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Old 10-02-2019, 07:34 AM   #1
Winnebago Camper
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 20
ReadyBrake + 6" Rise/Drop receiver

Hello,

I recently bought a Blue Ox tow bar and now am in need of a supplemental braking system.

Not being a fan of "a little robot" on the floor doing the braking for me I'm leaning toward the ReadyBrake surge braking system.

I'm wondering and worried about the height difference between my Jeep bumper and the receiver on the MH. The bottom of the MH receiver is 13" from the ground and the bottom of the Jeep bumper is around 19".
So I would need a raised receiver around 6" from the MH using a Rise/Drop adapter.

Does anyone have any experience or advice about using a 6" Rise receiver with the ReadyBrake system?
Is it too much torque for the adapter?
Is the ReadyBrake a good braking system?
How much calibration needs to be done to get it to brake effectively?

The Rise/Drop receiver is rated for 200lb Tongue weight and 6,000lb Gross towing weight

The vehicle is an '04 Wrangler with an approximate total weight of 3,400lbs (+/-)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
John
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Old 10-02-2019, 08:29 AM   #2
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Location: Pinellas Park, FL
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I've got a ready brake and recently moved to a ReadyBrute Elite towbar to have an all-in-one solution. I am towing a Mini Cooper so I'm dealing with the opposite direction of drop. I'm using a 4" drop on the Mini. There is an angle to the towbar but not enough that it's a problem.


I installed the cabling into the car myself. I'd imagine that you would have better luck. I unfortunately have a car with a double firewall so the added time was spent running all over to find a 1" metal bit to get through the first one.
All in all I like the simplicity of the kit. Do I like having a big pull cable out the front of my Mini, no but it's there for a reason so I'm ok with that. The adjustment of the cable is all outside of the car, so that's nice. I did run the wire from the rear to the dash for the light. Now I can see when the car is actually pushing/braking.
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Old 10-02-2019, 10:54 AM   #3
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Thanks Thom,
I just received an email from NSA (makers of ReadyBrake) and he confirmed that a 6" raised receiver is not a problem. As long as you stay within 2" north or south of "level" to the ReasdyBrake.
Did you install the ReadyStop system as well? If so, how did that install go?

I'd still like to hear from others about their experience with ReadyBrake.

So far, I'm leaning that direction.

Thanks
John
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Old 10-13-2019, 06:09 PM   #4
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Location: Fairfield, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by benefishall View Post
Hello,

I recently bought a Blue Ox tow bar and now am in need of a supplemental braking system.

Not being a fan of "a little robot" on the floor doing the braking for me I'm leaning toward the ReadyBrake surge braking system.

I'm wondering and worried about the height difference between my Jeep bumper and the receiver on the MH. The bottom of the MH receiver is 13" from the ground and the bottom of the Jeep bumper is around 19".
So I would need a raised receiver around 6" from the MH using a Rise/Drop adapter.

Does anyone have any experience or advice about using a 6" Rise receiver with the ReadyBrake system?
Is it too much torque for the adapter?
Is the ReadyBrake a good braking system?
How much calibration needs to be done to get it to brake effectively?

The Rise/Drop receiver is rated for 200lb Tongue weight and 6,000lb Gross towing weight

The vehicle is an '04 Wrangler with an approximate total weight of 3,400lbs (+/-)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
John
I tow a Ford Edge with the Blue Ox Baseplate which sits 23" above ground. I use a Roadmaster 10" riser receiver on the motorhome, the ReadyBrake installed in that and the two bar in the Readybrake. I also use 3 hitch tightners on the 3 pieces to eliminate sag and slack. The one thing I found out by having the tow bar at that height, is, the cable for the Readybrake will activate if the mothorme is, say going up a steep driveway angle and when it levels out, it pulls the cable taught because the car is still on the down slope. It will stop me in my tracks and I have to go out and release the cable.

