Community Forums

gardia55 · 06-26-2016, 10:48 PM

i have identical blue ox and cmax set up over 4,000 miles awesome combo !

VP Chianese · 06-27-2016, 03:35 PM

Has there been any experience with the Fusion Energi out there?

Can't believe it would be much different than the C-Max as far as towing goes.

hilgert · 06-27-2016, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VP Chianese

Has there been any experience with the Fusion Energi out there?

Can't believe it would be much different than the C-Max as far as towing goes.

I've seen several Fusions being towed, but I never looked to see if any of them were Energi's or not. The installation of the BlueOx baseplate has a few more minor steps for the C-MAX Energi versus the non-Energi, but I'm not sure if there are the same differences on the Fusion.

VP Chianese · 06-28-2016, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hilgert

I've seen several Fusions being towed, but I never looked to see if any of them were Energi's or not. The installation of the BlueOx baseplate has a few more minor steps for the C-MAX Energi versus the non-Energi, but I'm not sure if there are the same differences on the Fusion.

Thanks.

**CountryFit** · 06-28-2016, 10:13 PM

i like c-max as a toad, but i have to wait and ask - when ford engineers can design it looking better - (1) a little longer; (2) bury the batteries somewhere, not floating on the cargo area (learn from prius look at where they place it)..

hilgert · 06-28-2016, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryFit

i like c-max as a toad, but i have to wait and ask - when ford engineers can design it looking better - (1) a little longer; (2) bury the batteries somewhere, not floating on the cargo area (learn from prius look at where they place it)..

We owned a Prius in the past (and I occasionally get one as a rental every now and then when traveling), and The wife and I like the C-MAX way better (first drove one as a rental and asked "what the heck is a C-MAX"). On the Energi I would agree that the batteries are large consumers of cargo space, and we specifically avoided the Energi because of this and have no issues with space in the rear area.

**CountryFit** · 06-29-2016, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hilgert

we specifically avoided the Energi because of this and have no issues with space in the rear area.

i had seriously intended for it but after seeing the battery there i backed out. don't tell me the battery has to be there in order to achieve the mileage. look at chevy volt, it runs double the distance of c-max's on a single charge, i bet their battery pack is probably even bigger than c-max's. but volt hides it nicely.

c-max could have been a game changer towards prius, but ford's enterprise culture allows them to push out a half-baked bread into the market. haven't the engineers/managers/vp's seen the big battery pack in the cargo space while all other makes not? they knew it but just cared less. i bet if toyota product managers seen a flawed design like that, they wouldn't let it roll out of the door.

toolman_57 · 07-03-2016, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hilgert

We recently purchased a new Class C motorhome...we wanted to be able to go into some of the smaller parks and national forest sites, so a 30-foot Class C was closer to our needs at this time. Forest River Sunseeker 2800QSF, Ford E450 chassis, with 7500lb tow capacity. As we wanted a tow vehicle on the lighter side, within a few days of the RV purchase we purchased a used 2013 C-MAX SEL (all the options including push-button start) from CarMax with a bit over 31K miles. Another reason for the C-MAX is that the normal non-RV use of the vehicle would be as a commuting car for my wife...so daily mpg was important.

I installed a BlueOx tow plate and the ReadyBrute Elite tow bar. I'm an engineer, and the operational principle for the braking aspect of the the ReadyBrute Elite sold me...nothing to break or go wrong with electronic brake systems...it's quite simply idiot proof. I also installed a charge line from the RV to keep the battery charged while towing, had an alignment done with the most positive camber I could get (close to +5°) to help with centering, and installed the BlueOx diode kit so I could use the existing brake/turn lights.

We returned yesterday from our first trip with this setup...2500 miles round-trip to Yellowstone. Setup performed flawlessly...had zero battery issues, no death wobble (I think a proper alignment with as much positive caster helps with this) and no miles accumulated (yay!) Car towed like it was barely there. Followed the normal accessory mode procedure, and left car unlocked most of the time for convenience (but used the manual lock when we ate lunch, etc.). At times I caught the wife driving the rig at speeds in excess of 75mph!!!

We are very pleased with this setup...glad we decided on the C-MAX for our towed vehicle, and glad we selected the ReadyBrute Elite tow system.

