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Base plate brackets attach to your vehicle's frame to provide fixed attachment points for your tow bar.
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Average Customer Rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (169 Customer Reviews)
Base plate brackets attach to your vehicle's frame to provide fixed attachment points for your tow bar.Perfect fit for my 2005 Jeep Wrangler TJ using a Roadmaster Stowmaster 5000.
Worked perfectly for my application. No problems.
Remove bumper and front wheels. Bracket B is the only hole to be drilled for installing. Bracket C bolts thru existing steering box bolt hole. Bracket E bolts from main bar A to existing rigging eye in your samurai to anchor and secure the base plate. (See pictures) hope this helps. Only negative for me is the base plate sticks out in front instead of below bumper. All parts needed for installation where in the box.
This thing is a really frustrating. For $xxx it should be a lot better even from the beginning where people understand the install situation. It isn't really a bolt on as step one is cut and grind off the factory tow hook. This isn't mentioned by RM. The instructions are a joke - they mix up front and back all the while telling you to read the instructions closely. And the support is really frustrating. If you have 3 questions with photos, etc, they answer only one question per email. You should stop selling this unit until you install it with a video on some vans of maybe different years and maybe RM will listen to you and update their instructions and as far as I can tell so far the hardware needs at least some different hardware. Until then sell the RM Westy front bumper with Clevises already on it for about the same money.
I am super happy with this and the base plates for it. I am impressed that these parts were bought separately and fit like a glove together!
installed the tow brackets per the instructions - the pictures in the instructions were small and weren't real helpful so I contacted Customer Service which sent me detailed photos of an installation on a similar vehicle - helped a lot! Thanks! Within a week we were off on a cross country trip down to Mexico, put on 6000 miles and then retorqed the bracket bolts. This is a good product, easy to use, and we've used it pretty hard - no problems so far!
Very easy to install and well built product. Instructions made the job go smoothly. With the tight tolerance on the backing plate bolt spacing, I had to do a small amount of filing on the 1989 Jeep Cherokee frame holes so that the plates would slide easily through. Other than that, no real problems. As mentioned in the instructions, I had to cut small sections out of the top and bottom of the bumper for the new brackets but the install looks really clean.
Did have to cut off factory tow hook with a hack saw. Straight forward install otherwise and good quality.
The product fits perfectly. Installation is somewhat easy except drilling the opening on the frame. The arms are holding down very strong, good quality.
I finally have my parts today,I waited 5 Days but I Guess that's How It Is.The Set up was Not Hard at all,I had all the parts to Install it ,And Yes I will buy Again if I Need something else!
High Quality Product. Install instructions don't go into enough detail in step by step. A little vague for the Non-Expert installer. Nut Plates provided for rear mounting bolts are wider than the holes available in sub-frame for install. Had to mill sides of pads to get them into the frame for install. No instructions or fish wires to get them into place. Had to manufacture own fish wire system to get the plates in place for install. Once mods were completed and hardware designed and built, installation was pretty much straight forward. I would not consider this kit for a novice installer. Sorry I didn't take pictures of the "wide" nut plate situation and my redesign (width reduction)
The product was received as expected. The brackets aligned with all points and bolted up first time. The hardware was great, except two lock washer short (but not a problem as I had extras in my parts bins) and double the number of flat washers (extras for the next project). But is was great to have all optional bolts, washers and nuts supplied. Instructions were easy to follow and complete with one excepting. I need a bracket part from the old brackets and that was not included in the instructions, but was clear as I aligned everything in the pre assembly.
A little scary at first but went on my Geo Tracker easily. Extremely solid once installed. Made the tow from CA to Ohio a breeze. I did have to make some adapters to fit my towbar but that's not the fault of your product.
made strong took about 3 hours my tow hooks on my suzuki samural were bent out so that slow me down a bit i used 5 pound sledge out bang them straight then bolts went in i turn the front wheels to the right so to drill the hole in the frame used small bit then went for larger one work out well follow direction they did work but lacking illustration .works good
Delivery of the products was EXTREMELY fast.
The installation instructions referred to a page with adjustment instructions but the page was not included and I couldn't find the missing page on-line either. Installation was a bit more complicated than I thought it was going to be.
Very sturdy product. It should do a great job for me.
The Real Story - The real story regarding what it takes to install the base is that it takes about 4 hours and . .
- You will need a small sledge hammer to pound the unit into the frame cross tube such that the attach points are solid against the frame and align properly at the center point bottom of the frame.
- You will need to remove the wheels to gain access to the side of the vehicle’s frame for drilling the attach points.
