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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.
Today, on our 2014 Fiat 500L, we're going to be taking a look at and installing the Roadmaster EZ5 Base Plate Kit with Removable Arms, part number RM-522014-5. This is what your base plate is going to look like once it's installed in the vehicle. Nice, sleek, tucked away, the only thing that is going to be sticking out is going to be those chain tie-downs until you place on your arms. Place it in, let go, rotate it, and it's clicked and locked in place. They come with a bracket and the self-tapping screws to make way for that wiring harness. The first thing we're going to need to do is remove the six Phillips head screws on the bottom side of the fascia securing it to the core support. You're going to have three here: one, two, three, and three here: one, two, and three. Now, keep in mind that the six fasteners here on the passenger side are going to be the same to remove on the driver side. Now, on the inside of the fender, we're going to be moving to next, to remove the Phillips fastener here, and here, as well as the T30 Torx bit fastener located here at the seam.
Keep in mind that you will need to move your tires and adjust them to one side or the other to get in here to remove these. Now, if the Torx bit fastener is undone in the wheel wells and all the rest of the Phillips head screws underneath, we'll be able to open up the hood and remove the other Torx bit fasteners securing the top plate here. Now, we'll go ahead and remove the front fascia and bumper. First thing we'll do is pull out and away to remove the bumper. We're going to pull out on the bottom corner to remove it from the locking tab here. Once we have it out and away, we can go ahead and start peeling it back, making sure that once we get out a little bit to where we can get behind it, we'll disconnect the lights. You'll see the light harness right here and we'll just reach in, press in, and disconnect that. All right, you're going to notice that there's going to be another harness down below.
I'm going to go ahead and disconnect it from this one here. That'll be for the fog lights. Next step is going to be to loosen up these nuts securing the coolant lines here. Now, be very careful here that you don't break them or bend them too much. The reason we're going to need to move them is because they're in the way of the factory bolts securing the bumper. Now, we're going to need to replace our bumper with that base plate, so we're going to loosen those up and this should give us enough movement to be able to move them out of the way. We're going to go ahead and loosen up our fifteen-millimeter bolts securing our bumper to the frame.
This side is going to be your most difficult, especially on the bottom side, down here, but if we can get these ones out, the rest of it we can get with our power tool. Now, it's okay to pull these out since we do have the alignment tabs securing it still, so you can go ahead and pull them out and you won't need to worry about securing and holding the bumper down. Now, we'll go ahead and remove the three ten-millimeter alignment tab nuts. Then, there is one on the passenger side. You'll want to pull the bumper straight out, and you'll need to pull it over the top of the coolant lines. We're going to remove the radiator shroud next.
You're going to have two screws fastening it to the front, and then two little push fasteners up here at the top. This will be removed from the vehicle in case if the factory bumper would ever need to be reinstalled. Press in the tabs on the back side here and pull out. Now, we're going to go ahead and put our base plate in place, lining it up with the alignment tabs on the bottom first. Remember to get your passenger side in first and rotate it over since you do have the coolant lines in the way. Once we have it in place, we can go ahead and let it rest while we get the hardware to secure it. We're going to go ahead and temporarily fasten the two top ones on each side, so that way we can put our red Loctite on and secure our bottom ones in place. Once we have those in place, we'll come back, remove the top ones on both sides, that way we know that it's going to be aligned perfectly, and then put the red Loctite on those and fasten them down. All right, now we'll go ahead and place red lock tight on our factory bolts and re-secure them. Make sure that you hand thread them in first just to make sure that they're going to be in there correctly and not cross-threaded. Now, we'll go ahead and repeat that here on the passenger side. Remember, you may need to bend these out a little bit, just to get the bolts back into the holes, but you don't want to bend on them too much since they are pressurized lines. All right, now we'll go ahead and mark our fascia to make our cuts and trim it away to fit over our base plate. You can note the instructions to find out the exact notches that you're going to need to cut in your specific bumper. Note that different models will require different trimming. This is going to be the driver side and we're going to start off by removing this one here, we'll just mark it with the paint pen where we're going to notch it. We'll be removing this whole area here, and then it'll just be reversed on the other side. Now that we've got our inserts cut out, we'll go ahead and clean it up with a carpenter's knife. Now, we'll go ahead and torque our factory bolts to manufacturer specifications. Now, we'll go ahead and re-secure our coolant lines here on the passenger side. Just for safe keeping and in case any future owner of the vehicle wants to place the factory bumper back on, we're going to go ahead and put these alignment fastener nuts back in place as well. Now, we'll go ahead and put our bumper back in place. Remember that we'll slide in the bottom first, then we'll make those connections to our lights. Once we have those in place, go ahead and slide the top up in. That will do it for our review and installation of the Roadmaster EZ5 Base Plate Kit with Removable Arms, part number RM-522014-5, on our 2014 Fiat 500L. You can find this and everything else right here at eTrailer.com.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (2064 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.Hitch arrived on time, fit perfect, installation directions were great. Happy customer.
Great product with very GOOD instructions! It virtually is unnoticeable on our Fiat 500L.
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.
I reported that one of the removable tow arms was missing to etrailer within hours of receiving the baseplate. This was due to the shipping box being damaged during transit and likely just fell out. After four business days with no communication from etrailer I contacted Roadmaster. A couple of emails and they shipped the part. Very disappointed having to do etrailer's legwork. For this I will give etrailer one star.
The baseplate RM 524473-5 for a 2023 Ford Escape fit as expected sorta. Had to apply a 3 pound hammer as the mounting brackets were tweaked a little likely from welding and pulling a little out of square. I felt the instructions had a lot of reading between the lines, a couple of times I just about picked up the phone and called them to see if my interpretation was correct. But I just consulted with my analytical 15 year old grandson and we figured it out. (His 18 year old brother served to knock me to the floor and pull me back up again, faster than calling a crane service.)
My big complaint was that they could have provided actual measurements where to drill the Tupperware where the arms go through, there is a couple of reverence points that could be used. There was a few minor things that didn't/did need to be done but likely could easily be because of running production changes. (And better packing of 45 pounds of steel by RM)
The tow bars hook up easily to my dinghy car, a 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid. I like that the arms dis-attach easily and can be stored elsewhere. The tow arms attach quickly and easily to the baseplate arms. I do like this system. The installers put it in, so I cannot comment on how easy that was. I know the installers contacted etrailer for their questions, so I was glad to hear that.
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.
The brackets are heavy and feel solid. The mounting is straightforward on my 2024 GMC Sierra Denali 1500. You will lose the front tow hooks but I feel the tow bracket inserts will be safe to use if needed for a rescue. They are barely noticeable to the casual person when the inserts are removed for daily driving.
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!
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.
Exactly what I needed. Written jbstructuons were spot on and video was very helpful.
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 .
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!
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 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
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.
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
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
Just took the maiden voyage with the new Motorhome and the new Tow Car or ( Toad ). After getting everything set up and installed on the coach and the dingy towing was a breeze. Hardly even noticed that i was towing a car behind me. Bought all RoadMaster equipment and purchased everything from etrailer, baseplate and towbar with the invisibrake system and all the necessary cables. Etrailer was Awesome they made sure that I had everything needed and that everything fit my vehicle.
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