Recommended Flat Towing Systems

[rdg384]

I have a 2015 Georgetown 377xl BD Edition and just bought a 2015 Jeep Sahara 2 door. Any recommendations for a flat towing system?

[tilap]

Use blue ox with patriot breaking system for my Ford Explorer 2014 for the last year, work great.


Denis, Forest river Georgetown XL 377 towing a 2014 Ford Explorer.

[Cornelius]

I use the NSA Ready Brute Elite towbar with built in surge brake. For the Jeep Wrangler I installed a Blue Ox baseplate. The combination works great, and it is so much easier having the braking system built in, rather than having to install a Brake Buddy type of device each time I tow. It is also much less expensive. The tow bar with built in brake was about $950 when I purchased it two years ago. A braking system alone can cost more than that.

The baseplate was about $350, but another option to consider is a replacement front bumper that has the towbar brackets welded on. A new bumper costs more than a baseplate, but also has the option of easily adding a winch for off road use.

More info here:
NSA RV Products - Ready Brake and Ready Brute Home

[Iggy]

I use a Roadmaster Sterling ALL Terrain bar.
The nice thing with this is the ability to twist and change angles when you hit dips and large angles. Rotates also.
This is a heavy duty one but also very easy to hookup and disconnect in any angle.
It also has automatic adjustments so you really don't have to do much after hooking up.
I bought my on Craigslsit from someone who no longer needed it was a great price $450 which included the Roadmaster rock guard.

I did have to buy the longer safety cables because of my extension, drop and the distance from the Georgetown cable holes .


http://www.etrailer.com/Tow-Bars/Roadmaster/RM-576.html

[chill960]

I went with these two after reading numerous posts and the recommendation of my service/parts guy. We've been running it for a year with no issues on my 2009 Pontiac Vibe. I just added a Swagman platform bike rack using a dual receiver. Clearance was going to be an issue so I added an 8" extension (not in the picture). If I had to do it over, I'd make sure I got the 16 3/4" (Blue Ox Part#84-0098) optional hitch connector to provide more clearance without using an extension.

[DennyH]

I just installed a LOD bumper on my 15 wrangler 4 dr. LOD welded on the tabs for my Roadmaster Falcon All -terrain towbar. Had a Invisibrake installed and it tows GREAT behind my 14 377


Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

[Vince and Charlette]

I have a 2015 Georgetown towing a 2010 Jeep Liberty. I tried the Blue Ox Patriot and ran into major problems: 1 Four-wheel lock-up. Factory told me how to get into internal codes and determined it was a hard drive failure, so they overnighted another one which locked up for a different reason: the actuator arm stuck in the full forward position. Even if they worked right, there are three other significant operating issues: 1. the Jeep's floor has a built-in hump at the driver's heel. Even with the optional extendable legs, the unit was unstable; 2. The Jeep's seat cushions are very soft which allows the Patriot to sink into it before allowing the actuating arm to go forward (A $52 base plate resolves this, but only to a point.) The result of this and the unstable leg arrangement allows the unit to tip over at a 20-30 degree angle when activated; 3. The actuator arm is relatively slow and doesn't keep up with the speed of the MH braking action. (I think users "believe" it is working fine, but don't really observe it in action.) The unit is cumbersome, somewhat a bother to install and uninstall, has to be stored somewhere each time, and is actually more expensive than some permanent units. While several very good permanent systems are mentioned above, I went with the SMI Stay-IN-Play. (It took a bit of work to install it - might be worth paying someone to do it if you are not an experienced DIYer.) Now, just a simple flip of one switch and we're on the road.

[DocP]

Originally Posted by tilap

Use blue ox with patriot breaking system for my Ford Explorer 2014 for the last year, work great.
Denis, Forest river Georgetown XL 377 towing a 2014 Ford Explorer.

Same here ... complete Blue Ox base plate, Aventa tow bar, and Patriot brake system for my 2015 Ford Explorer. Have had no problems on short trips so far, but headed out tomorrow on our first long trip towing and will see how it works.

[rdg384]

Okay, thanks!

[Cornelius]

Another thing you will need is to hook up the Jeep's brake and turn signal lights to the Georgetown when towing. There are several ways to do this. You can use external stick on lights, add new bulbs and wiring to the existing tail lights, or run wires to the existing bulbs.

An easy way to connect to the Jeep's existing wiring is to use a kit such as the one sold by Cool Tech:

JK Tow Harness Deluxe Kit - CoolTechLLC

It's a little pricey, but high quality. The folks at the Wrangler Forum really like it. On 2008 and newer Wranglers you do not need to use the kit's battery disconnect. I made my own version wiring harness for a lot less using a trailer hitch lighting harness for the wrangler. With the kit or my cheaper way, you do not cut into the Jeep factory wiring at all. The new wiring harness simply plugs into the Jeep tail light connector at the driver's side.

Another tip is that you can run the tail light wiring inside the Jeep's box frame so it is protected. The "professional" installations that I have seen simply used nylon wire ties to attach the wiring wherever it was convenient under the Jeep. Fishing the wiring inside the frame was not difficult, as there are several drain holes along the frame. Just pull the wire harness from one hole to the next. I also used split loom tubing to provide additional protection for the wiring. Installing the wiring inside the Jeep's frame is a little time consuming, but well worth the effort.

[deppitydawg]

We are on our maiden voyage in our Berkshire 36QL, this is our first venture in camping as well. I did allot of research prior to buying, we went with a jeep Cherokee with the active drive II transmission and a blue ox tow bar and baseplate(it's almost invisible when not in use with the twist pins out), no brake assist yet but haven't noticed a need for it yet. Demco makes a wiring harness that is basically plug and play into original wiring, it was on back order but should be there when we get home. In the mean time we got a cheap 39.00 magnetic light set at Wal-Mart and plug adapter to plug into MH, didn't really trust the magnet and didn't want to scratch paint so mounted the lights toa board and bungied it to the luggage rack, so far all is working well. Good luck!#!

