longhauler
Minnesota
Full Member
Joined: 08/28/2007
View Profile
 Offline
|
After putting about 8 thousand miles on the rig this past year. We decided that driving the 1998 grand cherokee we have in parallel or renting a car for the weekend was just not all that cost effective.
A lot of our weekends are spent driving between 300-400 miles on average.
A friend just sold his rig this year and let us have a deal on his Blue OX Aventa tow bar. Its in pretty good shape with the bar and safety cables included. Unfortunately he had a different toad so the base plates were not much use. I am looking for a couple things.
If anyone has a line on a used set of baseplates for a 1998 jeep grand cherokee we would appreciate it. We are looking for part # BX1117.
I am also interesting in hearing about how the installation of the cable kit went for you. We are looking for BX8869. Does it have a way to charge the battery while you are driving down the road? I know most kits will operate the turn signals and brake lights, but what about the toad's running lights at night? If not, what are most doing about the battery running down on the toad?
What position do you put your key into while driving? ACC, ON, etc?
We have a quadratrack transfer case, so we are going to assume we are going to leave the transmission in park and then put the transfer case in neutral. Checking the towing site, it appears that we should be able to flat tow this just fine if the transfer case is left in neutral.
What would you recommend for a brake buddy style unit these days?
Is there a unit to avoid?
thanks!
Paul & Julie
1995 Coachmen M400Si Destiny DP
300 Cummins CTA 8.3
6 spd Allison
Spartan Raised Rail Chassis
Featherlite Trailer / 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 5.9
Harlequin Great Dane "Zoe"
Weimaraner "Zander"
|
sch911
Rochester Hills, MI
Senior Member
Joined: 04/13/2003
View Profile
|
Good luck on fiding the used 98 GC baseplate, I've been looking for a while for one also. E-bay has new baseplates for the GC for about $350. I'm about to the point where I'm ready to get a new one. Be sure to check your local Craigslist listings.
The key is left in the un-locked position. This is one click toward run but no electrics are energized. The power to the tail lamps comes from the tow vehicle through the add on harness, not from the Jeep. So there's no battery drain.
You have the the t-case approach correct. Tranny in "P", T-Case in "N".
Good luck....
Test & System Engineer (Thermal Systems incl. towing, Detroit 3)
2003 Damon Challenger 348 Class A - F53 Triton V10
Posted by Macintosh
|
larry cad
Whatever.....
Senior Member
Joined: 05/23/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
Paul/Julie, when I got my first Blue Ox tow bar, I also got a base plate with it which I was told fits a 1999 Grand Cherokee. I didn't use the plate, but I still have it. You can have it for the freight if you want it. I can send you photos if you want.
We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history.........
Ayn Rand
|
longhauler
Minnesota
Full Member
Joined: 08/28/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
larry cad wrote:Paul/Julie, when I got my first Blue Ox tow bar, I also got a base plate with it which I was told fits a 1999 Grand Cherokee. I didn't use the plate, but I still have it. You can have it for the freight if you want it. I can send you photos if you want.
Larry,
Thanks. I am certainly interested and would be more than happy to pay the freight. Can you check the baseplate and see if it matches the part number I listed above? Send me a PM so I can get your mailing address.
|
longhauler
Minnesota
Full Member
Joined: 08/28/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
longhauler wrote:larry cad wrote:Paul/Julie, when I got my first Blue Ox tow bar, I also got a base plate with it which I was told fits a 1999 Grand Cherokee. I didn't use the plate, but I still have it. You can have it for the freight if you want it. I can send you photos if you want.
Larry,
Thanks. I am certainly interested and would be more than happy to pay the freight. Can you check the baseplate and see if it matches the part number I listed above? Send me a PM so I can get your mailing address.
Larry,
I did a quick check and a 1999 grand cherokee takes part number BX1115. If you have one that fits the 1998 part number I listed above, then we will still take it. Perhaps someone else needs one for the 1999?
So what is everyone using for an electronic brake controller in the toad? Any recommendations.
SCH911 - Thanks for the craigslist suggestion. I had put one out there locally a while ago. I checked ebay too. You would think with the age of our jeeps that these would be showing up all over the place. ;>
|
|
|
sch911
Rochester Hills, MI
Senior Member
Joined: 04/13/2003
View Profile
|
Sorry to say the 99 GC is a totally different animal. The 99 was an all new platform (WJ) where the 98 was the last year for the (ZJ) platform. According to Blue Ox the baseplates are different....
|
SantaNSC
Salley, SC
Senior Member
Joined: 10/22/2003
View Profile
Offline
|
I don't think it's quite that easy. First let me say, I'm no expert and am trying to get set up for towing a Wrangler myself. From what I've read, if you use a brake buddy or similar system, they are plugged into the Jeep's lighter and will run the battery down after some amount of time, I've read 6 hrs. Further the brake buddy presses on the Jeeps brake peddle which in turn lights the Jeeps brake lights. If your Jeep brake lights and turn signals are wired to your TV, then you have a problem with back feeds between the vehicles. My Jeep owners manual says to disconnect the battery negative while towing. I assume to isolate the Jeep electrical. That would solve the problem of running the Jeep battery down and would isolate the Jeep Electrical from the TV, however you also wouldn't have any onboard power for the brake buddy. So we both need more help.
I've installed a disconnect (from Camping World) on my battery negative and I'm planning on running 12v from the TV to power the brake buddy. I don't know what others are doing.
|
sch911
Rochester Hills, MI
Senior Member
Joined: 04/13/2003
View Profile
|
SantaNSC wrote:I'm planning on running 12v from the TV to power the brake buddy. I don't know what others are doing.
That's the best way to do it....
|
longhauler
Minnesota
Full Member
Joined: 08/28/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
SantaNSC wrote:If your Jeep brake lights and turn signals are wired to your TV, then you have a problem with back feeds between the vehicles. My Jeep owners manual says to disconnect the battery negative while towing. I assume to isolate the Jeep electrical.
That would solve the problem of running the Jeep battery down and would isolate the Jeep Electrical from the TV, however you also wouldn't have any onboard power for the brake buddy. So we both need more help.
I've installed a disconnect (from Camping World) on my battery negative and I'm planning on running 12v from the TV to power the brake buddy. I don't know what others are doing.
Thanks. I was thinking that one might be able to insert an isolator in the system. I checked out the BX8869 kit and its basically an extension of your RV's braking system. No power goes to the car's electrical system. I would think if you did the patch in the Jeep's harness, you would want to use a set of isolators with leads. This way it would only allow the voltage to flow one way, which is into the jeep's system. What have others done and how does your harness kit work with respect to the jeep? I still on the fence about drilling a couple more one inch holes in the tail lights to mount the additional brake light bulbs with the BX8869 kit. It seems like tapping into the existing keep harness with a couple wiring clips and isolators would be a cleaner way to go here. I would prefer to have the running lights on the jeep available at night too.
Back to brake systems. Any recommendations here for good models to look at? Pros and cons to the various units that are out there?
|
SantaNSC
Salley, SC
Senior Member
Joined: 10/22/2003
View Profile
Offline
|
Certainly using the isolators is one popular approach. One of the drawbacks with isolators that I've read about is the running lights. If you want to have front and/or rear running lights, along with the license tag light, which I guess is required in some states, how many isolators do you need and where do you put them? The brake lights and turn signals are pretty straight forward.
I've read that, at least with the Wrangler that if you basically run a 4 wire trailer hookup from the TV to the Jeep, you get all the lights. Some simply pull 2 fuses to isolate the Jeep lights wiring from the TV while leaving the rest of the Jeep power operating.
|
|
|
