Does any one know who makes a tow bar and brackets for the stock bumper and where I can get it. Thanks for all your info!

 

Roadmaster has a good selection or bars and their brackets for the swaybar disco equipped models is available now. Lots of vendors out there like Camping World. Not sure about blue ox. Both of these options are fairly high-end. Mopar has a bar and brackets as well, but nowhere near the quality/features of the big RV industry suppliers. You may have to call since the brackets are very new, but I talked to Roadmaster directly and they are available now.

http://www.roadmasterinc.com/

 

Blue Ox makes a good base plate for the JK. http://www.rvupgradestore.com/index....ROD&ProdID=198

I ordered all the stuff I need to do the wiring myself, including a power wire from the Main RV battery to the TOAD for charging the JK battery while towing (http://www.rvupgradestore.com/index....OD&ProdID=442), and will start the installation of the wiring tomorrow.

As for the base plate, I just placed my order about 5 minutes ago, as well as an Aventa LX tow bar, and an RV underskirt to keep debris from dinging the paint on the front of the JK (and curious onlookers from looking at my JK's private parts!!)

I will take pics during the installation, as well as the final assembly. Once I get the baseplate installed and the two bar hooked up, THEN I'll decide if I need to order a DROP RECEIVER to keep the angle of the tow bar correct. The tow bar when both vehicles are sitting on flat ground should be level, or no more than a 4" rise from the front of the JK to the RV. If the JK sits too tall, it may be higher than the back of the RV, and a tow bar should NEVER point downward from the JK toward the RV.

TOM
Bryson CIty, NC

 

I have my new JK set up to tow behind my motorhome using my Sterling tow bar from my 2004 Crand Cherokee. My local installer had to custom make some brackets/adapters to accomodate my tow bar, but it worked great! The only thing that is obvious from stock is the receivers on the front end, and my lower plastic valance was removed...

 

Tom, (or anyone else)
Did you ever get the tow bar installed and did you do a write-up and take pics?
Thanks

 

Mopar makes a nice unit for a good price, and if they install, it will covered under your factory warranty. You should check it out

 

Not yet. Due to excessive popularity of the JK, the Blue Ox base plate is backordered and I have a ship date of March 12th. I got it from RVUpgrades.com for around $337. I found ONE store out in Utah that still had one in stock, but they wanted $415 for it, and I don't need it THAT badly. I should get it in a week, and yes, I'll take pics and post in the write up section.

As for the wiring, I got the wiring completed on the RV already, including the 12V "JK charge wire" which I elected to run from the house batteries, not the chassis battery to keep the Jeep battery charged whether the RV is running or not.

I haven't wired the Jeep yet because I want to mount the 6-pin connector for the Blue Ox 6-wire coiled tow harness onto the Base plate. Until I get the base plate installed, I'll hold off on wiring. This weekend, I plan to yank the left tail light back out again and see if there is enough room in there to install a SECOND trailer wiring harness. That way I can keep the existing trailer harness untouched, and dike off the connector on the second harness to run the wiring to the front of the Jeep. If there isn't enough room behind the tail light, I'll just run the tow harness wiring to the trailer hitch on the back of the JK, and plug it into the Jeep's trailer harness before I tow, and unplug it when I need to tow something with the JK, such as a trailer.

Make sense?

Tom
Bryson City, NC

 

Ok, THanks for the info. Looking forward to the write up.

 

I received the Blue Ox base plate, tow bar, and under skirt. I have the base plate completely installed. I will say that the directions are pretty straight forward and I didn't hit any big snags. It does require using a Sawsall, and a drill. I will post a write up tonight with the pics or as soon as I can get to it.

I will also add that I encountered NO DIFFICULTY installing a second trailer harness behind the left tail light, and I ran it right down parallel to the original trailer harness down to the frame, then forward. I will finish the wiring tonight and install a Blue Ox 6-pic connector to the front of the base plate. I will also get the TOAD-charger installed under the hood, and will post pics of that as well.

Hope to test this all out tomorrow as I tow the JK to a local campground about 15 miles away.

Tom
Bryson City, NC

 

Write-up is complete and now in write up category for Blue Ox baseplate, and wiring.

Tom
Bryson City, NC