I called Tom at ReadyBrake and asked him if there was any reason I couldn't use the ReadyBrake upside down(which solves the cable issue) and he said not as long as the cable lever doesn't scrape the ground. With a 10" lift, that is not an issue. It works fine in that position now. If you want to PM me with an email address or cell phone # I can take a pic and sent it to you if you like.
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Old 10-13-2019, 07:35 PM   #5
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I've been using the ReadyBrake system on two RV's now. The first was a 1992 GeorgiBoy pulling a 2012 Ford Fiesta. This setup required an 8" drop hitch because the Fiesta's Blue Ox base plate left the hitch only 12" above the ground. I frequently dragged the hitch over concrete and asphalt when going into gas stations or parking lots. My new rig is a 2016 Winnebago Sunstar LX 27N towing a 2016 Ford Fiesta. On the 2016 Fiesta, the Blue Ox tow plate raises the hitch up to about 18", so I only require a 4" drop hitch on the Sunstar to get the tow bar level. In both cases I installed the whole system myself and it works beautifully. I didn't run the LED light wire up to the dash on my Sunstar, but I would still like to know when the Fiesta's brakes are being applied, so I'm working on a wireless solution that uses the Fiesta's brake lights which are turned on even though the keys are not in the ignition to turn on a radio transmitter that will be received by the receiver under the dash of the Sunstar and light an LED. I have the boards, just haven't taken the time to play with them. I think they'll have the power to work and only cost me $5.00. Maybe this winter I can brake out the soldering iron and check them out.
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Old 10-13-2019, 09:43 PM   #6
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Call Blue Ox. They recommend only a 4" drop.
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Old 10-14-2019, 08:36 AM   #7
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I really can't comment about the rise/drop, but I installed the brake system and beak-away before a 6000 mile trip this summer and it worked great on a 31KE pulling a 2001Wrangler. Easy install. Took about 2 hours due to non-standard base plate.
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Old 10-14-2019, 11:32 AM   #8
WinnieAdven38
 
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Riverside, CA
Posts: 178
I use the Ready Brake Elite on my 2005 Adventurer and love it. Works great. Also much less expensive as no internal electronic braking box is required. Also less time to connect car. In my research I realized that all the electronic braking systems only do (in a very complicated way) what the Ready Brake does mechanically - they both sense RV deceleration and activate the TOAD brakes accordingly. An electronic braking box senses deceleration through a deceleration sensor, then has electronics to activate a powerful braking solenoid which must be connected to your brake pedal so it can depress it. Whereas the Ready Brake has built in spring in the front of the tow bar. When the RV slows this spring starts to compress and move a lever which is connected via cable to your brake pedal. The more you brake the more the spring is compressed. All very simple. There is no electronic braking box required which is hard to install and has lots of electronics to fail. Go with the Ready Brake.

As for tow bar height - as others have said you should have the hitch receiver +/- 2" within the height of your base plate connection point (not the bumper height) on your towed car. So once you have your baseplate fully installed then measure it's height and compare to your tow hitch height. If too much difference you can buy hitch drop adapters which you can use to raise / lower you hitch height, as needed. I found that Tractor Supply carries a wide variety of these adapters.

For my rig I had to lower the hitch height to match that my Honda CRV baseplate. Got a 6" drop down adapter and it works great.
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Old 10-29-2019, 12:20 AM   #9
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Like HappiHenri I went with the Ready Brake Elite with Blue Ox hook up and a 6 inch drop to a Honda CRV and a Nissan Frontier 2WD that I tow. Worst install headache was removing the front plastic from the Honda to install base plate. I must have broke 3-4 clips and used bad words. Nissan not so much.
Between the 2 toads I have traveled 12000 miles up big mountains and back down in the Rockies. No problems. The RBE will not brake toad going down hill using compression.
I wired 2 small LED's to dash of MH. Blue lights up when RBE is activated (has a n/o switch on tow bar) and red lights up when toad brakes are activated (ran from toad brake light switch hot when brakes applied). I can see exactly what is happening with brake system. Once in awhile going down hill the blue LED indicates RBE has started to move...but no red LED. A slight tap on accelerator turns off blue LED.
I made drawings of all wiring. It can get confusing with switches, connectors, LEd's, brake lights, Hot, ground wires, etc. Also installed breakaway on both vehicles.
Cable adjustment is critical. To tight brakes drag, to loose not enough braking. Some install turnbuckle in cable for fine tuning adjustments. I didn't. Once proper length is set it wont change. Separate cables for CRV and Nissan.
There is learning curve in use and set up but it works well. DW drives CRV to MH an I put in pins. Slight reverse torque latches latches. By the time she finishes towing prep in CRV I have lights, safety chains and control cables hooked up and all pins and connections double checked. DW watches lights while I push pedals in MH and we are good to go.
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