Dinghy F150 (or any car) recommendations

[linchat]

Would love to pull a jeep, but my family is to big. Ultimately after reading all of this, I did finally settle. As far as the break system goes, I do not tow often, and the infrequency of towing just made me go with something less permanant which could also allow me to tow something else if need be.

Decided on the RVI2 for a few reasons. 1. From what I have read the unit is low profile and has a tendency to not push up against the seat cushion (damaging the cusion) but rests against the seat frame. 2. The unit activates for no more then 15 seconds limiting the possibility of break damage. Spoke with the manufacturer about this and they said that people should not be riding breaks to begin with (usually people do this downhill) and if the driver needs to re-engage the tow vehicle breaks, to just pump the breaks.

So for the Ford F150 XLT 4wd

Breaks
1. RVI2
2. Supplemental power cable - RVI told me the f150s consoles lose power after 50 minutes to protect the battery. So need a direct run to the battery.

Base Plate:
1. Blue Ox BX2635 Baseplate for Ford F-150
2. Blue Ox BX4325 Aladdin 7,500lb Tow Bar
3. Blue Ox BX8875 Tow Bar Cover

Break Lights:
1. Initially just going to setup something temporary, either magnetic or otherwise. I do not tow much and really do not want to cut into the trucks wiring. I may do it later.

Safe T Plus (Part Numbers below for f53 26k)
1. 41-180 Safe-T-Plus Tan Motorhome Chassis
2. F53K2.5 Safe-T-Plus Bracket Kit

[KansasFR3]

We tow a Town and Country minivan on a tow dolly, and its all of 5,000lbs and more counting the junk in the trunk. I wouldn't worry so much going over to the 5k so much as the tongue weight (500lbs via conventional). You shouldn't have a problem with the right brake setup.

[linchat]

Originally Posted by KansasFR3

We tow a Town and Country minivan on a tow dolly, and its all of 5,000lbs and more counting the junk in the trunk. I wouldn't worry so much going over to the 5k so much as the tongue weight (500lbs via conventional). You shouldn't have a problem with the right brake setup.

Thanks, I was a little worried about it, I know I am going to be pushing that 5K limit. I know allot of people push those numbers, but, I am a numbers guy... So I will do everything I can to keep it under. I suspect, tow bars and all else are going to push me over 5K. I have had the truck weighed with over 32 gallons of fuel which is over 190lbs. So an 1/8 of a tank is going to put me at just about the 5k mark maybe a little under. Prob be 5k-5.1k said and done.

I just weighed my RV which was 17.1k that is with normal crap in it. So clothing, food, human beings - last trip with all of this + fuel was 18.5 k.

[linchat]

Going to post to my own reply, and who knows keep it going as I do the work. Just installed the Blue Ox Base Plate on my 1 week old 2016 F150 and it was a BREEZE!

The Pros
1. The Blue Ox installation instructions were very similar to my make and model. I do not need to post instructions because they exist at blue ox.
2. Everything fit WELL. REALLY well.
3. Called Blue OX customer support and spoke to "Kevin" and was more then happy to walk me through some issues. ( Issue were torque specs on original equipment install version of instructions ). But wow, 2 of 3 times had someone on phone within 3 minutes. GREAT GREAT SUPPORT!

The Cons (Not Blue Ox Fault)
1. 17/32 drill bit is hard to find which is required for this installation (Lowes, HD, True Value do not carry it ). You can go bigger and smaller. I followed the directions and luckily found a hole in the wall store that carried this bit. So managed to get it installed. If you install this, *ORDER THE BIT FOR YOUR DRILL AT THE SAME TIME, IT IS HARD TO FIND. *If you are like me, the installation said 17/32 so that is what I am going to do, but if you like to fudge the numbers....

My Time To Install:
1. 6 hours! Long time 2.5 hours looking for the bit!
2. 2 hours in all slowly moving on my brand new truck afraid to damage anything.
3. If I did this again, it would take me 1 hour no problem.
4. 30 minutes drinking a beer to victory.

