, and we found a few tips from underneath. It made it a little bit easier for us to install these. Now, there's some limited room and you might need some special tools, but if you wanna see how to install this base plate on our '23 Chevy, stick around and we'll show you. Now, to begin our installation, we're gonna be coming under the truck. We're gonna be removing our factory tow hooks here. Now, side note, General Motors has been waxing their frames from the factory. You're probably gonna wanna get some gloves. It looks like grease, but it's just wax and it's gonna get everywhere. We'll come up underneath. And you're gonna have a factory splash guard here. We removed it earlier just for filming purposes and we really realized that by doing this, you have a lot more room to work. It's only four bolts that holds it up. And once you remove it, you can see it's wide open under here. So it's not in the instructions, but I would say do yourself a favor and just remove the four bolts that hold this up. Give yourself some more working room. So we're gonna start under the truck. This is the driver's side over here. And the passenger side works pretty much the same way. We're gonna be removing this bolt and this bolt. We're gonna loosen this bolt. So all of these right now are 18-millimeter. This one will hold your bumper on. We're just gonna loosen it though. And there's other bolts that hold your bumper on, so don't worry about. (bolt scratching) anything coming too loose. (bolt scratching) We're just gonna make room for us later on. We're gonna need to get under here. (bolt scratching) Now, these two bolts actually hold the tow loop. This bottom one's gonna be a shorter bolt, and then that upper one runs all the way through. So you may need an 18-millimeter wrench. Ratchet wrench will definitely help in a situation. (wrench clattering) So this bolt will come out of there. We did find that, at least on the driver's side, we had to remove that. It has such a large washer on it. We'll pull that out and then we can thread this back on here. Now, with these two bolts, that's all that's holding your tow hook on on the front. Now, our next steps are actually going to be trimming the fascia here for the base plate and the safety chain plate. Now, there's a few things you need to consider on this truck where we don't have fog lights. And this is a Z71 package. I wanna show you real quick. We did the passenger side first, so you can kind of see what we need to cut. We had to cut down here over and then up to allow for the base plate tab to fit and the plate. So keep that in mind when you're trimming the front of this. Just do a little bit at a time. Now, today, I'm going to be using an oscillating tool to cut this. Now, this is just plastic. You could cut it with a razor knife if you're careful or any other. Anything else that you're comfortable with. (oscillating tool whirring) Now, we're back up under the truck. On the driver's side, we're gonna be using the two holes that the factory provided here. The problem is we need to drill on the other side of this hole. So in order to get a template up here, we're gonna use the base plate itself. This is the hardware that comes in your kit. But right now, temporarily, we're gonna run this through. You may have to lift up on your bumper tab here to get that to line up. So this bolts all the way through. And this bolt. We're gonna line up the back pin here and then I've got a right-angle drill. I'm gonna drill from the other side. I'm gonna drill a pilot hole, and we'll probably end up using a step bit. There's not a whole lot of room over here. If you have a very long half-inch drill bit and you can go straight through from this side, our problem was that chuck was hitting this. So this is gonna be a thing where you're gonna have to do whatever works best for you. (drill whirring) Now that we've got where the pilot hole has marked the frame, we're gonna remove this base plate. We get it out of our way, you get this hole drilled. (drill whirring) We can test fit the bolt. (bolt clattering) So that's gonna work for us. This isn't the only way to do this, but this is probably gonna be the best way in the Chevy. There's just not a whole lot of working room, which you're gonna get two of these big hex bolts. You're also gonna get some locking flange nuts. And then the washers that you're gonna get have teeth on one side. So the teeth of the washers need to go towards the threads on the bolt. So make sure you put the smooth side against the head, teeth towards the threads. (washers chattering) Now, the safety chain plate is gonna have a curve on it. This curve goes towards the inside of the truck. So on this side, it goes this way, the other side's gonna flip over. So your tabs will be up on top. This is the driver's side one. These are side-specific, so make sure you have the right one. Now, just a quick side note. The instructions don't call for any type of thread ceiling. And in this instance, you know we have locking fasteners, but just for a little bit of extra security, I do recommend using Blue Loctite. Now, we have it here at etrailer, but this is something you can pick up at big-box stores or auto parts stores as well. And if you're already down here doing the work, I highly recommend this. They're gonna have two different colors, blue and red. Red is more permanent and may require heat to remove. So the blue is gonna be the best bet for this. Get our base plate up into position. This is probably where you're gonna wish you had more hands than you have, but. Send that through. (tool clattering) I'm gonna line up the first bolt. And you may have to lift up again on this on your bumper mount here to get that one in. We'll do the same thing on the second side. And you may have to wiggle your base plate up and down to find the right. (tool clattering) One side through. So once you get both bolts in and the flange nuts on, you can torque this hardware to the specs that you're gonna find in your installation manual. And now, just a side note, all of the hardware that came off, the factory hardware, was 18-millimeter. This new hardware, both sides are gonna be 19-millimeter. Now, once you get both of these bolts torqued, while you're under here with your sockets, you might as well reinstall this bumper beam bolt. (bolt scratching) Now, in your kit, you're gonna get two quick links and two safety cables. These are in the event of one of the failures of the hardware that we just installed. And now, one of these needs to be installed on each side. If you look in your frame, you've got a big hole that runs all the way through. And we're gonna tie off right here. So we can just bring the cable through, attach a quick link. And then if you add some zip ties, you can zip tie the loose end of this cable up out of the way. And I like the zip tie. These components right here together to keep them from rattling when you go down the road. Once you have everything secured to your liking underneath, don't forget to reinstall your splash pan that you may or may not have taken off. But other than that, that's gonna complete today's look at some of the features and the installation of CURT's Custom Base Plate Kit with Removable Arms on our 2023 Chevrolet Silverado 1500.