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Blue Ox/
Removable Drawbars/
Twist Lock AttachmentItem # BX1136
Retail:$529.00
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This strong and durable base plate kit is custom designed to fit your vehicle. The hidden reinforcements, along with the removable bracket arms, provide a clean, unobtrusive look when your car is not being towed.
Features:
Specs:
Installation Details 
2014 - 2018 Jeep Cherokee 4WD - Trailhawk
Video of Blue Ox Base Plate Kit - Removable Arms
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Speaker 1: Today on our 2018 Jeep Cherokee, we're going to take a look at and show you how to install the Blue Ox Base Plate kit with Removable Arms. Part number is BX1136. Now, here's what our base plate's going to look like installed on our Cherokee Trailhawk without the arms in place. As you can see it's going to blend in pretty nicely. We've just replaced our tow hooks, which tend to stand out on this model anyway.You can see we've got our safety chain connection point there, and then the receiver portion of our removable arm, got a cap there just to protect it from dirt and debris getting in there. Just slide that arm in and rotate it, and that's going to give us our connection point.
Very quick and very easy. When we're done we just pull the pin, rotate it the other direction, and you'll slide that cap back in. Really easy, straightforward, ready to get set up and head down the road.You can see our breakaway switch we've mounted right here and we've used the provided bracket that came with our base plate. Now, you want to keep in mind, this base plate is designed to work with the Trailhawk models only, 14 to 18 Trailhawks. If you have a different version, you'll need to pick a different base plate.
Now, the removable arms that are going to come with your base plate are designed to work with most of the Blue Ox tow bars. This can also be switched over and used with the Roadmaster tow bar. You'll need either part number RM-031 or part number RM-031-5.Now, the base plate is going to be one of several parts required for a complete flat tow set up. Typically, things required for a complete flat tow set up are going to be your base plate, that's what your tow bar will attach to. You're going to need your tow bar.
You're going to need some sort of vehicle wiring kit, and also a braking system.Now, to begin our installation we need to remove the cover that we have here on the top. It'll have 12 push pin fasteners in it. Now, to remove those you want to pop the center section out first. You can use a trim panel tool like we've got or a screwdriver. Then the rest of it will come out with it.
If they happen to separate it's not a big deal, you just put the two pieces back together. Once you've got those removed we just want to lift up, we can remove that, set it aside. We'll be putting it back in later.Now, on each side of the Cherokee you want to use a 10 millimeter socket and we need to remove three screws. We go from the edge where the fender meets the fascia, got one right here and one right above it there. Now, from there if we go towards the middle of the car we want to look at the end of this metal bracket, there's going to be the third one right down there to get out.Now on each of our wheel wells we want to use an 8 millimeter socket, and we're going to be removing three screws here. We've got one located here. We come down about halfway we've got our second one right here, and our third one right down here on the bottom. Now we want to bend our wheel well liner back just a little bit. That's going to allow us access to get to the bolt we've got right here. That's going to hold the fascia and that fender together. Want to get that backed out, this is going to require a 10 millimeter socket. Now we'll head over to the passenger side and do that same process there.Now on the bottom side of our fascia we've got a rivet in front of each wheel, this is the passenger side, and we'll just use our drill bit and we'll drill that out on both sides. Now we're going to use the 10 millimeter socket again, and we're going to have four bolts across the bottom here we need to remove. You want to be sure just to take out the four that have that larger washer on them. There are going to be some that are darker in color without a washer, we want to leave in place.Now we'll get our fascia removed, we want to slightly lift up on it and pull out. We need to work our clips separate here, and then around the bottom of the lights. We've got little tabs that stick off of the fascia, and they go on these clips. As you separate, if you run into any resistance you can just lift up on that tab to get it off the clip.Now, for the fog lights, the park sensors, anything else that might be connected on the front, you can see our big wiring harness that comes off here, we want to separate it, that Christmas tree fastener. Then right in behind there, we've got a larger plug. It's going to be located right here, just in front of the driver side fender well. You want to press that tab in right there and then wiggle it to separate. Now we want to set our fascia aside somewhere safe.Now with our fascia out of the way, we're going to focus on our tow hooks and getting those removed. We've got two bolts, one located here, one