In-stock alternatives that can ship today
Tow Defender's heavy-duty nylon screen deflects rocks, gravel, and road debris down and away to protect your towed car's finish against chips and dings. Nylon mesh lets air through which helps to keep it low and over the road.
Features:
Specs:
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (93 Customer Reviews)
Tow Defender's heavy-duty nylon screen deflects rocks, gravel, and road debris down and away to protect your towed car's finish against chips and dings. Nylon mesh lets air through which helps to keep it low and over the road.
The Shield does its job and is well built. Used it on a 3000 mile trip last summer and not one rock chip. It took a bit of adjusting to get it to fit properly when I first installed it. Stores fast and ease when leaving the tow bar attached to the RV but very cumbersome and heavy when removing the tow bar from the RV. I can no longer store the tow bar in the RV compartment. I had to store the whole thing in my shed for the winter.
I would have rated it 5 stars had it not been for the problem with one of the extension rod locking latches. After about 8 months I noticed a clucking sound while turning. I determined that one of the extension rods was not locking causing the clunk. I contacted Roadmaster and they explained that the latch needed to be tighten. Once I performed the adjustment it worked as designed, however from the rod expanding and contracting it ripped the nylon Defender Protective Screen and now I have a damaged screen that will cost me $200 to replace.
Excellent product. Installed just like the instructions said it would.
The protector screening is well made. the instructions were not very clear nor were the supporting pictures but the schematic view made it fairly easy to assemble and install with some figuring out. after finishing the install I saw that with the current height setting of the support arms, my RV ladder would rub the left support arm and therefore quickly wear out the fabric, so I took it apart and dropped it down to the bottom holes and its better now.
its a shame there is not an easier way to remove it from the RV than to remove the entire roadmaster hitch from the RV. that is a downside and I may well modify it for that. All in all, this will prevent much of the rock damage in the future and will hopefully prevent me from acquiring so much road tar from pothole repairs. I recommend it and will update this review after I actually use it on the tow car in a few weeks..
Good design, well engineered, fit together well, only issue I had was my exhaust on DP extends out the back, so I needed some more clearance which I got when I added the 2" hitch raise to level the RV to the tow vehicle.
This Lang with the rock guard will save the road.
All products were shipped quickly and the customer service was great.
Also I saved about $100.00 by shopping with etrailer vs other well known suppliers.
This product is easy to install as long as you follow the enclosed instructions. I have not used the Tow Defender today. However, I have friends that have used it with great results. Typically, on a class A motorhome you have mud guards that should protect your tow vehicle but they actually create a bigger problem. I purchased this Tow Defender to compliment the Roadmaster Shield which I currently own. The problem with the shield is that rocks bounce off the shield and hit the rear of the motorhome. The Tow Defender Screen will stop this.
Quality construction, clear instructions, well packed for shipping and my husband had no trouble with the installation. . . With my help, of course! Can't wait to try the shield in the near future. We have a Hallmark camper that we tow the Jeep behind. Will send photo when everything is hooked up. Congratulations on a quality product.
Thanks for following up with us!
--
Patrick B - 3/28/2014Great customer service. Three days after I order the shield it arrived. A customer representative called me twice to let me know when it was shipped and a follow up to verify it had arrived. Haven't gone on a trip yet, but easily installation. The tow bar I attached the shield to was the Falcon/All Terrain (6000 unit). The shield model number was Roadmaster Tow Defender (4700).
I am glad you have contacted me for my thoughts
I really like the product but find it is too long from the motorhome to the tow vehicle, and we have had to put clips on it to stop it from flopping while towing. I also find the product very heavy to lift, as I have had surgery on my right wrist, and do believe it could be made from lighter structure material.
I also have purchased a road master invisbrake system and can’t say enough good about that product, I really like how it works and would recommend it to anyone, it is well worth the price.
Thanks
Got my defender the day before our trip. Installed very easy and performed as I had hoped it would. Made the trip and cannot find one rock chip.Would recommend this for anyone that tows. Thanks for a great product.
Dale
Dale L - 10/04/2017great service & quailty parts deliverd on time, very good experiance
Have only used this a handful of times (we don't flat-tow that often), but overall it seems to be a great product. Took my time setting up, checking turns, adjusting, etc. and all went well. Very happy with this. On a 2014 Fleetwood Discovery 40G towing a 2018 GMC Yukon Denali.
Haven't used it on the road but installation was a breeze. Material looks heavy, well made
Product arrived within a few days. Installation was a breeze. Be sure to check the tension and take the time to adjust if necessary.
Rock protector came quickly, packaged well. One part did not fit as hole was drilled too small. Needed a drill press to correct problem.
Too soon for road test, looks like it will do nicely.
Good job getting the order to me in tim e!
Installed very easily. have not towed with it yet. but I'm sure it will be helpful.
Review from a similar Tow Defender in Accessories and Parts
A little modifications were required to fit it in between the RV and the Jeep. The Winnebago Forza receiver hitch was recessed in close to the back cap, so I had to extend the tow bar out and use the pin hole near the end. Moved the flexible arms to the inside pockets of the defender. That tightened the fabric up just enough. Will have to fold the original pocket around and stitch it up to the underside to keep it off the rear cap, and exhaust pipe elbow.
Review from a similar Tow Defender in Accessories and Parts
Just installed. Installation video was much better than the Roadmaster directions. Seems like it should greatly reduce debris on the front of my towed vehicle. Had to drill new holes in the rear arm per the instructions due to the wider spacing on my F150 tow brackets.
David - 03/15/2021Review from a similar Tow Defender in Accessories and Parts
Over the past few years, I've ordered several items from etrailer. The purchasing process was very easy and timely. They're instructions and videos for installation are spot on! I will continue to buy from etrailer for my motorhome and towing needs,. I needed to customize the screen, simple drilled two new holes for my blue ox brakets.
Review from a similar Tow Defender in Accessories and Parts
Product arrived quickly. It was well constructed. Watched the etrailer video and read through the instructions and started to install. The 2 3/8 by 1" bolts and nuts were missing otherwise I would have given it a 5 rating. Luckily I only live 1 mile from the hardware store so I went ahead and got 4 because they were only 35 cents each. Rest of installation went great and test drive was good looks like it should do the job. Ready for the trip and will follow up on performance.
Michael R - 07/27/2019Review from a similar Tow Defender in Accessories and Parts
The fabric is too short for my application. I had rig up some bungee cords to make it fit. My tow vehicle is a Dodge Ram truck. It fits now, but took a lot of effort to make it fit.
Review from a similar Tow Defender in Accessories and Parts
Good product. No windshield chips or cracks since we started using it. Does get dirty so wear gloves when handling it. Was dumbfounded that Blue Ox tow bar with a Jeep Wrangler, perhaps the most common combo, required drilling. Roadmaster support was unaware too.
Do you have a question about this Accessories and Part?
Info for this part was:
At etrailer.com we provide the best information available about the products we sell. We take the quality of our information seriously so that you can get the right part the first time. Let us know if anything is missing or if you have any questions.
Thank you! Your comment has been submitted successfully. You should be able to view your question/comment here within a few days.
Error submitting comment. Please try again momentarily.