Yes...More Jeep Toad Questions!

[SarahW]

I know that a lot of people are towing Wranglers, so help out a goober, please. I have read all the Towing Guides until I'm cross-eyed, studied the GCWR/GVWR stuff, and found a Jeep that we want. SO. Here are my questions...take pity on me.

- Which is the best type tow-bar, base plate, etc. for a Wrangler?
- Where would I buy the towing stuff, and is it installed by the Jeep dealership or the towing retailer?
- Is the toad braking system a separate deal, or is it purchased/installed at the same time?
- How about the lights connections? Are those another purchase?
- Is there a retail installer (Camping World?) that sells/installs the whole ball of wax??
- Any ballpark $$ estimates?

Help...

[tj4dirt]

- Which is the best type tow-bar, base plate, etc. for a Wrangler?
Demco, Blue Ox and Roadmaster all make good equipment, tow bars and baseplates
- Where would I buy the towing stuff, and is it installed by the Jeep dealership or the towing retailer? Most places that repair RV's will install baseplates, and do the wiring for the lights. Some dealers will as well. There is also places that install hitches. In most cases you can either buy it and have them install it, or buy it through them.
- Is the toad braking system a separate deal, or is it purchased/installed at the same time? There are several kinds of braking systems, from the Brake Buddy that just sits in the vehicle to others that have to be installed. These can be bought separately or done at the same time, it's up to you.
- How about the lights connections? Are those another purchase?
The lights are generally done at the same time as the baseplate.
- Is there a retail installer (Camping World?) that sells/installs the whole ball of wax?? Yes, Camping World will do the whole package for you, but there is also other RV repair places will do it as well.
- Any ballpark $$ estimates? If you buy new, around $3000. If you buy the tow bar used you can save a lot of money, as well as if you can do the wiring yourself you can save a little there as well.

[SarahW]

Thanks so much, TJ! Like everything else with a moho, this is turning out to be a bigger deal than I thought. Guess I'll start calling around to RV repair shops.

[Mr_D]

First off, is the Jeep towable four down? Not all of them are.

[SarahW]

Yep; it's a 2012 Wrangler and can be towed 4-down.

[jdarling10]

Simple....BLUE OX...CALL DAVE 303-898-2476


JDARLING
2002 38.5 Alpine
Jeep Liberty

[Steve N Sal]

You might want to take a look at the ReadyBrute towing system. They incorporate the brake system within the towbar. Pretty neat setup. A fella here in the park has it and really likes his. He uses it on a Ford F150 club cab p/u truck. The Jeep Base plates were always the easiest of any base plate to install so may want to take a look at it before you contract your job out to someone. Could save you a few $$$$$ in installation cost. As far as the wiring you could get a set of lights from Harbor Freight that attach with magnets. They cost about $20 for the set and will hookup to the wiring already installed on the back of the motorhome with the appropriate plug.

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by Steve N Sal

You might want to take a look at the ReadyBrute towing system. They incorporate the brake system within the towbar. Pretty neat setup. A fella here in the park has it and really likes his. He uses it on a Ford F150 club cab p/u truck. The Jeep Base plates were always the easiest of any base plate to install so may want to take a look at it before you contract your job out to someone. Could save you a few $$$$$ in installation cost. As far as the wiring you could get a set of lights from Harbor Freight that attach with magnets. They cost about $20 for the set and will hookup to the wiring already installed on the back of the motorhome with the appropriate plug.

Thanks! I have heard that Jeeps are a simple baseplate installation and I'm all about saving a few $$$!! I'll check out the ReadyBrute.

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by Steve N Sal

You might want to take a look at the ReadyBrute towing system. They incorporate the brake system within the towbar. Pretty neat setup.

Thanks again for this info. I have been over on the ReadyBrake website, watching videos and reading! That looks like a great solution for us, and a lifetime warranty sounds great. Plus, the price seems really reasonable for the ReadyBrute. This may be "the one."

[Mr_D]

Personally I use RoadMaster as they're they only ones that use "Finite analysis" on their towing systems. Being a retired transportation engineer I like the fact that the strength is proven.

[teamwally]

Good questions, TJ jeeps are super simple to tow. We have had great success with the Roadmaster systems. We've settled on the Falcon. I just lock the bar on the Jeep when not towing. I tried the leave on the MoHo version and frankly found the Falcon less work. I use locking hitch pins on the base plate to bar mounts and on the thru pins as well. Less chance of idle hands being mischievous that way. Wiring was super easy, 6 pin connector in the grill, just down and over from the the headlight. 3 diodes to protect the Jeep wiring and away we go. The big bucks for the mounting plate was a bit of a shock, however Roadmaster has done the research. We've upgraded to a pusher and are now contemplating equipping DW's Tahoe so will probably add a brake system.

[FlyingDiver]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Personally I use RoadMaster as they're they only ones that use "Finite analysis" on their towing systems. Being a retired transportation engineer I like the fact that the strength is proven.

I gotta call BS on that. Finite Analysis is a standard structural engineering technique. Anyone designing structural parts (like a tow bar) will do so. I don't believe that RoadMaster is the ONLY manufacturer doing so.

When we visited Blue Ox a couple years ago, they were working with the Army designing a tow-bar system that could be used to tow M-1 tanks. I think he said the bar was being designed to tow 50 tons. You don't do that kind of work by the seat of your pants.

joe

[FlyingDiver]

To the OP -

You'll get fans of all the different tow system vendors. We went with Blue Ox because the baseplate on their systems is less conspicuous than the others (In our opinion). We've had their baseplates on a 2008 Buick Enclave, 2010 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, and now a 2012 Jeep Liberty. Same towbar, just different baseplates.

I've always used specialty hitch shops for the install. I wouldn't trust most RV dealers to do it right, nor a Jeep dealer. Blue Ox has an authorized installer lookup on their website, or use the contact form to ask them. The on-line database isn't very accurate, for some reason. We've had two of the three installs done by Spillar Hitch in Austin, for example. The other was by a hitch and towing shop in Phoenix, when we bought the Wrangler in Scottsdale.

The base plate installer will usually be able to do the light setup as well. They're commonly done at the same time. Blue Ox sells a lighting kit for most of the cars they have baseplates for.

Some of the shops that do a lot of baseplate business also have experience installing brake systems. Randy at Spillar is also doing the install of our SMI Air Force One, but I have to bring it back in after I get a couple replacement parts from SMI. He's got experience installing them, but does not sell SMI and doesn't have the parts.

If you get an in-vehicle brake system, there might not be much installation to do.

joe

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by FlyingDiver

I gotta call BS on that. Finite Analysis is a standard structural engineering technique. Anyone designing structural parts (like a tow bar) will do so. I don't believe that RoadMaster is the ONLY manufacturer doing so.

When we visited Blue Ox a couple years ago, they were working with the Army designing a tow-bar system that could be used to tow M-1 tanks. I think he said the bar was being designed to tow 50 tons. You don't do that kind of work by the seat of your pants.

joe

Call it what you want, RoadMaster syas they are the only ones and no one has refuted it yet. I'm sure that if others were doing it they'd advertise the fact, and they aren't