located here. 16 millimeter socket, you'll want to get those removed. Now we'll use a 30 millimeter socket and we want to remove the large nut on the back of our tow hook. Pretty easy to break loose, then you should just be able to remove it by hand. Do the same thing for your driver side.Now we need to remove the three bolts from the fascia extension here. The 10 millimeter nut here, that's a 10 millimeter head, these are 15 millimeter heads. Also, the two bolts here on the bottom of our bumper support, also those are going to be a 15. We'll do the same thing over on our passenger side.Now on both sides we need to trim off this lip that sticks out past the end of the frame there. This one we'll trim just about right up into that corner. This one, just about even with the top of the bolt hole, maybe a little bit taller. We'll have to remove all of that sticking out. We're going to use a cutoff wheel. You could also use a sawzall, you just want to be really careful regardless of what you choose.See we've got our surfaces now ground down, they're nice and flush with our bracket. I like to use a little rust preventative spray paint, just touch that up so we won't have to worry about any rust or corrosion in that area. Once we have that done, just going to head over to the passenger side and do the same thing.Now we'll take our bumper attachment plates. I'm going to use our 70 millimeter 10 millimeter bolt. Want to place Loctite on one of them and stick that up through the sleeve located closest to the middle of the vehicle. Get one started in there as well, no Loctite on this one yet, though. As you can see, we've got our lock washer in place here. Snug that up, 17 millimeter socket is what you'll need. We're just going to barely snug that one up. Then we're going to torque that middle bolt down to specification. Those will be listed in your instructions. Now we can remove that outer bolt.Now we'll grab our driver side base plate arm, going to put that up in position. See, it's going to align with the three bolts we took out before, so we're just going to place those right back in. We'll just go hand tight for now. On these bolts and all other bolts that we put in are base plate, we're going to have red Loctite on each of them. We'll align the hole here just to make sure that the two pieces are working together, and we want to tighten down our three bolts. Now we want to go back through and torque these down to the factory specifications.Now we'll take our 10 millimeter bolts that are the medium length and we'll put a lock washer and flat washer on those, and those will be started in our upper hole. You'll want to be sure that we've got one in both holes up here on top, the hole to the left of that one as well. Now we want to get both of those bolts snugged down and torqued to specification as well.Now we'll place our last bolt here on the outside. You can see, I'm using an alignment tool here in this outside hole. That's helping me to just pull over slightly on the base plate so our bolt slides in. Now we'll slide our 1/2 inch bolt up through, we're going to put the nylon lock nut on top. Now we can get these two tightened and torqued to specification. Now, for the 10 millimeter bolts we'll use a 17 millimeter. For the 1/2 inch you'll want to use a 19 or a 3/4 inch.Now we're ready to get our safety cables put in place. We're going to bring those right up over the bumper rail here. We'll use our quick link to get those together and secure it to the tab right there. You just want to be sure that these are clear of any moving parts or any sharp edges. If you want to, a couple zip ties around there can kind of bunch everything together. Now we can head to the driver side and repeat that same process.Now, at this point in the installation it's a good idea to start getting your stuff in position. We've got the breakaway switch bracket, most braking systems are going to require that. You want to get it mounted, and also while the fascia's off it's a good time to run any wires or any air lines you might need at the front of the vehicle. We're going to use our provided breakaway switch bracket and the provided self tapping screw. You'll want a 5/16 inch bit driver, and we can get this secured on. Once we have our hole created, just attach our bracket.Now on our fascia, these are our tow hook cutouts. You can see there's going to be a recessed area right here. What we're going to do is trim this tab down even with that, just about to the corner. Now, you'll want to repeat that same process for over on the other side, and we can test fit our fascia and trim out anywhere we might need to for our breakaway switch. Now we'll trim our fascia and we're just going to do a little bit at a time here. We can always take more off if need be.As we put our fascia back in place, of course you want to be sure to plug back in your sensors and fog lights here. Then we're just going to reverse the process we used when we took it off. Now, on our Cherokee we used the base plate part number BX1136, wiring kit part number RM15267, braking system SM99243, and tow bar part number BX7420. Now, with everything back in place that's going to complete our installation of the Blue Ox Tow Bar with Removable Arms, part number BX1136 on our 2018 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk.
