I've been looking into this & been upset at the price they cost .But then today while surfing around I found this!http://www.readybrake.com/brake-systems.htmlLooks awesome & at 1/2 the price of the lower end electric offerings..I'm seriously considering this option.What are your thoughts?Have you used this yourself?FYI I'm towing with a '97 dodge dually with a large Lance 900 truck camper & the dinghy will be a 2003 Honda CR-V. Auto trans.Thanks.I have never dinghy towed before yet have towed MANY different sorts of thing over my life time as a class A truck driver.

IMO, the Ready Brute Integrated Towbar and Braking System is without doubt the best bang for the buck there is.If you already have a towbar that you are happy with, then the Ready Brake System is best for you.Note that there is a breakaway system also available. If you are going to go for the braking system, you might as well have the breakaway to go with it!At the present time, I do not have one, but if I ever decide that the braking system is something I should have, the Ready Brute/Ready Brake system is the ONLY one I would even consider.

I have the ready brute elite tow bar. Same brake included in the tow bar. Towed with it for about 15,000 miles. Works very well. There are several threads on the forum on installing and setting it up.

No at the moment I have no bar or anything yet.So I'd be considering buying the whole package from them & end up saving a lot of money!I like that's mechanical vs electric as well, less complications.

I was talking with the Tech (who I trust) at the local RV shop, and he said that they install more of the Ready-Brake than anything else in the past couple of years. Price, Ease of Use, and simplicity are all major factors.If and when we decide to go with a Toad, it will be the system we use.

Blanco, no real need to buy NEW, look at craigs list for your area (I just did) and there are some good prices on tow bars and brake systems in the LA area. I have a SMI brake system that is actually added to the vehicle and is not an in out type. It is a good system and It cam with the rv when we bought it. If you look at rv's on CL look for the baseplates etc, there were some listed in the SD-yuma at a rv wrecking yard. Probaly can get everything cheap, just look around.

Dinghy brake options? | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

Hank85713
Explorer
Oct 20, 2014
Blanco I dont know, the guy we bought the rv from removed it from his towd and gave to us. Also gave us the falcon all terrain tow bar, just had to purchase the base plates for the car.

I just did a quick look and on the website it was around $1100

http://www.smibrake.com/?gclid=COLk8ZCKusECFcI7Mgod3FgApw

etrailer has them for a little over $900

http://www.etrailer.com/Tow-Bar-Braking-Systems/SMI/SM99251.html
Blanco1
Explorer
Oct 19, 2014
Hank85713 wrote:
Here is what we have for our towd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhDuKj2-iV4 works well easy install, I did it in about 2 hrs

Very interesting?

What about price?
Hank85713
Explorer
Oct 19, 2014
Here is what we have for our towd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhDuKj2-iV4 works well easy install, I did it in about 2 hrs
Blanco1
Explorer
Oct 19, 2014
For me the journey is always the best par!
tropical36
Explorer
Oct 19, 2014
Blanco1 wrote:
I've been looking into this & been upset at the price they cost .

But then today while surfing around I found this!

http://www.readybrake.com/brake-systems.html

Looks awesome & at 1/2 the price of the lower end electric offerings..

I'm seriously considering this option.

What are your thoughts?

Have you used this yourself?

FYI I'm towing with a '97 dodge dually with a large Lance 900 truck camper & the dinghy will be a 2003 Honda CR-V. Auto trans.

Thanks.

I have never dinghy towed before yet have towed MANY different sorts of thing over my life time as a class A truck driver.

Look no further IMO and we're using the complete system in the READYBRUTE/ELITE and a DEMCO base plate along with the breakaway, READYSTOP option.
It has functioned flawlessly all over the country and in all types of terrain.
Blanco1
Explorer
Oct 19, 2014
Yes Eckhart typically is expensive & part of why I don't go there much.

I'm thinking I'll rig the ready brake cable myself.
Happily_Retired
Explorer
Oct 19, 2014
To give you a comparison, we paid $1040 labor, and purchased all our own parts online. The labor charge included installing the base plate, the Ready Brake cable, break away cable, bulbs in tail lights, charge line, and monitor on motorhome dash. They also spent time testing and tweaking everything between the car and rv. The whole job took about a day and a half.

While your estimate sounds high, going through the firewall definitely would have put that portion of the job at more than 2 hours.

Hope you are set up and ready to go soon! :)
FireGuard
Explorer II
Oct 19, 2014
I called Ekharts to get a price on just installing the cable in the tow veh and the brake away system as I bought a Readybrute on CL.
The parts are about $200. They wanted over $900!! $700 labor for a couple hours work. I'm in the wrong business.
BTW, they didn't get my business.
Happily_Retired
Explorer
Oct 18, 2014
We have towed 4 times with our new Ready Brake with breakaway with no problems. Since we already had a new Blue Ox tow bar we did not buy the Ready Brute, but agree that would work well for you. It is more compact than using Ready Brake with a different tow bar. Very pleased with this system.
Blanco1
Explorer
Oct 18, 2014
I'm not crazy about Ekharts & their work.

Ok people yet I have some issues with them.

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Dinghy brake options?

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