- You may need to jack the car up for ground clearance, to drill the bottom hole.
- I had to cut an access hole through the bumper cover to get the backing plate into the frame channel.
- You will need to pry off the frame mud guard, if your car has one.
- You may need to make a ruler like metal shim to hold the back plate while you screw the bottom bolt.
- A 6 ft pole lever is needed to force the front of the base down and thereby pivot the back flange up to align it to the slot like hole in the frame. This area is critical so make sure the hole you drill is match centered!!
- Drill small attach point holes first to make sure you have sufficient clearance on the back side, for the large washers and proper hole alignment with the base flange
- If it all goes well . . plan on a 4 hour job.
- The base is a real beast and could haul a Mac Truck!
- It is by far the easiest base to install, of any I evaluated.
- Would you recommend etrailer.com to a friend? Oh hell yes!
Very happy with the service I received, and so pleased with the base plate easy to install. Pics soon. Thank you etrailer
This is an excellent, strong product, that fit my older model Honda CRV perfectly. We just drove cross country. Combined with a basic rigid tow bar, this is a reliable, economic light vehicle tow set up, just be sure your hitch is at the correct height so the tow bar is level, otherwise you will have twisting problems in tight turns.
This product is accurately made and heavily built, with good, clean welds. If I could critique anything they should have provided a stud for the center frame mounting bolt so the lower splash shield could be reinstalled easily- I had to fabricate brackets to make it work. Otherwise- excellent! 50 year professional mechanic here.
I purchased a 'tow package' for my Jeep so I could pull it behind my motorhome, along with a trailer hitch for the Jeep.
All products fit perfectly, and were easy to install. We traveled about 6K miles, and did not have an issue.
Thanks!
Product was as advertised. It arrived earlier than expected. The installation instructions were simple and easy to follow. The install had no problems. You need to center punch where you are going
to drill because the surface to be drilled is not flat. You need to drill a pilot hole to ease drilling the larger hole.
On the my '93 Ranger Splash the bumper came off with only the removal of 4 easy to reach nuts. A wrench is not required on the bolts as they were welded to a metal strip between them that made re-installation simple. The plastic air-dam on the bottom of the bumper can be removed easily to cut holes for the base plate to extend thru. Don't replace it until the bumper has been re-installed.
I received the "Classic" base plate kit (model 1528-1) for my 2000 Honda CRV about a week ago, but just had it installed by a local mechanic. Prior to installation, I inspected the package contents, and found it to contain all of the required parts. The material from which the parts were manufactured appear to be somewhat heavier and more substantial than I anticipated. The fit to my car frame was very good, and although the attachment points on this model are not the quick-release design, they are not overly obvious. I can't speak concerning performance, as we haven't had occasion to actually use it yet.
Well made , heavy duty construction. Easy to install following instructions. Hardest part was drilling the holes, but that wasn't bad. With these, and the roadmaster towbar, and safety cables, I know my Tracker will still be there when I arrive!
Thank you for very fast delivery of the base plate kit. Once installed, the tow bar fit perfectly. I had to remove the front tire to get to the spot to more easily drill the four holes needed to install the brackets. It would be helpful to see a drawing in the instructions to assure proper installation of bolts, washers, nuts, etc., in addition to the written instructions. With careful reading, I completed the installation but "a picture is worth a thousand words." Thank you for a well-made and well designed kit.
I received the Towbar and brackets complete this morning. During the interim I tried to get the bumper off to put onto my drill press once it arrives. A the Torx screws were rustlocked onto the Jeep and created a massive amount of pull to get off. First they didn't budge so I heated the screw to 700 degrees using a soldering gun (torch would also work) then I soaked for two days using WD40. To get the T55s to turn required taking the handle off the floor jack to and place the handle of my 1/2in ratchet in the handle. It worked -Just a note you will struggle with getting the bumper off. Once out and the bumper is off, put the screws in upside down about 3 threads and pour WD40 to soak in the hole.
This will help you later in re-installing. Use the brackets as a template using whiteout and draw a line thru the center. You will need to start with a small still 1/2 then 3/8 then 1/2 and finally 17/32 to mount. Its easier to control the walking small bit with a centerpunch.
Just a little tip to help out with the product. Biggest drawback with the bar is you cant back up (reverse thrust on the bar). Unhook and turn around then rehook. This happens where turnarounds are required and no space to make a turnaround.
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Alan
5/13/2017
It has worked perfectly. I have towed my jeep behind the motorhome several times and had no problems at all.