etrailer | Set up: Roadmaster Direct-Connect Base Plate Kit on a 2023 Jeep Gladiator

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Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tv-install-r...
Hello, neighbors, it's Brad here at etrailer, and today we're taking a look at installing the Roadmaster base plate on a 2023 Jeep Gladiator. When it comes to flat towing your Jeep Gladiator, there's gonna be five main components that are gonna be required to safely do that. The first one is gonna be on the vehicle side, being the base plate. That's gonna structurally mount to the frame of the vehicle and give you the mounting point for your tow bar, as well as your other components. Your tow bar is gonna be the connection point between that base plate and the hitch on the RV. And just like a trailer, you have your safety cables that's gonna keep everything together just in case things were to accidentally disconnect.

Now you're also gonna need a braking system. Today we have the Stay-IN-Play Duo, which is a fixed system. Whether you have a portable or fixed, it doesn't matter, you're gonna have a breakaway switch. And this is in case everything was to fail, it's the last line of defense. It'll pull this cable, and that's gonna put the brakes on the vehicle, allowing it to come to a stop.

That way it's not rolling down the road. We also have our diode wiring, which is gonna transmit the light signals from our RV to the taillights on our Gladiator, giving us a running lights, turn signals, and brake lights. Now you may want to add a few other things into those components as well, and that would be a charge line, which is gonna allow you to trickle charge the battery as you go down the road, and that's just gonna tie into your six-pole. Now we also picked up a stoplight switch on our Gladiator today, which is specific to the Gladiator. It's just a bracket that mounts a plunger on the brake pedal, and that's gonna give us the indication that we're braking.

Not all braking systems will require that, but if you are doing the Stay-IN-Play Duo, you're gonna wanna pick that up. Jeep are some of the most commonly flat towed vehicles, and there's a lot of different options when it comes to base plates, and this one might be my favorite. Roadmaster does a fantastic job of having great fit and finish overall throughout all their products, and this one is no different. Now this one is a little bit different than some of the other ones that have a beam that runs across, whereas this one goes directly onto each individual frame rail, and it makes installation that much easier. And also the amount of trimming required is not really that much.

It also is a very huge benefit on their mounting of their six-pole bracket. That also allows us to get our breakaway switch in place because they allow you to have spacers and hardware to bolt up to the factory spots, which really takes away a lot of the guesswork on having to mount up any of your components. When normally just driving around in your vehicle, it actually has a pretty clean look overall. Everything stays pretty well recessed. And the good thing is is your safety chain loops don't stick out too far, and you have your receivers that are pretty far recessed. So get a nice clean look overall. And when you are ready to flat tow your Jeep, you can grab your arms and simply twist these into place. (metal clacking) And then they lock in. Being that it's a Roadmaster base plate, the style of hooking up is gonna require the Roadmaster-specific pins. So if you get a Roadmaster tow bar, it's gonna work great. But if you grab a different brand, whether be Blue Ox or etrailer, you can actually pick those up with the Roadmaster ends. Just make sure that you're getting the specific pins, that way you can get those pinned up. Measuring from the ground to the center of our arms, it's coming in at 15 1/2 inches. And that's gonna be important when setting up your flat toe setup because not all RV hitches are gonna be the same height as the base plate. And you want your tow bar within three inches of that height, and that way it stays level while towing. And if your hitches may be too high or too low, you may need to look into a high-low adapter that's gonna set the tow bar at that level height, and that way you can get that nice safe tow. So you can measure the hitch on your RV, compare it with that measurement, and determine if you need one or not. When you are ready to hook up for flat towing, it's nice you just go across the base plate and hook up all the components. So first, we'll get our arms in place, and Roadmaster, being specific with their pins, allows you to slide this through and pin it in place. So just align