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Designed for use with motor-home-mounted tow bars, the direct-connect brackets are virtually invisible, easy to mount and remove, and they eliminate the need for a quick-disconnect crossbar on your tow bar. Installs on your vehicle's frame.
Features:
Note: Roadmaster direct-connect base plates will only work with Roadmaster tow bars that slide into a trailer hitch, such as the Nighthawk, Sterling, Blackhawk, Blackhawk 2, Falcon, or Falcon 2. These base plates will not work with tow bars that require a hitch ball.
The drawbars, or front arms, on this base plate kit are supremely easy to mount and remove. Just insert them into the brackets and twist to lock them in place. To remove each arm, simply tug the built-in pull pin to disengage the lock, twist the arm back and pull it out of the bracket. Once the drawbars have been removed, the remaining brackets are virtually invisible. On most automobiles, the brackets are mounted within the grille, where they remain not only unseen, but protected from scrapes and scuffs as well.
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Speaker 1: Today on our 2018 Toyota Tacoma, we're going be installing Roadmaster's EZ5 Base Plate kit, part number RM-521196-5.This base plate is gonna allow you to tow your vehicle behind your RV, motor home, or whatever else you want to pull it with. It's going to be tucked up nicely behind the bumper, so you're almost not even going to notice it's there. Even when the arms are installed that connect to your tow bars, they're only going be slightly in front of your bumper there, so they don't stick out too far, so you don't have to worry as much about walking around it while they're in and banging up your leg on it.When you're ready to hook up your tow bars, simply slide in the arms on each end, then twist it to lock it in place. You'll do that with the other arm as well, and now you can make your connection. On the front of your base plate, you're going have locations to mount your safety chains, your breakaway switch, and your 6 volt connector for your wiring. It has all the necessary brackets and everything to make it easy to install all the other components you'll need for a flat tow set up.
It comes with the black powder coat finish to help prevent rust and corrosion and it's easy to install. We'll show you how to do that now.We'll begin our installation underneath the vehicle by removing all the 10 millimeter head bolts located across the front. There's a total of 7 bolts that run across the front here. We're using a 10 millimeter socket to remove these bolts. We're now on the other side of our paneling, just in front of the tire.
On the back side of the paneling you'll find 2 bolts on each side, in front of the tire. After you remove those bolts, you can drop your paneling down and set it aside. On each side you'll find a bolt located at the bottom, on the cross beam that runs underneath the bumper. We're going to remove this bolt with a 17 millimeter socket. We can then slide out our end cap.
Then we'll remove the other side as well.We'll now need to remove 2 of the bumper beam bolts. You'll want to pull down the fender liner, this will expose access to the nuts that attach the bumper beam, located up there. We'll remove those with a 14 millimeter socket. They'll be 2 bolts stacked on top of each other. This is towards the outside of the vehicle.
There's one bolt located on the inside of the bumper beam. We're not going to be removing that bolt. After you remove both nuts, you can repeat this on the other side.We'll now take the side bracket, we're going to slide it up into place, lining up the studs where we just removed those nuts with the holes in the bracket. You'll use the same nuts that you just removed from those studs, and you'll thread those back on. We'll now take one of the 1 1/2 bolts, slide on a large, flat washer. We're going to slide it through the bottom of our bracket, up into the frame, then from the backside we're going to take another flat washer and a lock washer, we're going to slide that over the bolt and follow it up with a nut. You'll leave everything finger tight and you'll repeat this on the other side.Now we're going to remove the plastic plug that's located here, just on the inside of our frame. You'll get your flat screwdriver, and you're going to pop it below the piece, and just pop it out. You'll do the same thing on the other side.To make things a little bit easier to work, we're going to take off the 10 millimeter head bolt here, and here on each side. This will give us a little bit more access for the hardware we're going to be installing. If you reach up on top of the orange cap, you'll find some tabs. If you press in on those tabs and squeeze them together that will release the fender liner from the bracket. Then just push your panel back, this will give us a lot more room.Now we can get to the cap on the other side of the frame. We're going to need to remove this one as well with our flat bladed screwdriver. You want get your screwdriver behind the cover and pop it out. We'll take our bolt, put a lock washer on it. We'll place our spacer between the two brackets and slide our bolt through it. Then on the other side of the frame, where the rectangle hole is, we're going to slide our handle nut through with