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (18 Customer Reviews)
This strong and durable base plate kit is custom designed to fit your vehicle. The hidden reinforcements, along with the removable bracket arms, provide a clean, unobtrusive look when your car is not being towed.I ordered all the parts required to safely flat tow out 2017 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk from ETrailer.com. The only part they didn't have was the Mopar Flat Tow Enhancement kit Jeep requires to flat tow this model. Ordering from them was great, the website is easy to use and I was able to locate all the pieces compatible with my specific vehicle. The expert recommendations help my decision choosing the right parts. I ordered from ETrailer even though I found some of the parts on other websites a little cheaper. I chose to pay a little more because of all the effort ETrailer has put into installation videos and guides. I was very pleasantly surprised to learn from ETrailer that they have a price match guarantee! So my equipment consisted of the following Mopar Flat Tow Enhancement Kit (from Jeep) Roadmaster Battery Charge Line Kit for Towed Vehicles Mighty Cord 7-Way RV Style Trailer Connector - Trailer End WesBarg 7-Way, RV-Style Connector w/ 6' Long Coiled Cable Trailer End Pollak Black Plastic, 7-Pole, RV Blade-Style Trailer Socket - Vehicle End Hopkins Custom Tail Light Wiring Kit for Towed Vehicles SMI Stay-IN-Play DUO Supplemental Braking System Roadmaster Brake-Lite Relay Kit for Towed Vehicles Blue Ox Alpha Tow Bar - Motor Home Mount - 6,500 lbs Blue Ox Base Plate Kit - Removable Arms Blue Ox Tow Bar Cover - Aladdin, Aventa LX, Aventa II The installation videos are great but not all inclusive. Take the time to read the instructions that come with the parts. This is a major project, I took about 30 hrs over a full week but as you'll see in the pictures I took s few extra steps to make a cleaner look. Some of those extra steps: The base plate install requires the bumper be modified cutting off a flange on each side, I spray painted this to prevent corrosion. In the install video of the baseplate on the drivers side they use an extra quick link (not included) to run the safety cable around the wiper fluid reservoir. I took the time to remove it and run the safety cable behind it. I didn't want our nice new vehicle to look like it can be towed so I played the brake away switch and 7 way trailer plug behind the license plate, so when not being towed our vehicle looks great! Some things to be aware of. The Brake air cylinder that mounts to the brake pedal with four bolts may need longer bolts, it did on our Jeep. Spend the money for weather tight heat shrink crimp fittings. The Hopkins wire harness was about 1.5 feet short to get to my plug location. Buy extra zip ties, electrical tape and split loom. I recommend reading all the various installation manuals and watching all the videos because the various components integrate together and if you install one at a time you'll be doing a bunch of extra work. The brake light relay is a real pain in the butt, not because of the hardware but because of the location of the brake light switch which is very hard to get to. Overall I am very happy with the products and how the installation looks. We haven't towed it yet but do not expect any problems. 410274
Still very happy with our purchase. We’ve towed over 10k miles and have had zero issues with our tow setup. I’ve shared my experience with several other RVrs and recommended your company for their needs. Thank you,
Roy - 07/30/2018Delivery was quick and no missing parts. Installation was fairly easy not due to any issue with the product just tight spaces in the Jeep. As always quality is top notch, as well as pricing. Thanks again, etrailer! 728862
Received quickly And as advertised 658417
Prompt service! 603220
Very happy with the BlueOx product and great service from etrailer. Would highly recommend this company to anyone needing any of the products they sell. Also purchased a bicycle rack from them recently at a great price and was very happy with it also. 550989
Very good product and the service was g reat. 483777
It's my 3rd blue ox baseplate and I've installed all of them myself.The 1rst one shipped to me, wasn't close to fitting in the Jeep Cherokee pre existing mounting holes.After numerous calls to blue ox and sending? them pics of the misaligned predrilled holes in the base plate,they finally agreed to send me an replacement.Wasnt much better had to ream out most of the holes to make it fit. I mean a lot of reaming. I've had 3 different base plates from them.96 Cherokee 2006 liberty and this 2016 trailhawk.Extremly disappointed in the last purchase.Plus their attitude was disappointing.Just saying you asked. How ever the folks at E trailer were fine.There you have it 378809
The Blue Ox baseplate was easy to install because ETrailer provided a downloadable installation video. I placed my lap top computer near our work area and paused then played the video as we followed the installation process to completion. This was so much easier to follow then printed instruction. 40 foot Newmar Northern Star Jeep Cherokee Trail Hawk Blue Ox Aladdin tow bar 366434
a very well made product. I tow a 2016 jeep cherokee trailhawk behind a georgetown377. easy hook up and easy to stow away. I am very satisfied and would recommend this product to any one. 360592
Great product 332744
Easy to install ,just takes time. I like the removable pins,no leg banging. 325130
Great
Paul - 12/15/2017I installed the base plates on a 2016 jeep trail hawk and it went together as advertised. The video was at huge help step by step directions. I have no problem recommending etrailer to anyone. I will be buying more. Oh yeah shipping was very quick! 296879
We are currently in Oregon having just come from coer de lane then down to Boise Idaho. We are pulling our jeep and are very happy with our blue ox base plate and blue ox wiring kit we purchased from you.
Rssrob - 10/17/2017worked good good fast service 261231
they we quick to get the parts and shipped as soon as they were able to get it in stock. The parts were just what I needed to install on my vehicle. 221687
Great product it needed to be modified as it was in the video. I hope they will correct that. That took some time to do the Mod. After MOD it fits nice and looks good also. 188661
This product is awesome and very well made. Etrailer is the best to deal with and they have the the best advice for most applications. Thank you
Ervin - 04/27/2016My experience with etrailer.com was excellent. I placed my order with no problems. Received prompt free delivery. I will certainly use them in the future 183748
I received my Blue Ox base plate and accessories quickly after determining what was needed. Great customer service from Jean, who was very knowledgeable and put together a web page showing all the products I was interested in buying. I will definitely order from them again. 178507
I have not installed it yet but your handling of product was great 122846
great service 120553
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