Community Forums

JWatkins · 03-11-2008, 05:20 AM

Just bought my $1.00 a pound car! That's what i told the Dw I was looking for. Actually it turned out to be a 50 cent car!

It's in pretty good shape (in shop now for once over).

It is 2478 lbs. I have an SMI braking system. I am wondering what advice there is out there as to which baseplate to get? I have a Falcon All-terrain non-binding towbar that I got when I bought the coach used. I have looked at Blue Ox and Roadmaster baseplates, and they are similar.

Anyone have experience with this as a toad? How hard is it to attach the baseplate? Should I get the suggested harness to save a hassle?
Thanks,
Joe

JWatkins · 03-11-2008, 05:20 AM

Just bought my $1.00 a pound car! That's what i told the Dw I was looking for. Actually it turned out to be a 50 cent car!

It's in pretty good shape (in shop now for once over).

It is 2478 lbs. I have an SMI braking system. I am wondering what advice there is out there as to which baseplate to get? I have a Falcon All-terrain non-binding towbar that I got when I bought the coach used. I have looked at Blue Ox and Roadmaster baseplates, and they are similar.

Anyone have experience with this as a toad? How hard is it to attach the baseplate? Should I get the suggested harness to save a hassle?
Thanks,
Joe

ctcamper · 03-12-2008, 03:06 PM

I'd go with the roadmaster baseplate just to keep it the same as the two bar. I towed a 91 escort and it was a good tow car so I bought a new focus to replace it.
Escort/focus make a really good tow vehicle as long as you don't need 4WD. I think it is a good tow, has enough room in the cab and plenty of room for groceries or other camping goods. It's lightweight and it tows nicely.
The Falcon all terrain is the same as I use and is a good tow bar.

The xl baseplate is 330 bucks here:
http://www.rvtoyoutlet.com/p-RVRM461-1.html
The seem to be the cheapest but don't try to call them - they never seem to answer the phone. If you order online you will be ok. You order through them and roadmaster will ship out the base plate from their warehouse.

I got my baseplate for the focus a few weeks ago but have been waiting for good weather to install it. It's too cold here in the northeast to crawl around on the ground under a car yet.
Your model looks alot easier than the focus and just a little more difficult than the old 91 escort that I had.

JWatkins · 03-14-2008, 05:23 AM

Thanks ctcamper, I hope you are correct in the "easy" department. As soon as I get the car back from the shop, I will get going on it.
Joe

David K · 03-15-2008, 05:34 PM

Be ready for quite an experience in installing the base plate. I put a baseplate on my 2007 Focus and it took about 8 hours total time. Your's could be easier but, I figure they may be very close to each other. The baseplate attaches to the front end of the frame right behind the front bumper. On mine, I have the appearance package and in order to install the baseplate (I did install the Blue Ox) I had to remove the front air valance, both grills, the hood plate, the front lights, air dam, and the air filter assembly. My suggestion would be to have a blanket on the ground (I did this) and put the parts along with the bolts to fasten together on the blanket and then assembly in the reverse order. My DW almost died when I was doing this as the car was only 2 weeks old when I did it. She said that I would never get it back together again. By the way --- it tows like a charm. I also put in the light kit (the one where the bulb is added to the rear light) so I did not have to touch the car electric system.