Roadmaster EZ Base Plate Kit - Removable Arms

Video Transcript for Roadmaster EZ Base Plate Kit Installation - 2011 Honda Fit

Alright, today on this 2011 Honda Fit we are going to install part number 521190-1 from Roadmaster. This is their EZ base plate kit. What we have done so far is removed the front wheels. You do not really have to do that but sometimes it makes it a little bit easier to get to stuff to help remove the front clip when you are ready to take it off. Now we will go ahead and start by removing some of the top plastic fasteners that are underneath the hood. We are removing these five fasteners here. The best way is to just pull out the center. Then pop it up. Now there is a fastener right here that we need to remove. There will be one on each side to do. We are done with the driver side. We will do the same thing on the passenger side. Alright, there are a variety of fasteners we need to remove underneath. It is the same thing as the fasteners on top. Just pop out the middle and just pull them out. Since these are on the bottom, it will probably take a little bit more force. 1:15

The fasteners are removed the way the instructions say. However, it looks like these metal screws here are attaching as well. So we will go ahead and remove those too. Alright, now this vehicle has the driving lights as well under the bumper cover. So we need to disconnect those wires. So we will remove one more fastener to give us better access to the wire harness. Alright, what we did is just pulled the plastic out of the way. There is a little fitting on the end of the wire harness. You just push down on it. We will go ahead and repeat the same thing back over on the passenger side. And now we will go ahead and get to the side of the car and unclip the snaps that hold the bumper cover in place. Do both sides and we should be able to slide it right off. 1:58

And there is also, underneath the headlights there is also additional clips as well. They just unsnap. Just keep working it and they will come apart. And these latches actually have some levers in them too, where you can pop them up if they are being stubborn. Alright, next we need to remove the bumper structure itself. That is this piece right here. And it is connected to the frame of the vehicle by these four bolts. We have to remove these four bolts, four on each side. And then this bumper structure will remain removed. We will leave this one loose for now. That will hold the bumper structure up on this side. Now we will go ahead and remove the other ones, which is identical on the passenger side. Now we can go ahead and start installing the tow bar. It has two ends. There are two tabs that will go to the inside of the frame. And just push it into place. We will use the factory hardware to attach the tow bar. However, we are going to add some thread lock to it as well. And we will be using part number LT37477. 3:03

We will go ahead and run them in there. We will still leave them a little bit loose. So we have our driver side done. We will do the same thing on the passenger side. Alright, with all of these bolts installed, now we can go ahead and torque it down as specified in the instructions. We are going to install our fastener that goes to the frame. And we are going to be using this hole right here. We will be using this thick washer that has a kind of cut off side to it, the lock washer and the 1/2 inch bolt. And we will thread that into the base plate which is inside the frame. And the cut out washer just helps it mate up to the sheet metal right here. There are some versions that might be in the way. That was our passenger side that got started. We will go ahead and start the driver side. And our driver side is just below the battery right here. And a ratchet wrench is a good way to run down the bolt. 4:03

Alright, now that we have our base plate installed, let us go ahead and reinstall the fascia and give it a test fit to see where we need to cut out the fascia to make room for the base plate arms. OK, we are just holding it up by hand for now. We have a pretty good idea where the receiver opening is going to be. So I think we are just going to cut out this bar right here and give it a test fit then. I am going to do this on each side of the vehicle. Alright, we will go ahead and use a rotary tool and make our cut. With the driver side done, we will go over to the passenger side. We will go ahead and reinstall the bumper cover now. Alright, once we have our bumper cover in position, we will go ahead and press everything back into place. We will go ahead and reinstall our fasteners that go to the top. Alright, let us go ahead and reinstall our panels in the bottom now. Alright, now we will go ahead and test fit our side arms. Start off with this tab that is vertical. Push it until it stops and then turn it. And then it locks in place. And here is a loop for your safety cable right here. We will install our safety cable. There is our link and then our cable. Spin the nut back up. We will go ahead and repeat the same thing back over on the passenger side. And with that, our install of our base plate is finished. Alright, and there you have it for part number 521190-1.