Lost the car

[bruceisla]

I still can't figure out whose baseplate was installed.

If you look at the 32 second mark, I don't see any holes drilled in the frame. The holes (bolts) would be as shown on this Blue Ox baseplate.

[96 Wideglide]

You would think if he had his safety cables attached, that front end should be dragging behind the coach .

[jmckinley]

Like I said on another thread, these baseplates are never tested prior to production start up. There's no way the companies could do extensive testing on all the models they build.

When a new car comes out, all the baseplate manufacturers find vehicles somewhere and fabricate a mounting scheme based on years of experience but no testing is performed. Then they start manufacturing them and selling them. Testing is done by the first customers.

This incident and the subsequent recall are an example of this process. Hard to tell from the photos, but it looks like something on the vehicle came apart.

On my Ford CMax I noticed that the installation attached to some very thin frame sections. I added reinforcements in those areas to prevent the too-small washers from pulling through. I also eliminated the ancient technology split lockwashers, banned by the SAE 40+ years ago.

[bruceisla]

After looking thru the Roadmaster installation manual I'm beginning to think it's half of a Roadmaster install ... without the subframe braces.

[dennis45]

Originally Posted by okgc

Look again at the Roadmaster instuctions. A Roadmaster baseplate is bolted to the FRAME also. Same as BlueOX.

We'll sort of. Look at fig K & W. In the Roadmaster doc. Four bolts to the end of the frame flange to hold the baseplate to the frame.
Now, let's say the installer did not use (or have) the brackets talked about in the Demco Bulletin, what do you think would happen after a few hundred miles of pulling force on the four bolts?
In looking at both Roadmaster and Demco installation, I get the impression that they use the same basic design but Roadmaster supplies the extra braces seen in Fig M & N which would prevent the baseplate from rocking and causing the bolts to loosen.
This would really make a hell of a good campfire debate.

[hdossett]

From... Chevrolet Equinox LT AWD - Road Test - Car Reviews - Car and Driver

...the Equinox is a unibody design rather than the separate frame and body of the Explorer and TrailBlazer. Basically, it's a tall car...


Brother has a CRV and the baseplate bolts pulled through the unibody steel. I like a real frame!

H

[rgvtexan]

Originally Posted by 96 Wideglide

You would think if he had his safety cables attached, that front end should be dragging behind the coach .

I am thinking that the photos were taken after he had disconnected the front end from the tow bar. He then dove the 2 miles back to find the car. The tow bar is a Demco Excalibar in the stored position. The base plate looks very much like a Demco, but all the bolts and side plates and the 2 L brackets are missing.

[aauummm]

Very good find! That explains it. Demco is providing extra frame supports for it's baseplate because of past failures.

[Pds47]

Originally Posted by ChasA

I'd like to know why the baseplate was 2 miles away and not still attached to the towbar.

me too

[smlranger]

My comment is about what the driver said on the news video.... after he heard a noise, he 'turned on his rear view camera and saw that his car was not there'. I never turn my rear view camera off while underway since I use it like my rear view mirrors....I glance at it often. Now, looking at the camera monitor would not prevent an improperly installed baseplate from failing but I think he may have gotten some sort of notice of things were going bad if he had his monitor on.

[terry735001]

keep in mind that the guy as much as we can tell had every thing installed some where else and he did not do the work him self ..

no matter what every one may think if he was told to use it this way i dont see why he would know any better

when you pay some one else to do the work right and hope its right there is not need to keep looking every 10s to make sure the car is still back there

yes even i can look at it and see the tow bar was not installed right but i think we should be more looking for how installed it and where not to go to for work on are units ?

[JDL]

Originally Posted by smlranger

I never turn my rear view camera off while underway since I use it like my rear view mirrors....I glance at it often. Now, looking at the camera monitor would not prevent an improperly installed baseplate from failing but I think he may have gotten some sort of notice of things were going bad if he had his monitor on.

I agree, I use my rear camera to double check as I pass traffic. I turn it down at night, but it is still there. I cannot feel the toad, trailer, or bike rack, so the rear camera is my only "link".

[jacwjames]

I agree with previous post, if you look a the video there are no holes drilled into the mainframe of the vehicle that the hitch would have been attached with.

The coach driver didn't sound like he was very savy as to how these are installed as he commented "it mush not have been welded on very well".

I installed the baseplate on my 2005 Jeep myself, I had to dismantle the whole thing in order to gain access to drill the above holes. Also, the safety cables are also not visible, probably because they are a PITA to install. I wrapped my safety cables around the mainframe as many times as I could, which was tough.

I do all the maintenance on my Jeep so whenever I'm doing anything I inspect the entire setup including the safety cables.

[RickO]

Originally Posted by terry735001

keep in mind that the guy as much as we can tell had every thing installed some where else and he did not do the work him self ..

no matter what every one may think if he was told to use it this way i dont see why he would know any better

when you pay some one else to do the work right and hope its right there is not need to keep looking every 10s to make sure the car is still back there

yes even i can look at it and see the tow bar was not installed right but i think we should be more looking for how installed it and where not to go to for work on are units ?

I agree and I don't think many folks are pointing a finger at the driver. There are a lot of great technical observations for those of us interested in those things.

As for keeping the rear monitor on... I always have and I may not look at it every 10 sec but I'll bet 30 seconds don't go by without me looking at it in a normal "scan" of things. There are many things which can go wrong back there, even when everything is to code.

Rick