Blue Ox Base Plate

[travlinman]

We are getting closer to purchasing a bus, but I have not had any luck finding a used base plate. What do you guys think the best place to purchase one new is? I'm in the San Francisco area right now if that helps.

Steve

[VanTare]

Please tell us what type and model of vehicle that you need the base plate to fit     



David

[travlinman]

Check out this thread

Steve

http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=10482.0

[VanTare]

Steve a 15 year old base plate is going to be hard to find with out a special order I ran into this on 1990 Corvette I was wanting to tow and gave up on the idea. Another thought for you would be try and get one of the fellows in Quartzsite to check on one it's my understanding you can buy about anything there for the RV market.   

David

[jjrbus]

hitchtrader.com

[Melbo]

I pull a pathfinder that is over 20 years old and I finally gave up and just ordered one from blue ox

It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be and it went on in less than an hour

Fit like a glove

HTH

Melbo

[gumpy]

I've used Blue Ox on three explorers. Well, actually 2. I just installed the 3rd one last weekend.  I had an issue with one breaking, and they saw fit to replace it. I can't
complain about the quality or the service. Each one has gotten more expensive, but they've also gotten more sophisticated. This last one has removable tabs.
You can't buy direct from them. You have to go through a distributor. I'm sure there's one out there where you are.

[white-eagle]

did you try having uhaul weld one?  my understanding is they can fit/make about anything.  even if it's wrong for the tow bar, wouldn't that make a starting point to modify?

[cody]

I've got a blue ox tow bracket that I've used and modified at least 6 times in the last 20 years and it is working well about all thats left thats original is the front plate where the tow bar hooks onto, I use a good welding shop to make whatever bolt up brackets I need, made for whatever vehicle I'm using and I've gotten good service out of it.

[NewbeeMC9]

I was planning on using two 2" receivers on the front of my truck with a cross bar between them.  

Make 2 hitches that fit to the blue ox bar by stacking some plates, 3/8 or 1/2 .    

Then I could change out what is up there,   like hooks, steps, fishing rod holder,  winch,  whatever you need or think of.



YMMV
IMHO

[cody]

My dad had a receiver on the front of his pickup and when he needed to spot anything in the yard he would just hook it onto the front, was much easier to manuver things like his boat with it in tight quarters.

[Stormcloud]

My toad has trailer balls on brackets attached to the frame on the front , about 3 feet apart. The towbar has 3 trailer couplers in a triangle shape. Easy to connect or remove. Im also going to install some propane tank mounts to the tow bar, to transport extra 20 lb cylinders outside the bus/toad.

[jackhartjr]

I am still trying to figure out what a "Base plate" is?
Thanks
Jack

[cody]

The baseplate is the part that attaches and stays on the vehicle, it's what the towbar itself attaches to on the vehicle, they are vehicle specific and are bolted onto the frame of the front of the car.  The baseplates are very expensive and I've found that a quality metal fab shop can do as well as the factory in making the same items for a fraction of the price, when I contacted blue ox in regards to the baseplates for my jeep they quoted me over 400 bucks, 75 dollars got me a better job at a metal fab shop.

[bobofthenorth]

What Cody said.  Our first towed was a '92 Nissan.  I put a stout piece of angle iron across the frame behind the bumper.  There just happened to be holes in the frame in appropriate locations so I drilled the angle iron and bolted it to the frame.  For the Blue Ox tabs I had a good shop weld a couple of tabs to a Grade 8 bolt (probably about a 5/8 or 3/4 bolt - can't remember exactly).  Put the bolt through the angle iron, put a washer behind the angle and double nut it.  QED and its still on the truck - my kid drives the truck now and the tabs aren't really noticeable.  Newer vehicles will be more difficult because of all the plastic crap they put under and around the front bumper but the same principles apply.  I bought the baseplate for our 2005 Exploder because I was too lazy to figure out how to fit the plate around the plastic but I paid dearly for that convenience.