the flag located at the bottom, so it will be sitting like this when it's in there. Then you'll thread the bolt that we just inserted on the other side into that nut. You'll repeat this same process on the other side.We can now put our lower splash shield back into place, so we can line it up with the edge of our brackets here. We're going to need to cut out a section to allow our base plate cross bar to go in, so you'll want to use the edge of your bracket as a template, so I'm just going to line up my ruler on there as a straight edge and mark it down, following a straight line towards the bottom. We're then going to need to give ourselves a little room to install the bracket, so we're going to come over a little bit, and we're going to draw another straight line all the way down. We'll be trimming it all the way to the bottom edge here, where the corner begins. We'll mark that out on both sides. We'll now use our cutting wheel to cut along the markings that we made. You can then take the file to clean up the edges.We're now going to take our cross bar bracket, we're going to slide it in the holes we just made, line it up with the holes in the side of your bracket and slide a bolt through that, and through the side bracket. Do the same on the upper holes. Once you get your bolts slid through on each side of the bracket, it will hold itself into place, making it easier to install your hardware. On each bolt we're going to slide on a lock washer, followed by a nut. We're just going to get those started, as we're going to need to put Red Lock Tite on all of our hardware.Now we're going to go back and we're going to put some Lock Tite on all of the hardware we just installed. If it's necessary, you may need to loosen the bolts and remove them to get the Lock Tite on, and then re-insert them. Now we'll go back through and tighten down all of our hardware. The large bolts that go through the side of frame, you'll tighten down with a 15/16 socket. The bolts on the bottom and side, you'll tighten with a 3/4 inch wrench and socket. Then go back and torque all of your hardware to the specifications in your instructions.Now we've got our fender liners re-installed, and we're all set. In order to complete our flat tow set up with our 2018 Toyota Tacoma, we use Roadmaster's EZ 5 Base Plate, part number RM-521196-5. Roadmaster's Falcon All Terrain Non-binding Tow Bars, part number RM-522, Roadmaster's Universal Diode Wiring Kit, part number RM-152-98146-7, SMI's Stay N Play Duo Supplemental Braking System, part number SM99251, and Roadmaster's Battery Charge Line Kit, for the motor home, that's part number RM156-75, and for the vehicle it was part number RM-156-25. Lastly, we used Roadmaster's Safety Cables, part number RM-645.That completes our installation of Roadmaster's EZ 5 Base Plate Kit on our 2018 Toyota Tacoma.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (2041 Customer Reviews)
Designed for use with motor-home-mounted tow bars, the direct-connect brackets are virtually invisible, easy to mount and remove, and they eliminate the need for a quick-disconnect crossbar on your tow bar. Installs on your vehicle's frame.This took a fair amount of time to install. One of the flange nuts was not welded straight so it tooks sim time to figure out why the bolt was wanting to cross thread. I did it not get photos but I had to grind the flange a bit to get it to align.
This is the forth Roadmaster bracket I have put on in the last 20 years. The custom fit makes it easy to install. I would not call myself a mechanic and was able to install these brackets in about two hours. I was not in a hurry. Camping World charges $500 just to put these brackets on !! Great instructions. Roadmaster makes a great product. Ordering from etrailer was easy and the brackets arrived within a week.
Your video is a good supplement to Roadmaster's printed instructions but more coverage needs to be paid to dealing with the inner fender liner. You did highlight how to unclip one of the nearly hidden fasteners (thank you!) but that liner needs considerable trimming and knowing that early on would be very helpful.
Amazing!!!!! Was super easy to install, everything fit just right - kinda like a plug an play !!
I bought and self installed this on my 2021 GMC Sierra Duramax 1 year ago. Install took about 5 hours and wasn't difficult...I could problty install it in 2-3 hours after leaening the tricks. Weve towed the truck all over the USA since then (over 10,0000 miles) and it works great! I've used other brands and highly recommend Roadmaster tow systems over the competition.
The Roadmaster direct connect base was a perfect fit for my 2013 focus S to flat tow. We had it installed in about 3 hrs following the complete direction and pictures. I highly recommend using etrailer.
Good product. If you are reasonably handy and have some tools, you can install this yourself in a few hours. I'm a mechanic, it took me a little over 2 hours to install on my own toad. The fit is good, there are 4 holes you have to drill, otherwise it is plug and play. When you insert and twist lock the tow bar mounts into their sockets they feel a little sloppy but they are secure, and i never noticed any rattle when towing. Overall i give it a 4 out of 5 for easy install and clean look after install. Pic included of installed base plate.
