Roadmaster XL Base Plate Kit - Removable Arms

Video Transcript for Roadmaster Base Plate Kit Installation - 2010 Chevrolet Colorado

Today on this 2010 Chevrolet Colorado you are going to be installing Roadmaster Base Plate Kit part number 3122-1. Before you get started with the installation you want to take a quick look over the front of your vehicle to see which features your vehicle has, depending on these features you may have to do a couple of different things which are referenced in the instructions. You can see this particular vehicle has the factory installed tow hooks and this one also has the factory installed skid plate as well. The third one is the auxiliary air pump which again this vehicle does have. It can be easier seen with the skid plate removed. The first thing I am going to do is remove the tow hooks and the skid plate. On the tow hooks depending on your model you may have one or two mounting bolts holding them in place. 00:48

Next, if your vehicle has the auxiliary air pump you are going to need to move on to modifying the air pump bracket next. The air pump you can see is on the inboard side however the bracket for it actually wraps over the frame and attaches with two studs on the outboard side. What you are going to be doing to this bracket is you are going to be drilling a hole through it so that you can get the mounting bolt in for the base plate bracket. You are also going to need to grind this flange completely down flat with the rest of the mounting bracket. You are going to do those two things next. To get a little bit more working room remove the passenger side tire well cover which is held in by multiple push pin fasteners. The hole that you need to drill in the bracket is going to measure two inches up from the bottom of the bracket and 1-1/ 8 inch in from the forward side. What you are going to be doing is drilling, start off drilling with a pilot bit and then enlarge to the 1/ 2 inch that is required by the directions. 01:58

You are not only going to be drilling it through this bracket but you are going to continue it through the frame rail as well. With the flange and the bracket ground down flesh, you are next going to remove the two 10 millimeter acorn nuts which are holding the air pump mounting bracket to the frame. With the nuts removed what you want to do is take the bracket and slide it forward towards the front of the vehicle and that is going to allow the heads of these studs to come out of the frame and now you can move the bracket freely. With that pulled away what you want to do, these studs are crest fitted into the bracket, so you want to take a hammer and knock those out. Next you are going to proceed to the inside of the frame and start mounting the braces. You are going to start with the forward most hole that was covered up by the air pump and what you are going to do is take the main receiver brace and align it over the hole and to use one of the 1/ 2 inch by 4-1/ 2 inch bolts and slide it through not only this hole but the hole that you drilled on the other side. You want to also feed the bolt next through the hole that you drilled in the air pump bracket and you are going to add on the back side the rear mounting bracket and you are going to attach those three together with a lock washer and hex nut. Next you need to align the lower middle hole in the main receiver bracket with the lower hole in the outer rear bracket. Again you are going to be using another 4-1/ 2 inch bolt, lock washer, and hex nut. 03:38

Now you are going to go back to the front of the vehicle and you are going to install some of the bolts for the front backing plate. You are going to start with the long 10 millimeter bolt and you are going to it through the bottom hole and then you will come back behind the bumper to where the bolt protruded through and install the bracket. You are going to align it with the forward most hole on the bracket. You will fasten it on the back side with the flat washer, lock washer, and hex nut. You will next align the front hole on the main receiver bracket and put the middle hole on the front bracket however on this one you will add the flat washer on the side of the head and then again you will use a lock washer and hex nut to attach the two. Finally over on the passenger side you will align the upper bolt in the main bracket with the upper bolt in the front lower bracket. Then with all of the hardware in place what you want to do is take the bracing assembly and push it up to the frame so that it is as tight as you can get and you will go through and start torquing the bolts down. You want to verify with the directions the specific torque rating for each of the bolts. With the passenger side bolts torqued down you can move on and repeat for the driver side. The only difference on the driver side is that you do not have the air pump to measure off of to drill the forward most hole. What you can do is use the frame itself as the indicator to mark off of. What you want to do is go from the bottom of the frame up two inches and then you can see the indentation and you are going to take the forward most edge of the it and measure 1-1/ 8 inches towards the front of the vehicle. From there you will drill the 1/ 2 inch hole just like you did on the passenger side and then repeat every other process. 05:36

Now that you have got both the driver and passenger side brackets attached to the frame and torqued down you are going to go back through next and trim out a hole in this bottom section of the fascia so that the receiver tube can protrude through. What I am going to use is the main brace as a template to mark the fascia and then you are going to pull it off the vehicle and do the work independent of the truck. What you need to do is mark not only around the receiver tube but you need to mark out so that from the outside you can get to this portion as well. Also if your vehicle had the under body skid plate it is going to need to be trimmed as well. Near the attachment points on the forward part of the skid plate and if you look at where the weld nut is located in reference to the bracket, when I attempt to put the skid plate in position it is hitting on the bolt right up here so you need to take and notch out this top corner of the skid plate and that should allow it to rest in position and tighten it up. You need to do that on both the driver and passenger sides. Then with the notch made you can put it back up into place and then with the skid plate reinstalled you can come back to the front of the vehicle and you want to add the safety chain cables to the main receiver brackets. You are going to use the provided quick link to attach to the two and then you will the removable attaching bar and lock it into place with the provided pin and clip. Repeat that setup for the driver side of the vehicle and your installation will be complete. That will conclude the installation of the Roadmaster Base Plate Kit part number 3122-1 on a 2010 Chevrolet Colorado.

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