Monday, June 12, 2017

Chevy Spark (tow car) / NSA RV Products RB-4000 Receiver Style Ready Brake Installation

Bought the kit for the Ready Brake Surge Brakes because towing the Spark worked fine but stopping the Coachmen Catalina Class C was uncomfortably long with the tow car pushing us. I looked at the electronic brake buddy type, which are $1K+ and well, the surge brakes are simpler and a lot cheaper. The downside was installing the cable. I had pulled the front fascia off the Spark to install the Blue Ox tow bar so I knew how and had to do it again to make the surge brakes work without binding up. It needed to be within 2 inches up or down from the tow bar connection and in the middle of the car. How I did it was simply how I did it. Others may do it differently. I share this because of how much I appreciate the help I get from the Internet from others.
The Spark does have a double wall firewall, which means drilling the appropriate holes as per the manufacturer's instructions. I did struggle to drill a 1" hole through the inside firewall (manufacturer's recommendation) because it isn't perfectly flat top to bottom. I would try to keep expanding my hole from the initial hole to something like 3/4 inch and see if you can fit a socket through that hole first. I didn't quite need the 1 inch hole and it got weird to get it that big. Locating the hole slightly lower than my detail shows might help because it was above the hole that I got into excess metal that wouldn't go away after drilling.
My details show custom made brackets for things like the 7 pin connector mount and the front cable loop mount. The brackets are hardware store stuff bent and drilled and trimmed to aid in mounting the stuff where I needed it to be. Again, I had to trim holes in the fascia. I will try to come back and add the finalized fascia later.


Wouldn't use spray foam insulation to seal hole next time. Risks friction.



Do not use spray foam to seal hole. Can get into sliding cable line and foul it up...