Installed on my 2020 Jeep Cherokee for flat towing behind our motorhome . I wanted a tow bar connection that integrated with the front end of the Jeep and the removable arms did the trick . I had one issue with the driver side receiver bracket not lining up with the upper mount bolt hole on the Jeep, image 0547. Had to make a slight adjustment to the receiver bracket so the holes would line up, image 0551 and image 0559. The rest of the install went smoothly
I also installed the Demco braking Stay n Play Duo system , image 0565 which went in without any issues, image 6028. 7 thousand miles of towing later, couldn't be happier with the products
This is a rock solid baseplate. Installed on a 2023 Equinox LT (AWD). I followed etrailer's videos for installation and they are spot on. We connect with a Roadmaster Nighthawk tow bar, charge line kit, smart diode lighting kit, and a Demco Stay-in-Play supplimental braking system. It is fairly well hidden when not in-use. This setup is great!
Exactly what I needed. Written jbstructuons were spot on and video was very helpful.
I installed them on my new RAM 1500. Works great, very heavy duty. I also modified and attached a push bumper and used the Roadmaster base plates.
Easy install. Looks great. Apparently they have made some changes so that the video is not accurate. Install instructions though were spot on. A template for cutting the grill would be an added plus.
I was very pleased with the way you handled my order. I called and was greeted pleasantly and knowledgeable about what I needed and in just a few minutes my order was placed. It arrived just as they said it would in a timely matter.
I would recommend e-trailer to anyone!
Installed on my 2020 jeep jl sport s with factory plastic bumper and plastic rock guard. Shane’s video was very helpful but I did not like how the metal plate behind the rock guard was cut away and how the rock guard had two big cut outs so I did some modifications. I cut two slots in the metal bracket and added angle brackets for extra support. As a result i did not use the supplied brackets for the rock guard. I created a template for the rock guard which resulted in two small cut outs. A lot of extra time but i am retired so time is relative. I think it looks great.
Installing on 2020 Jeep Trailhawk :
Pic #0557 : Roadmaster Base Plate Kit , Demco Supplemental Braking System , Diode Wiring Kit , Demco Battery Charge Wire Kit
Pic # 0548 ,0551 , 0559 Had to adjust the bracket plate to line up with the upper bolt holes
Pic #6028 finished install , mounted the operating unit to the top fuse box cover using automotive Velcro . Air cylinder , controller and LED light installed . Aside from the base plate bracket not lining up with the upper bolt holes I would give it 4 stars . My son in law is a master at solving mechanical issues .
The base plate arrived on time, with excellent instructions. I went slowly because my truck is only days old and still had it done in an evening.
I bought this base plate kit for my 2022 Jeep Rubicon Gladiator so I could flat tow behind my class a motor home with a Roadmaster Falcon all terrain non binding tow bar. The instructions were easy to follow and went smoothly except drilling the holes. That was my fault because I was using a dull drill bit. See attached photo
This kit worked out great for my 2022 Chevy Equinox. I like how it has separate side plates, which make it easier to attach the main bar. The points where it attaches to the frame seem plenty secure. It is important to watch the videos provided by etrailer as Ryan is very thorough and has good tips for installing. I would also recommend installing additional wiring while having the front end off. Overall, I was able to complete in my driveway. The hardest part was sorting out the wiring for whatever braking and tail lights you decide on. William S helped me pick all the necessary components needed for flat towing behind my Jayco RV. I am looking forward to a summer of camping and having more freedom to explore the area, now having a car.
The bracket kit fit my 2023 Subaru Crosstrek perfectly. The instructions are excellent and the video is really useful too. I’m really pleased with this RoadMaster bracket kit and the support from eTrailer.
Item works good. We pulled our ‘21 Canyon behind our RV on several trips and had no issues other than you need to put in a diode to the rear lights to keep them from back feeding.
Easiest I drive done. Works perfectly. I had some concerns if it would work on my Shelby F-150. etrailer put me in touch with Roadmaster directly who had never done one either. Said if it didn’t work I could return it. It fit with minor adjustments. Have towed a few thousand miles already. Couldn’t be happier
Everything went pretty good except for the reinstall of the PAD. Had to mount it on an angle because wire to short. Love it versus the crossbar I had on Santa Fe 5 speed. Also had to wire 12v outlet and emergency brake switch wiring into drivers side which was fairly easy. And 12v charging circuit for battery. My grandson Seth made it look easy.
Great Company Product arrived on time and the tracking information was above and beyond what I expected Product is exactly as described and of excellent quality
Would highly recommend etrailer and Roadmaster
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