Will Roadmaster Direct-Connect Base Plate Kit Fit with Guardian Rock Guard

Updated 02/25/2025 | Published 02/12/2025

Products Featured in This Question

Roadmaster Crossbar-Style Base Plate Kit - Removable Arms

(2137)

$575.00

Roadmaster Guardian Rock Guard for Towed Vehicles

(57)

$615.00

Roadmaster Tow Defender Protective Screen for Towed Vehicles

(210)

$615.00

Roadmaster Direct-Connect Base Plate Kit - Removable Arms

(3377)

$575.00

Question:

I ordered the RM-524435-4 crossbar base plate for my 2013 Ford Flex and the installer installed a RM-524435-5 direct connect base plate and now have no place to mount my guardian rock shield. The dealer checked the shipped box and it had the wrong item. But he already had installed it when I went to pickup car. How do I install and use my guardian rock guard?

asked by: Bill L

Expert Reply:

Hey Bill, thanks for reaching out, although I'm sorry to hear about the circumstances.

The Roadmaster Base Plate Kits # RM-524435-4 and # RM-524435-5 for your 2013 Ford Flex connect differently enough that the Roadmaster Guardian Rock Guard # RM-4000 unfortunately won't work with the direct-connect base plate kit. Instead, you'll need to use the Roadmaster Tow Defender Protective Screen # RM-4750.

I know it won't be pleasant (I hate confrontations), but you're going to need to see if your installer is willing to work with you to make this right by either getting the right base plate kit installed, or replacing the protector to the right model.

Let me know if you have any other questions about fitments and I'd be more than happy to give input!

expert reply by: Jon G

Bill L.

2/15/2025

You misunderstood my question or I was not clear. My installer ordered the baseplate #524435-4 and the box received was labeled correctly, but when I went to pickup my car after he was finished with the installation I noticed that the guardian rock guard was not installed, because the baseplate box had been opened and the wrong arms were put in box and restapled shut. I want the arms for my ordered baseplate (p/n C002586 and C002587) as I won’t use the included arms (C002383). Thank you

Jon G.

2/17/2025

@BillL Got it, I understand now. To replace just the arms, we have the Roadmaster Replacement Arms for Base Plate Kits # RM-ARMS which you can use to order the correct arms for your setup. If you ordered this through us, we can help you out, but please send me the order number or the email address used for the order because I'm not seeing anything under this mail address. If you ordered it through a different company, then you can just order the replacement arms through us.

Bill L.

2/25/2025

@JonG Jon, just a note to let you know that my problem has been taken care of. My installer ordered the correct p/n base plate from you but someone at your company apparently opened the shipping box and removed the base plate and then put the wrong one into my shipping box. (Crossbar vs. direct connect) When I questioned why my guardian rock shield was not installed for my tow home from his shop, he couldn’t answer me. We looked at my invoice and the shipping invoice and dug the shipping cartoon out of the trash - they all agreed the we had received the correct baseplate for the crossbar connect except we had the arms for the direct connect baseplate. He immediately (unknown to me) ordered the correct arms. We looked and finally found the tag for baseplate that he installed and it is the p/n for the direct connect base plate.

Jon G.

2/25/2025

@BillL Sorry to hear about your situation. Do you have an order number so I can at least make a note of it in our system? Normally we don't remove base plate kits here like that unless they are being installed, so I'm surprised to hear that the arms were wrong.