If you have the drill bit and your car is older (because your not as concerned of damaging something), this is a 1.5-2 hour job ( a pro can do this in 45 minutes) . It was as the directions said, 1. disconnect fog lights, remove bumper fascia, unscrew bolts from front of bumper (behind facia you remove), unscrew 2x bolts from back of bumper. And off came the bumper. You really need 2 people, not because of weight (bumper I think is 20 pounds I was surprised how light is was), but just for lining things up.

So. Tommorrow I bring the rv home. And work on the RV2 brake and Safety Plus. Connect it all up and go for a drive. Will Update.

There is little info out there on the 2016 F150, I am putting this up for anyone else looking (googling f150 remove bumper) to do the same thing I am.

Go to blueox.com and find the tow bars section of the site. Once there, put your make and model in and you can get the directions on removing the bumper.

[conceptumator]

Great info, lunch at -

On the drill bit issue, the instructions do indicate the 17/32 but somewhere (probably on the Blue Ox site) I read that someone else had the same issue and a 1/2" bit worked fine. When my mechanic buddy was doing the install I passed that along to him and he used the 1/2" bit. Worked perfectly. Little more snug, but worked great.

[linchat]

Installed the Safe-T-Plus yesterday and was easier then I thought, but definitely allot of crawling around.

One caveat, after installing the accessory hardware for our vehicle, I was ready to install the Safe-T-Plus and found one of the main bolts was missing! This is a huge bolt. It was one of those things that will just drive you nuts, go through all that work and found one part missing.

Luckily, we headed over to Ace hardware and they actually had the part! But, what Safe-T-Plus included was a lock nut and Ace Did not have this.

I can tell you, I am glad, because you do need a heavy duty impact gun to get that thing on. Ended up replacing the nuts with standard nut and using loctite which made the job easier if you are laying down to do the job.

I am going to call Safe-T-Plus tommorrow and get there take on our decision. We were thinking, if we really wanted to go overboard, add a second nut and more loctite. That thing would never come loose.

The guy helping me is a 260lb bull and he was swearing over how difficult it was to put the Safe-T-Plus locnuts on.

After everything was assembled, took us 3 times to get a straight line.

First Drive after Install:
Pulling to the Left.

Alignment Procedure following the video instructions:

Alignment #1: (RV Pulling to the left), got out had friend hold steering wheel, loosed bolt below and turned steeing wheel in opposite direction till we had a have a 1/2 inch change below.

Alignment #2: (Now RV Pulling to the Right), repeated same procedure above THIS time moving opposite direction and about 1/4" variation below.

Alignment #3: (RV slightly pulling to the Left), this time we moved it, 1/8 of an inch or so, basically as soon as I could see movement below I yelled stop. Retightend. GOLD!

I think I might have a tiny pull to the left. But I could just be looking for a problem.

Started at 2:30 finished testing, alignment, install at 6:30. Could of cut an hour out without the missing nut, BUT, we also decided installing the LOCNUTs maybe of taken us allot of pain and time. So the lost piece was a blessing in disguise forcing us to take a much easier route to finish the project. And I do not think our decision was substandard in ANYWAY, just a different way to achieve the same goal and using loctite will keep everything in place.

[linchat]

Test drive rig tonight and toad, went great. Barely knew they f150 was behind us. I was completely surprised how well it towed, but I give allot of credit to the Safet-y-plus, really helps you to get control of the vehicle.

[StephanFR3]

Does it rack up miles when towed?

[linchat]

Originally Posted by StephanFR3

Does it rack up miles when towed?

That is a good question, I actually do not want to know the answer. Gas is kind of cheap now! My FR3 does not give me an estimated miles per gallon which is REALLY annoying. And I have not tested to see what my EPG was.

Oh, if you are asking if the F150 racks up miles, I did not check that either. I do not think it did, but can let you know after the next tow which will be in a week.

[StephanFR3]

Yes, on the pickup's odometer.

[linchat]

No it does not.

[StephanFR3]

Thanks