Community Forums

brobox · 10-01-2020, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prairie Dog

so, does it use the air from the coach?...and the brake cable you mention, is the wiring harness?

Check their website and watch the video. Go over to the Toad forum and search Ready Brake where you will find 1,000's of users. No air on this system, no pumps to fail, nothing but a simple cable to the brake pedal. The entire brake system is built into the tow bar. It is the K.I.S.S. method, next to Plug and Play, are my type of systems.

For some reason many of the Entegra crowd doesn't use them, but many outside of Entegra do.

TurboDaveTX · 10-01-2020, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prairie Dog

That sounds interesting. Do you think there is a similar bumper made for Sahara? Might be easier than dealing with baseplate. I’m guessing you still had to put wiring harness on Jeep?

All Wranglers by year use the same bumper. Sahara is just a Wrangler with fancy paint, interior and decals. Rubicon has a number of mechanical differences mainly fire more serious off roading, like sway bar disconnects, front and read differential lockers, down hill brake, and a 4:1 transfer case ratio rather than a 2:1.

I bought Raptor Toad side AF-1 kit from ETrailers and a plug and play wiring for it. If you have an AF-1 on your coach, you will use same tow bar, electrical connection, air connection and brake away cable that you are currently using. I bet they make a plug and play wiring kit for Wranglers! I would not be surprised if base plate kit is more complicated to install than the bumper. When the smoke settles and dust clears, the tow tabs for the towbar are mounted on the bumper and the bolts that hold them on also hold the bumper on are bolted directly to the end of the frame rail. 4 bolts! Look at a picture of what is included in tow bar bracket kit!

Prairie Dog · 10-01-2020, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TurboDaveTX

If you have an AF-1 on your coach, you will use same tow bar, electrical connection, air connection and brake away cable that you are currently using.

My coach has never had a toad. It is stock Spartan.

RayandWendy · 10-01-2020, 10:13 AM

You said you had the air connection, so your good to go. You have the receiver hitch and 7 pin electrical connector. Safety cables and breakaway connections to the coach are just solid cables.

Later ...
Ray

Prairie Dog · 10-01-2020, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RayandWendy

You said you had the air connection, so your good to go. You have the receiver hitch and 7 pin electrical connector. Safety cables and breakaway connections to the coach are just solid cables.

Later ...
Ray

[emoji1303] thanks Ray

BaldDaddy · 10-01-2020, 01:57 PM

Not giving up my Model S just yet as it stays in the garage and watches as we head on out of the driveway. Traded my DW's F-150 in for the new Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, granted it is far from being inexpensive, but what a fun vehicle to have. Pop off the doors and the roof for some good, open-air times. I installed an AF-1, along with the direct connect kit from Roadmaster. With Rubicons, they have a heavy metal skid plate so the install was just a bit more complicated but nothing difficult. Less than 5 minutes to connect/disconnect. Great set up for heading down the road.

Prairie Dog · 10-01-2020, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaldDaddy

Not giving up my Model S just yet as it stays in the garage and watches as we head on out of the driveway. Traded my DW's F-150 in for the new Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, granted it is far from being inexpensive, but what a fun vehicle to have. Pop off the doors and the roof for some good, open-air times. I installed an AF-1, along with the direct connect kit from Roadmaster. With Rubicons, they have a heavy metal skid plate so the install was just a bit more complicated but nothing difficult. Less than 5 minutes to connect/disconnect. Great set up for heading down the road.

That's interesting as I was test driving a Gladiator Overland today and wondered about the tow setup.

bevandtomH · 10-02-2020, 06:49 AM

One thing about Jeep Wranglers, you can select your base plate and mount it yourself or go with a whole new bumper like Turbo’s.
I used the Currie Rock Jocks base plate, Ready Brute Elite for the tow bar. Did install myself with neighbors help. Had Jeep dealer install the Jeep wiring harness. Simple set up and pretty bullet proof. IIR, all in was around $2K.
I was going to go the AFO route until I saw the RBE. Just liked it better being all mechanical.

Prairie Dog · 10-02-2020, 11:16 AM

RBE? what is it....so you have no brake assist?

bevandtomH · 10-02-2020, 11:30 AM

Ready Brake Elite is a mechanical style of braking.
As the Jeep pushes against the coach, a lever will flip, pulling on my brake cable which is attached to my brake pedal. No additional brake assist is required.
It is proportional. When I accelerate, the lever flips back, releasing any applied braking in the Jeep.
There a bunch of videos and better explanation on their web page. It’s a nice system.

https://www.readybrake.com/faq.html

BaldDaddy · 10-03-2020, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prairie Dog

That's interesting as I was test driving a Gladiator Overland today and wondered about the tow setup.

Not sure if the Overland has the metal, or more common, plastic skid plate. Regardless, with all of the required towing components removed (mounts, cables, etc), you would be hard pressed to see any modifications to the front end of the Jeep and no cross bar to deal with. I do zip tie the break-away pin to the harness when not towing, and carry a spare in the Jeep in the event someone decides to walk off with it, engaging the brakes on the AF-1. Happy to share photos or info should you decide to go down the Jeep path and wish for a similar install.

Gary.Jones · 10-03-2020, 07:53 AM

Eric

Thanks for bringing this up, and I have noted over the years that a whole lot of owners (me included) did not carry a spare key for their AFO systems and everyone should have at least one.

The AFO has an emergency tear away system in case for some reason the toad gets loose from the coach and heads off on its own. Unlikely, but it does happen. So there is another small wire line that attaches to the coach and to the tear away unit. If the toad gets loose, the wire pulls the "key" out of the tear-away unit which locks the brakes on the toad and hopefully brings it to a safe halt. However, that key just pulls out and pushes back in, and if you ever encountered a smart a** who for some reason doesn't like you, a nifty trick is to simply pull out the tear-away "key" and your toad brakes are locked and the toad is not going to go anywhere. It would be a dirty trick. Luckily most kids or truckers don't know about.

You can buy a spare AFO tear-away key from etrailers.com and everyone who uses the AFO system should probably have one or two with them just in case.

Gary

MandyG · 10-04-2020, 02:57 PM

I tow a Honda CRV and I love it. It’s light and very economical.

JBradC · 10-04-2020, 02:58 PM

We replaced our 2012 Colorado with a new 2020 and have really enjoyed it. I would recommend driving all the suggested vehicles and see which is most comfortable for you. We have a hard tonneau cover on the truck and really enjoy the added secure storage.