To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
Designed for use with motor-home-mounted tow bars, direct-connect brackets eliminate the need for a crossbar on your tow bar. Twist-lock arms are virtually invisible, easy to mount, and simple to remove. 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 the direct-connect 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.
Note: The safety cables included with Roadmaster's Sterling tow bars will not work with these direct-connect base plates and require crossbar-style base plates instead.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (2083 Customer Reviews)
Designed for use with motor-home-mounted tow bars, direct-connect brackets eliminate the need for a crossbar on your tow bar. Twist-lock arms are virtually invisible, easy to mount, and simple to remove. Installs on your vehicle's frame.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.
Works great so far! Annoying enough to install that we used a local shop but it's been zero drama since then.
Roadmaster EZ-5 base plate install on 2012 Chevy Sonic. My wife and I completed the install in about 5 hours. The Roadmaster directions are good but skip from step 5 to step 7. There should be a step 6 that describes how to pull the bumper cover away from the fender without ruining the slots on the bumper cover that match tabs on the lower part of the fender. We went to the etrailer install video to see how they removed the bumper cover. We did just what the video showed and ended up tearing the slots so now the bumper cover sticks out a little at the front of the fender. The fit of the EZ-5 base plate was very good. Cutting the lower grill for the tow bar adapters was fairly easy and doesn't look too bad. The kit was missing a couple of the 1/2" washers, otherwise a complete kit. We are happy with our install and saved hundreds of dollars doing the work ourselves.
Excellent installation video really helped. This is the second of your baseplates that I have installed and this video shortened my install time from 8 hours to 5 hours. Wife is picky and loves the product.
Tow bar bracket arrived quick lnstructions were easy to follow took about 3 hrs to install very pleased with everything will recommend installed on a 2012 Chevy sonic
Installation was per the directions with no problems.
Perfect installation. works as advertis ed..
Very easy to install . Took about 1 and half hours and it looks perfect
Easy install and quality product.
Very Good Service
Thanks again Greg.
satisfied with product,easy to install no problems
worked as expected.
Product is great and was shipped very q uickly.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Do you have a question about this Tow Bar 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.
Thank you! Your comment has been submitted successfully. You should be able to view your question/comment here within a few days.
Error submitting comment. Please try again momentarily.