Flat tow equipment needed to flat tow the 2021 Bronco?

[goatman]

Which bumper are you folks thinking would be best/easiest for flat towing? I have the BD on order. Since they are changing the standard bumper to capable, my gut says to stick with the modular. Flat towing is my #1 priority. No fancy lights or winches for me...

We don't know yet. It depends on how each tow bar manufacturer designs their tow bar mounting brackets. I'm thinking we'll also have to keep factory front bumpers because aftermarket bumpers won't work with the tow brackets. Tow brackets will be designed for factory bumpers. Have to wait and see.

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[goatman]

PLEASE - talk about the surge breaking system. I'm planning on this setup for my towing as it seems to be less prone to failure. The RV magazines INTENTIONALLY skip surge breaking systems when discussing breaking options, so there is little information known about options and first-hand experience.

Have never seen a surge brake option for flat towing. Don't see how that is possible. Do you mean proportional braking? There are two kits out there that I know are proportional. I use the Air Force One which is proportional. The RVibrake is a proportional system that is a box on the floor, but others that sit on the floor are only on or off using the brake light to turn on or off. The RVi uses an accelerometer, the Air Force One uses the brakes on the coach to activate the brakes on the tow'd.

 

[Lab00Rat]

Have never seen a surge brake option for flat towing. Don't see how that is possible. Do you mean proportional braking? There are two kits out there that I know are proportional. I use the Air Force One which is proportional. The RVibrake is a proportional system that is a box on the floor, but others that sit on the floor are only on or off using the brake light to turn on or off. The RVi uses an accelerometer, the Air Force One uses the brakes on the coach to activate the brakes on the tow'd.

It's Surge Breaking.

Your lack of knowing is a real problem in the industry with covering (hiding) up potential use technology (don't take it personally - it's very common). U-Haul has had sure breaking on all their trailers forever and has been used millions of times for several decades. Surge breaking has been used for flat towing behind RVs for a long time, but VERY little is available in terms of experience and knowledge.

 

[BreezyNVegas]

Which bumper are you folks thinking would be best/easiest for flat towing? I have the BD on order. Since they are changing the standard bumper to capable, my gut says to stick with the modular. Flat towing is my #1 priority. No fancy lights or winches for me...

In my opinion, the standard bumper is probably the best for flat towing. Only because I think it will be easier to mount the base plate. @dgorsett thinks they might replace the Tow Hooks with the base plate like the Ranger.

 

[MrJoe]

In my opinion, the standard bumper is probably the best for flat towing. Only because I think it will be easier to mount the base plate. @dgorsett thinks they might replace the Tow Hooks with the base plate like the Ranger.

I have a choice between the Modular and Capable bumpers since mine is a Black Diamond. I was hoping my current configuration of the Modular would be easier to adapt if we could use the shackle holes and an adapter to connect the tow bar. Not sure how to do that with the Capable setup... ?

 

[BreezyNVegas]

PLEASE - talk about the surge breaking system. I'm planning on this setup for my towing as it seems to be less prone to failure. The RV magazines INTENTIONALLY skip surge breaking systems when discussing breaking options, so there is little information known about options and first-hand experience.

This is the system I use. https://www.readybrake.com/store/p284/Ready_Brute_Elite_II.html
You don't need a box inside the tow vehicle to control braking. Works really good for us.

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

It's Surge Breaking.

Your lack of knowing is a real problem in the industry with covering (hiding) up potential use technology (don't take it personally - it's very common). U-Haul has had sure breaking on all their trailers forever and has been used millions of times for several decades. Surge breaking has been used for flat towing behind RVs for a long time, but VERY little is available in terms of experience and knowledge.

Really don't understand why there isn't more info out there, I guess it's the ones that buy ads in the RV rags, not the items that work best that become the most well known.

The NSA ReadyBrute system uses surge braking https://www.readybrake.com/ Have towed our 2dr JK 1000's of miles with it, works great. No fidgety electronics or extra actuator boxes that run the battery down. you install a cable that connects to the brake pedal (some may not like doing this), along with a break away cable (which should be required anyway for all systems).

You can get it with any of the popular clevis connectors to fit to your baseplate. In our case I was able to just add the Blue Ox connectors directly to our aftermarket bumper.

 

[goatman]

It's Surge Breaking.

Your lack of knowing is a real problem in the industry with covering (hiding) up potential use technology (don't take it personally - it's very common). U-Haul has had sure breaking on all their trailers forever and has been used millions of times for several decades. Surge breaking has been used for flat towing behind RVs for a long time, but VERY little is available in terms of experience and knowledge.

Seriously dude, are you kidding me? "Your lack of knowing is a real problem in the industry" and "don't take it personally, it's very common" I know what surge braking is (braking, not breaking, BTW, since you know so much). OK, I'll settle down. I have surge brakes on my boat, and I've had surge brakes on other trailers. I didn't say I didn't know what surge brakes are, I said I don't know of any application of surge brakes for flat towing, which I don't. Now I see, from this thread, that there is a ReadyBrake that is a surge brake type system.

Surge brakes on a trailer use a hydraulic master cylinder on the tongue of the trailer, with a slide to push in the master cylinder rod which then actuates the trailer brakes hydraulically with brake fluid. This would be very difficult to do, and heavy, on a tow bar. And impractical to tie into the hydraulic system on a towed vehicle, it seems to me. The ReadyBrake using a cable is a great idea. Are you saying you have seen actual hydraulic surge brakes for towed vehicles?

To my previous comment, regarding proportional braking, we could easily say that the ReadyBrake uses a surge actuator to provide proportional braking to the towed vehicle brake pedal, and is not an actual surge brake that hydraulically activates the towed vehicles brakes.

 

[BreezyNVegas]

The Blue Ox base plate is available.

https://www.blueox.com/products/bas...-standard-bumper-includes-acc-turbo-shutters/

 

[dgorsett]

The Blue Ox base plate is available.

https://www.blueox.com/products/bas...-standard-bumper-includes-acc-turbo-shutters/

Thanks for the PN and link

 

[rsmag9]

The Blue Ox base plate is available.

https://www.blueox.com/products/bas...-standard-bumper-includes-acc-turbo-shutters/

thanks. I ordered a Black Diamond, does anyone know of a flat tow option that works with that bumper?

 

[dgorsett]

thanks. I ordered a Black Diamond, does anyone know of a flat tow option that works with that bumper?

Haven't heard of anything yet. Several manufacturers make shackle mount adapters that should work. And the Blue Ox one would probably work with some skid plate trimming, I would contact Blue Ox directly about that.

 

[rsmag9]

Haven't heard of anything yet. Several manufacturers make shackle mount adapters that should work. And the Blue Ox one would probably work with some skid plate trimming, I would contact Blue Ox directly about that.

Thanks

 

[Lewie]

Has anyone heard of baseplate availability for -
Front Bumper - Ford Performance Heavy-Duty Modular ?

 

[grtharris]

Had a long conversation with a nice lady at Blue OX yesterday. They will start building the base plate for the HD modular bumper next week. She is going to send me the installation instructions on monday after they are released to the distributors. The way she explained the installation to me, the shackle brackets are removed and the new Blue Ox base plates will bolt in with the same bolts plus some bolts into the frame. No more shackle brackets.
They are not going to build an adapter to fit the Bronco shackle brackets because Ford will not give them the load specs on the shackle bracket.
Now with that all said, I just order my complete brake system and I'm going to use a Blue OX BX88357 adapter (7/8" pin) and have them machined out to fit the Ford shackle brackets. My feeling is, if those brackets are strong enough to be used as recover points they can handle the load of flat towing.

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