Just bought a 2016 C-Max and am looking at the ready brute set up--may not have time to get one of the elite units in time for my next trip so might go with a blue ox base plate / tow bar and the ready brute brake / break away set up. Would you mind sharing any tips you may have for routing the cables? This is the only post I could find where someone has installed this on the C-Max. Thanks for any advice you can provide.

jmckinley · 07-03-2016, 07:21 PM

It takes some type and figuring but not that hard to route the cable. Hardest thing is finding the place to bring the cable thru the firewall directly in line with brake pedal. I'll take a photo tomorrow and pm it to you.

Routing of cable is impossible to explain but you'll figure it out. Keep in mind, however, that those big yellow cables are 400 volts so be careful not to drill into them.

toolman_57 · 07-03-2016, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmckinley

It takes some type and figuring but not that hard to route the cable. Hardest thing is finding the place to bring the cable thru the firewall directly in line with brake pedal. I'll take a photo tomorrow and pm it to you.

Routing of cable is impossible to explain but you'll figure it out. Keep in mind, however, that those big yellow cables are 400 volts so be careful not to drill into them.

That would be great! Amazon has the ready brake and the matching ready brute tow bar for less than $900 total--about 200 less than I can find the eliite combo-unit (but less than the blue ox tow bar that I was thinking about). Found the blue ox clevis pins on e-bay for $75 (shipped). I think I'll go with this set up. Got to get everything orderered and delivered by next weekend.
Thank you

hilgert · 07-04-2016, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toolman_57

Just bought a 2016 C-Max and am looking at the ready brute set up--may not have time to get one of the elite units in time for my next trip so might go with a blue ox base plate / tow bar and the ready brute brake / break away set up. Would you mind sharing any tips you may have for routing the cables? This is the only post I could find where someone has installed this on the C-Max. Thanks for any advice you can provide.

It's certainly very tight behind the firewall. I drilled a hole just under the brake pedal, maybe 3 inches above where the bottom of the actual pedal would hit if you could push it to the floor.

Best to raise (in park and with parking brake engaged) the vehicle up at least 6 inches (I did 12 inches on all four wheels) for maneuvering room underneath. Make sure you keep at least one back wheel in contact with terra firma when raising...since the back wheels are the only wheels with a parking brake...then raise the other. A trick I used in my garage was to put the fronts on blocks of wood with felt on the bottom, which allowed me to turn the wheels (manually...no power) as the wood slid easily along the garage floor...to more easily get to a few of the screws for removal of some of the body parts (works best on painted floors).

The hardest part was getting the cable conduit pushed into the hole so that the retaining nut could be tightened. This part involved many swear words, and required help from my daughter by pulling the cable from inside the cabin to pull the damn thing through.

Other than that, it's really up to you on how to route the cable. I ended up using part of my BlueOx baseplate to attach the cable to. In front I attached the nylon end to a hinge so that I could tuck the hook away when my wife uses it for commuting (the normal vehicle usage). On the inside I designed a different way to connect the cable to the pedal for easy disconnect as well, but the factory method is fine (I'm an engineer, so I like to make things "better" even though they most often already work just fine the way they are).

I was able to get the ReadyBrute Elite from Amazon in two days...so you may want to look at that option.

**CountryFit** · 07-06-2016, 04:16 PM

hey guys, when you set up the charge line, did you connect the positive wire to the battery extension pole in the engine bay, or routed the wire to the battery in the trunk? i talked to a service manager in a dealer, he said he wouldn't recommend connecting to the pole as there might be some control boards/devices behind it. true?

hilgert · 07-06-2016, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryFit

hey guys, when you set up the charge line, did you connect the positive wire to the battery extension pole in the engine bay, or routed the wire to the battery in the trunk? i talked to a service manager in a dealer, he said he wouldn't recommend connecting to the pole as there might be some control boards/devices behind it. true?

The service manager does not know what he is talking about...positive is positive, period, and in my car at least there are no "control boards" behind it (at least immediately behind it) the pole. The real reason to not use the pole That said, the pole is an inconvenient and silly attachment point (so he's right, but for the wrong reason).

Near to the pole there is a red cap (or was on my vehicle), under which there are several places to attach the positive wire, and that is where I attached mine I attached the negative wire to a bolt further below that area.

hilgert · 07-06-2016, 05:40 PM

Waited too long to edit (had to drop someone off at their car). What I was going to say is the the real reason not to use the terminal is that it is used for jumpstarting the car from the front (the battery for the engine is in the rear), and you don't want to have to move stuff in order to perform a jump.

I just looked and the cover I talked about in the previous post is actually black, and it's right under the positive terminal. The cap on the terminal is red...but he cover underneath is black.

I've attached a couple of pictures to help...