Components Needed To Flat Tow A 2012 Ram 3500

Question:

I am looking to purchase all of the components needed in order to flat town my truck behind my motorhome. Below are the vehicle specifications as well as the items that I think I will need in order have all the items to complete. Can you please review and see if I am missing something or if additional components are needed: Vehicle- 2012 Dodge Ram 3500 CrewCab 4X4 Vehicle GVW = 10,100 Pounds Items I think I will need: Blue Ox Base Plate Kit BX1989 Etrailer XHD NonBindng Tow Bar for Blue OX Base Plate e67ZR Brake Buddy Classic 3 Portable Braking System HM39494 Blue Ox Tow Bar Wiring System BLU79FR Questions – Does the wiring system keep the vehicles battery charged while it is being towed? The Tow bars looked like they come with safety cables already installed so no additional cables needed? Please let me know if you think I should change add, or remove any items.

asked by: Brandon P

Expert Reply:

The Blue Ox Base Plate Kit # BX1989 would be a fit for your 2012 Ram 3500. With your Ram being 10,100lbs I'm a bit leery to use a tow bar with a 10,500lb capacity because you could easily overload the tow bar if you store anything in the bed of the truck. Personally, I would go get your truck weighed at a highway weigh station to know your exact weight before using the etrailer XHD Non-Binding Tow Bar # e67ZR.

Most manufacturers recommend only using about 80-85% of a towing component's max capacity so if you really are sitting at 10,100lbs I would go up a weight class to the Blue Ox Apollo Non-Binding Tow Bar # BX7470. This tow bar has a 15,000lb capacity, but would require that your motorhome has a 2-1/2" receiver. You would want to check the capacity of your motorhome's trailer hitch either way to see what its capacity is and see if it needs to be swapped out to tow your Ram. Both tow bar options do come with safety cables so you wouldn't need to purchase any separately.

The Brake Buddy Classic 3 Portable Braking System # HM39494 is a good portable option, but it only has a 3 stage sensitivity setting for the braking power instead of being proportional. If you'd prefer a braking system that will brake with the same intensity as you press on the brake pedal in the motorhome then you'll want the Select 3 # HM39524 instead. Both of these systems do come with a vehicle charge line kit included to keep the battery charged. If you don't have a charge line ran for the motorhome then you'd need part # RM-156-75.

The Blue Ox Tow Bar Wiring Kit # BLU79FR is designed for specific Jeep Wrangler models and aren't compatible with a Ram so you would need a diode kit like the Roadmaster Diode 7-Wire to 6-Wire Flexo-Coil Wiring Kit # RM-15267. This would splice into the factory tail light wiring to display your motorhome's traffic signals through the tail lights of the Ram.

The only other thing you might need is a high/low adapter to keep the tow bar level between the Ram and motorhome, but it's hard to say exactly what you'll need without everything installed for us to measure. I've attached a help article below that will go over how to determine the correct adapter needed.