Review of Blue Ox Tow Bar Braking Systems - Patriot Portable Braking System - BLU37TR
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Blue Ox Tow Bar Braking Systems - Patriot Portable Braking System - BLU37TR Review
Hi there, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Today we're gonna take a quick look at this Blue Ox Patriot portable braking system. This is gonna be a very easy way to get your vehicle set up to be flat towed. Of course, a braking system is only one of the components that you're gonna need to flat tow your vehicle, but, comparing this to permanently installed breaking systems, this is gonna be much easier to get installed and it's going to provide some other benefits as well that we'll go over here in a moment. So, to get this installed, or set up in your vehicle, we'll just take the actuator box here, sit it on the floor in front of your driver's seat, the adjustable feet on the bottom will accommodate your uneven floorboards, so you can get that all leveled out. The back of the unit can also be raised or lowered so that the unit can sit snugly against the front of your driver's seat to provide the support it needs, and then just tighten down in place, whenever you get it where it needs to be.
The bracket on the front here is going to clamp around your brake pedal, so it's going to provide a nice excellent leverage for your brake pedal, so it's going to ensure that it's operating smoothly for you. It will plug right into your 12 volt accessory outlet here to get power to operate it. It does also have this convenient carrying handle that will allow you to simply remove and store the unit. It only weighs about nine pounds, I was very surprised at how light it is when I picked it up, but it's very easy to then take out. It can be switched between your towed vehicles, so if you've got multiple vehicles set up to be flat towed you can just use this one unit and switch between different vehicles, so you can take different vehicles out with you on your different trips.
They do include one breakaway kit here, they also have a second vehicle breakaway kit available, you can find it here at etrailer.com using the part number you see on the screen there, and so that way you can leave that breakaway setup installed on each vehicle and then it's very easy to then plug it in once you have your unit in the floorboard, just plug in a breakaway kit so that if your vehicle we're to come disconnected you'd be able to have the brakes applied there so it's not bouncing down the road on its own, and that sort of thing. So, this system is a proportional system, so it's gonna provide a nice, precise, responsive braking for your towed vehicle. It's got a built in inertia sensor that detects when and how your RV is slowing down, and then the unit is going to press on your car's brake pedal with matching intensity. So if you slam on the brakes in your RV, in an emergency situation, it's going to match that intensity in applying your towed vehicle's brakes. If you're just lightly tapping on the brakes to, kind of, slow down, it's going to lightly apply the brakes in your towed vehicle.
So this is gonna provide improved control, better stopping, and less wear on both your vehicle and your RV's brakes by having this proportional to your braking in your RV. This does have adjustable power settings, so that you can adjust the sensitivity for your particular setup. So, if you have a larger vehicle, you can turn up the power so that it's applying more force to slow down that bigger vehicle, or, if you have a lighter vehicle, you can turn it down, so if you are switching back and forth, very easy to switch those. You can do all of that from the convenience of the cab of your RV with the included remote control here, with the LED display, this is going to mount in your cab and will plug into the 12 volt accessory outlet in your RV. It either mounts with this rubber stand here, very easy to move around, set on your dash, or they do also include some hook and loop strips here that you could mount on the back and set it where you want it to be.
But this is going to monitor your braking system, make sure that it's applying properly. It will alert you if the vehicle we're to come detached from your motorhome, or, if there's too much braking pressure, to activate the brakes properly. It will also let you activate the towed vehicles brakes in an emergency situation, or to correct sway, so you can manually apply the brakes using the controller there, so that will give you all the control that you need while you're in your RV. This does also have a built-in supercapacitor, so it's going to hold the charge for about up to 30 minutes. So, if you we're to lose power in your vehicle, if your battery was to go dead or something like that, this will still apply your brakes in a breakaway setup, or situation, so an extra little energy source there to make sure that even if your battery dies it's still going to apply those brakes if it we're to come disconnected. This system is compatible with hybrid vehicles, you'll simply select the H mode for hybrids, or other cars with a continuous power-assist brake setup. So, overall, a really nice system here if you are looking for a portable braking system. It's gonna be much easier to get installed initially and to transfer from one vehicle to another. So if you are wanting to flat tow several different vehicles, of course you're gonna need your tow bars, base plates, all those other components for each setup. The tow bar, of course, will work for both typically, but you'll need the base plates for each setup and other components as well. But this system will very easily transfer between those vehicles so you can take whichever one works for the destination you're going to. This is made here in the USA, so you can trust it's made to the high quality standards that we've come to know and trust for products that are made here in the US. Like I said, that second breakaway kit is gonna be really nice if you are wanting to use multiple vehicles and just switch this one unit between them, having that breakaway kit setup in each vehicle is gonna be as simple as plugging this in, like so, once you get it put in the floorboard. So that concludes our look for today. Again, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Thanks for watching..
Info for this part was:
Video Edited:
Chris R
Test Fit:
Conner L
Installed by:
Michael B
Video by:
Thomas T
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