I bought my current toad, used, about 3 yrs ago. It was already equipped with a Blue Ox base plate, proper wiring etc. and with a BO tow bar. The first year I replace the tow bar with new as the old one was 'loose' and BO (at the factory) deemed it nearly as expensive to replace all the badly worn parts as a new one. I should have paid some attention to the base plate but I didn't - didn't even really know what one looked like. Over the past 3 yrs, there have been no accidents nor even any 'bumps' to the front end of my car.
Fast forward to this past Monday. I'm traveling for the summer and stopped at the Walmart in Ellsworth, ME to shop. Load my groceries, do a quick walk around (habit) and start up the MH. Turn the wheel for a gentle right to get out of my parking spot and start going forward when there is a loud grinding, crunching sound. Check my camera and see the whole driver's side of the front bonnet of the car on the ground with the passenger side barely hanging on.
Fast forward a bit. Got the car to Ellsworth Collision. Base plate broken on the driver's side where the base bar makes the turn to attach to the frame which caused the base plate to twist and pull the front end of the car off. So I called Blue Ox and ordered a new base plate for the car to be sent to the collision shop overnight/morning delivery. UPS barely made it delivering it by 11:45 am and by 3pm Ellsworth Collision had it installed, all the wiring put back together (correctly) and the front of the car completely put back together without a scratch (less that $300 total labor). What a great job they did!!!
The point of this post. They showed me the broken base plate. At the point of the break, the length of the break was about 4" long and of that 4", 3 7/8" of the break was completely and well oxidized. The bright (non oxidized) metal along the break line was perhaps an 1/8 or 3/16th of an inch long. That bar had been broken for a long long long time with the car really being held by a very minimum thickness of steel. I am so thankful I was in a parking lot and not doing 65mph on a highway.
DO - when buying a used toad that is already set up, have someone who knows what they're doing (as in not a car dealer) inspect the integrity of the hidden from view base plate. DO always have a valid breakaway brake. Disaster may be only one dumb luck away.
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