Towbar Baseplate Problem

[Gardner Yeaw]

Rick,
My 1995 jeep Blue Ox did the same thing, except I discovered it a
little sooner. I ended up making backing plates out of heavy angle
iron with nuts welded to them. I was able to insert them through the
front of the frame. So far it has held well, but I do check regularly.
I put some pictures up on the old wanderlodge forum I think. I will
check. It might have been on this forum.

Gardner

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Rick A."
wrote:
>
> This is a reminder for everyone to check their towbar system on
a regular basis,
> especially the baseplate where it bolts to the tow car frame.
After returning from a trip
> this past weekend the front of my wife's 2003 Jeep Liberty
literally fell off! Luckily it
> happened within 1 block of where I park the bird.
> Studying the Blue Ox towbar system, which has been on for over 3
years, I see a
> possible design flaw in the baseplate system. The baseplate itself
has 3/8inch holes and
> calls for 3/8 inch bolts to go into the frame, which mine had. But
the frame on the Jeep
> Liberty is a unibody type, very thin stamped steel, with 1/2inch
holes. Looking closely at
> the Jeep frame the 1/2inch holes are now very elongated from the
bigger hole size and
> movement related to 3 years/20,000 miles. The bolts on one side of
the baseplate came
> completely out causing the towbar frame to pull the front end of
the Jeep off and causing
> the Jeep to swerve to one side. Again, luckily all this happened at
10mph and within 1
> block of my parking spot. Another disturbing discovery is the
10,000 lb safety cables do
> nothing in this case to prevent a runaway vehicle as they are
attached to the same
> baseplate.
> So, this is a reminder to everyone to check your baseplate bolts
for tightness on
> whatever vehicle you might tow.....and if you tow a Jeep
Liberty.....check the bolts and
> bolt holes immediately.
>
> Rick Archie
> 85PT40 "Fort R"
> Fort Worth
>