Toad baseplates - who installed yours?

[snowbird47]

I am going to buy a lighter weight car to tow behind my Greyhawk, and will be buying a Blue Ox baseplate for that. These tend to be quite a bit of work to install, and I was wondering who everybody had do the install:
RV service Dept; Body shop; local mechanic; or other. I would appreciate all input as to why you made the choice you did.

[norty1]

The only one I installed was done by me. I would likely take it to a hitch shop if needed again.

[Boss Wagon]

I installed my own back in 2001 on a Geo Tracker. I used a Demco baseplate and bar based on their pricing and construction. Their website at the time had install instructions you could review.

The Tracker made an ideal tow due to its weight and fact it could be towed four flat with no mods. The simplicity of the vehicle made the baseplate installation easy. Shame those vehicles are now all used up.

I would check for an independent garage that services RVs and inquire with them first.

[donellen30]

We had ours, also a blueox, installed by the rv dealer where we bought the Greyhawk. Costly, but I wanted to be confident it was installed correctly.

[OnTheGo]

Ours was done by Blue Ox in Pender, NE. I know it's not convenient for everyone. They have their own campground right next to the plant.

Contact Blue Ox and they will give you some installers in your area. What brake system are you going with? We have US Gear's Unified Tow Brake, don't know the car is back there.

[bgermane]

Roadmaster brackets installed by me on our Ford Explorer. It's a bit of work, but not too bad. Had to pound it on and off a few times with some grinding in between. About 4 hours of work. If you are even a little inclined and have the tools, you can do it. Camping World is so cheap now, I would go that route.

[snowbird47]

Originally Posted by OnTheGo

Ours was done by Blue Ox in Pender, NE. I know it's not convenient for everyone. They have their own campground right next to the plant.

Contact Blue Ox and they will give you some installers in your area. What brake system are you going with? We have US Gear's Unified Tow Brake, don't know the car is back there.

Thanks, I will contact Blue Ox for potential installers. I already have the RVi2 Auxiliary Braking system and am very happy with it.

Originally Posted by bgermane

Roadmaster brackets installed by me on our Ford Explorer. It's a bit of work, but not too bad. Had to pound it on and off a few times with some grinding in between. About 4 hours of work. If you are even a little inclined and have the tools, you can do it. Camping World is so cheap now, I would go that route.

I have had too many bad experiences with Camping Worlds service department to ever trust them again.

[RogerSwann]

I have installed on a Honda CRV and installed, removed, and reinstalled on a 2 different Chevy Suburban's. I consider myself an average do it yourselfer. Most install with only minor drilling and trimming of fascia, etc

[Stevefaync]

We had the dealer where we purchased our last RV install the Blue Ox base plate. We used an aluminum Blue Ox tow bar, and really enjoyed it. Would recommend the same again.

[rcase13]

I installed myself on a 2013 Honda Fit. It was straight forward with a little difficulty with the fiddly plastic connections.

[reitrof]

I installed myself. I know Roadmaster supplies the instructions to install the base plates, I would think Blue Ox does the same. If you're handy with tools it's not a hard job.

If not or you're unsure then find a qualified installer.

[Bluesky46]

I had the RV dealer that sold me the tow bar (Falcon II) and baseplate (Roadmaster) do the installation. I consider myself a better than average do it myselfer, but like others wanted to be sure it was done right, and the extra cost was minimal considering the cost of the RV, base plate and tow bar. I think my parts for all, including Brake II system and toad wiring was around $4k

[reitrof]

Be aware also that the towbar requires cleaning and servicing. I do this once a year. I also check the base plate bolts and re-torque them also.

[bgermane]

Originally Posted by reitrof

Be aware also that the towbar requires cleaning and servicing. I do this once a year. I also check the base plate bolts and re-torque them also.

Roadmaster states that the bolts should be re-torqued every 3000 miles. Some cars, like our Explorer, have a lot of bodywork that is plastic and isn't made to be removed and installed several times. I backed-up all the 3/4" hardware with nylocks so I don't have to remove everything every year. There are a few bolts that I can get to, and I plan to check those periodically. If those bolts are maintaining torque, then I will feel comfortable with the remainder that I can't get to.

[BobK]

I'm getting into this discussion a bit late, but will say something anyway. I pull a towed behind a Greyhawk 31FK.
I have installed my own Blue Ox baseplates two times. The first was on a 1998 Dodge RAM stick shift pickup. It was a bit of work but certainly doable. After the motor in the RAM died after only 272,000 miles I bought a Nissan Frontier with stick shift. Again it was a bit of work that I did a bit here and there over a period of three days. Most things take me longer to do now that I am a Traumatic Brain Injury survivor.
In both cases the instructions had a few errors that I had to figure out in order to get the job finished. For example, on the Frontier instructions in step 8 it said to remove some bolts and then remove the fascia. In step 10 it said to remove some more bolts. These bolts also have to be removed before the fascia can be removed. In both installs I found that a rat tail file came in handy to widen some holes so that the provided bolts would fit.