Preparing Abarth to be Flat Towed w/Blue Ox Hardware

[k9jackie]

Thanks for posting all this detail! I was considering buying a fiat to tow but now I'm thinking towing is not for me.


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[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by k9jackie

Thanks for posting all this detail! I was considering buying a fiat to tow but now I'm thinking towing is not for me.

Don't let all of the juicy details discourage you. You don't have to do the installation yourself the way jerhofer did.

When it comes to do-it-yourself projects, I'm not just all thumbs, I'm worse— all toes! So I let my Airstream dealer install the towbar baseplates and supplemental brake system on my toad.

Once the installation is done, actual towing of my toad is a breeze. And the advantages of having a second set of wheels when I travel are well worth it for me.

[jerhofer]

Protagonist is right. When you have someone do the work, you take it in one day and get it back a few days later with the car ready to tow.

I enjoy doing these projects and have the facilities, tools and the time to do them. My hobby is working on cars and this is a fairly simple job compared to some of the projects I tackle. Two years ago I did a body off restoration of a 1964 Corvette coupe. Every nut and bolt was removed with the body on the lift and the chassis sitting on the floor. That was a bit more difficult than this job. These projects keep me out of the bars and help protect my sanity now that I am retired.

[jerhofer]

The clevis arrived yesterday for the Brake Buddy. It is pretty crude but it was free and will work fine. It was not painted. I have a guy who does powder coating for a very reasonable price. I will have him make it look good.





I did have an issue with it right away. The locking pin would not fit the hole. I had to use a 25/64 bit on my drill press to make it fit.





Now that I had it fixed, I mounted the clevis to the brake pedal. The screws are longer than they need to be and I will change those out when I do the final installation. The rod from the brake buddy attaches to the clevis.





The instructions call for mounting the rod to the clevis and then moving the seat within a quarter inch or less of the handle on the Brake Buddy. This handle is adjustable in height and can be flipped around to give an even wider range of adjustment. The instructions also advise that the lower the point on the seat that the handle touches is best. In the Fiat's case, I had to adjust the handle to its highest point to touch the seat. Even then, there was interference with the plastic trim on the left front of the seat. Plus there was quite a bit of give as the handle met the seat cushion.



I wasn't wild about using the seat as the backer for the Brake Buddy anyway. So I found a piece of 4"x4" wood and screwed two small pieces on the backside that lined up with the seat rails. Now the handle could be set to its lowest point and it was meeting something solid.








Now that I had that worked out I could move on. When the Brake Buddy is plugged into the 12V outlet, the air pump immediately begins filling up the air chamber. The pump automatically stops as soon as the chamber is full. You then press the "Test" button five times to release the vacuum pressure in the tow vehicle's system. This must be done every time the unit is plugged in or if the engine is started on the tow vehicle. There are seven green lights on the unit that measure the sensitivity. Those lights must be green before one can use the system.



The next step is to set the air pressure for the weight of the tow vehicle. There is a chart on the unit to determine this. Based on the chart and the weight of the Fiat, I set the pressure at 36.5 lbs by pulling up on the pressure set button. You can set the sensitivity with the sensitivity button to determine how much assist the unit gives. I will have to adjust that after doing some towing.



Next I plugged in the two leads for the break away switch. Next to those inputs are the two inputs for the transmitter that sends a signal to the receiver that is mounted in the motor home. This transmitter lights up a green light on the receiver that says all is well with the system. A flashing red light indicates low voltage in the tow vehicle. A solid red light shows that you have applied the brakes to the motor home and that the system is working. The red light will also come on if the car breaks away from the motor home. I pulled the break away switch plug and the light came on so the system is working. Since I did not have the motor home at the house (more rain today), I plugged the receiver into a 12V outlet I use for testing things.







To unhook the Brake Buddy, you unplug it and then hold down the drain button to drain the air from the chamber. Once the air has been released you can then safely unhook the rod and remove the unit from the car. Pretty simple. It is finally supposed to quit raining Tuesday so I will bring over the motor home so I can determine the correct draw bar and see how everything works.

[jerhofer]

It finally quit raining and I was able to bring the AI home today. My first task was to determine the correct draw-bar for the hitch. I had a 2" and 5 1'4" drop draw-bars but they were both to low. If I turned over the 2" drop bar, it would have been too high. So off to Autozone I went and found a draw-bar with no drop or raise. The only one they had had three balls welded on it. Good to have if I want to pull my utility trailer as it uses a 1 7/8" ball. The key here was to get a draw-bar that would make the part of the tow bar that attaches to the hitch be level.





The tow bar came with coiled safety cables which they recommended to be run underneath the tow bar and to cross them so the left mounted to the right side and the right side to the left. The theory here is that if the tow bar came unhooked from the motor home, the crossed safety cables would keep the hitch off the ground.

I also hooked up the break away switch. When I pulled the break away plug, it lit up a red light on my receiver in the motor home and sounded a very loud alarm signal. Plus, back in the towed car, the Brake Buddy had applied the brakes to the car being towed. So everything was working as it should.









Hooking up the tow bar to the car was very easy. You do not have to get the car totally straight behind the motor home. The tow bars telescope when you depress the levers on each side. You hook up to the hitch on the motor home and then extend one arm to hook up to the car and then extend the other arm to hook up the other side. Once you have both arms in place, you pull forward a bit to lock the arms in place. You are then good to go.



I had painted the clevis for the Brake Buddy and installed it today.



Once I had the Brake Buddy in place, we were ready for a test drive. I checked once again to make sure the emergency brake was off and the transmission was in neutral. And away we went. I could see the tow car easily in the mirrors when turning and could see the red mirror on the Abarth in the driver's side motor home mirror. The rear view camera came in handy to monitor the tow car. Everything went well and worked as it should. We are ready to tow!!





The photos above suggested names by my wife for both the motor home and the tow car...Ebony and Ivory. As you probably can tell, she is a Paul McCartney fan from way back. Anytime during the past 47 years she would have ditched me in a heartbeat for Paul!!!

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by jerhofer

The key here was to get a draw-bar that would make the part of the tow bar that attaches to the hitch be level.

One reason I went with Roadmaster rather than Blue Ox. My Roadmaster towbar is level; with a Blue Ox towbar I would have needed a 2" drop hitch.

But the attachment to the car is different, and has about a 2" rise to put the crossbar right in front of the bumper.

[PSchw]

Here is my setup which I just installed. I like the blue Ox as it looks nice on the car. I used the toe bar which goes to the hitch receiver and I had to raise the receiver 2" to get the toe bar straight.
I used the SMI brake permanent installed in the Honda Element.
Works real well just towed 1200 miles yes I can feel the +3500lbs and I loose about 3mpg.