[conceptumator]

I used the Blue Ox base plate with the Blue Ox Adventa tow bar; the tow bar is a little overkill, but I liked the spherical connection detail. As for braking, I went with the Roadmaster Invisibrake. There are videos on their site of installing the system in a Jeep Wrangler and it went it without a hitch - works great, stays in permanently and all you need to do is plug in the umbilical to the coach. I also spent the extra money (about $195) and got the Blue Ox light kit that ties into the factory harness instead of requiring diodes, extra bulbs, etc. You just unscrew the tail lights and plug the system in between the factory harness and the tail light. There is a small electronics box that makes it work; we stuck it to the body wall inside the right hand tail light, then routed the wiring down the frame to the front. When I bought the tow bar, I got the Blue Ox accessory kit and it came with a plug to connect the umbilical from the coach to the toad; cut off the flat connector on the lighting kit and wired it into that plug. Love it!

[n-e-d]

Originally Posted by tilap

Use blue ox with patriot breaking system for my Ford Explorer 2014 for the last year, work great.


Denis, Forest river Georgetown XL 377 towing a 2014 Ford Explorer.

X2 Blue ox all the way

[downeyr]

I use the Demco system with the rV2 brake assist. I have used it on two different motor homes and two different towed vehicles and it works great. Easy to hook up and easy to disconnect.

[Krazymace]

Originally Posted by deppitydawg

We are on our maiden voyage in our Berkshire 36QL, this is our first venture in camping as well. I did allot of research prior to buying, we went with a jeep Cherokee with the active drive II transmission and a blue ox tow bar and baseplate(it's almost invisible when not in use with the twist pins out), no brake assist yet but haven't noticed a need for it yet. Demco makes a wiring harness that is basically plug and play into original wiring, it was on back order but should be there when we get home. In the mean time we got a cheap 39.00 magnetic light set at Wal-Mart and plug adapter to plug into MH, didn't really trust the magnet and didn't want to scratch paint so mounted the lights toa board and bungied it to the luggage rack, so far all is working well. Good luck!#!

Brake assist isn't based on need. Think every state has a requirement for a brake for almost any toad!


Sent from my iPad using Forest River Forums

[Hoglou]

If you go blueox (as I did) you can put the base plate on in about two hours (about eight beers, four of which I had just after base plate installation and prior to the plastic air dam portion of our show). The preferred tools are a floor jack to hold the critter while you bolt it, a spank'en new drill bit (I can look up the size if you go this route), and a decent torque wrench. I also used a small tube of blue locktite (I'm old school airframe - nuts are thrust load, the blue helps the radial. I would safety wire them if I the hardware and access). I spent more time scratching my head on the cutting the plastic air dam then anything else. Me and DW set aside a Saturday to do this, but we were done pretty quickly and I ended up holding her purse at Belks when I should have been zinc chromating the drill holes, so I would give the project is 4/10 in difficulty just because it is a one off project.....

Now I would give it a two.... I would install one for rib eye dinner (wiring extra).

Howtodoit:

Garage preferred, music, old rugs or blankets for staging parts. Someone around to listen to me stories (heard bigfoot once real close in Bitterroot)...

Drop the bumper (eight nuts if I remember), very light to handle DW moved it around by her lonesome.

Drill the four new holes (1/2 inch drill is our friend).

Use the floor jack and the shipping carton to hold it up to bolt on (DW kept hands on)

Fish the nuts in the frame locktite, tighten, and torque.

Return the bumper to the jeep.

Play with the plastic air dam to get the cuts made how you like to allow for the bracket.

Build out your wiring connection (I ran mine down the pass frame rail in plastic split loom tubing mentioned above to the rear bumper and later added the trailemate harness).

I am in West ATL, bring your jeep and base plate parts and we (read you and I) will put the puppy on. Then I'll show you how to get to the Texas road house......

[Hoglou]

A couple of quick thoughts:

Look at chill960 second post picture. IMHO he has it on the right side of the correct angle. You want the coach ever so slightly (and I mean very slightly) higher then the toad. Water should run towards the toad on the tow bar. If the toad is above the plane of the coach you risk the toad driving over the tow bar in a lock up or frontal coach impact. Now I know were only talking a few thousand pounds, but if there is a tow bar failure the ground becomes the back plate as the toad trys to get under the bar. With the toad higher there is nothing but blue sky to stop the toad from crawling over the bar. In a perfect world we want them level, but I dont live there.

I also use the patriot brake, run off the console cig lighter and a battery keeper attached to the coach to keep the toad charged. Many folk love their ready brake but I do like the fact that I can remotely from the coach adjust the gain and manually engange the brake. I often set the gain to 1-2 in town can think of is the fact that it is a surge brakeno serve ab

[Hoglou]

Further note, I also use the patriot brake as it has wireless remote control from the coach to set gain and independent activation of the toad brake (not a surge brake). Using a brake buddy (39332) to feed coach power to the toad battery to keep it hot and topped off.

[ervinglobal]

Originally Posted by tilap

Use blue ox with patriot breaking system for my Ford Explorer 2014 for the last year, work great.


Denis, Forest river Georgetown XL 377 towing a 2014 Ford Explorer.

2X I would recommend that also. I have for sometime now easy to hook up and great system.

[tennlady]

We went Blue ox alpha for hitch and the braking system was the SMI Stay N Play (so simple to use) on our 2011 Jeep Liberty.