Installing Ready Brake

[jackthebear]

Has anyone installed the brake cable & breakaway cable on a 2011 Escape? I cannot see anyway to mount the brackets & route the cables. There also isn't any room behind the baseplate for cables as the rad is immediately behind the baseplate. Any help would be appreciated.

[Magumba]

We use a Ready Brake Brute to tow our 98 Jeep Cherokee with the breakaway system. I did not do the installation, the dealer who did the base install did the Ready Brake as well. When I've had questions Night Shift Auto has been very helpful in answering my questions.

I'm laid up right now post hip replacement so I can't crawl under and see how the breakaway is mounted to our Jeep but I think the break away plate is screwed to the bottom of the base plate.

One thing I've found is if someone inadvertently pulls on the red loop of the break away while hooking or unhooking the breakaway holds that tension however slight. I had a situation where my Jeep's brake lights were staying on after I drove the Jeep, I had to hook my toe under the brake pedal and lift up before getting out to keep the brake lights from remaining on. This went on for a few weeks when I thought to check the cable runs for the Ready Brake. I found the breakaway cable was tight when it should have had a little slack. After I released the breakaway device the brake light problem stopped after that.

One problem I had was hooking up the sense wire for the wireless remote brake monitor light. There was not much room under the dash to access the brake light switch. Instead I took one tail light off and hooked the sense wire to the brake light wire then ran several feet of wire forward from there. I then hook the wireless remote to that wire. Works great.

We really like the Ready Brake it was a pile of money less then a Brake Buddy or some other system and the parts never have to be touched other then hooking up the two cables. It is also very easy to hookup and use. I hope you enjoy towing with your Ready Brake.

[jackthebear]

Thanks for the reply. I am a fan of Ready Brake as I had it on my '06 Unlimited which I just traded for the '11 Escape. The install on the Jeep was a piece of cake. The Escape has been a nightmare, The whole front fascia had to be removed to install the baseplate, & no convenient place to mount the electrical receptacle . I did not have the replacement cables yet from Ready Brake yet(that's another story). Ready brake could not offer any advice but did give me the name & # of their installer, who was able to help. I have to build an angle iron bracket 3-4" below the base plate to mount the cables too, remove the front fascia again to cut holes thru the plastic below the radiator to run the cable.
It wouldn't be a big problem for an installer who has done an Escape before, but to figure it out from the start, and without all the parts...

[Magumba]

It's tough when you are the one who is paying for the installer to learn how to do your vehicle. The dealer who did ours had never seen a Ready Brake before so we paid for his learning curve.
Sorry I can't be of more help with your Escape.

[sdennislee]

Was hoping for a real simple answer to the Escape mounting, DW drives and 2010 Escape and I was thinking it would be our new toad.

[jackthebear]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, it's a bummer paying for someone to learn how to install the system. That is a real problem here in Western Canada & in the Pacific Northwest as Ready Brake does not have any dealers/installers in this area.I had to swallow my pride and made an appointment for today with a competitor who sells other brake systems. They knew of Ready Brake & said that they felt they could install it. Tod at Ready Brake gave me the name & number of their local installer & he did give me some tips & he offered to advise anyone on the install by phone.
I'll know tonight if we can leave on a road trip or not!