Blue Ox Sway Pro W/D System

[RLS]

I'm also thinking of seeing what happens with more air pressure in the TV: The tires state 44 psi max, while I'm running them at the recommended 32 psi.

You really need to raise the air pressure. That air pressure of 32 is way to low for towing. You get to much tire flexing with that pressure which causes the vehicle to wander. I use 42 psi, which seems to work good.

[Wazbro]

As for raising the front of the trailer, that is a REALLY BAD IDEA with a trailer that has torsion axles, such as most Airstreams. It's not that bad on a trailer with leaf springs though, this is probably what they are basing their advice on.

Leaf spring trailers have to be way off from level before there is a noticeable change in the amount of weight on each axle. With torsion axles any amount off level for the trailer affects the weight each axle carries.

Originally Posted by RLS

You really need to raise the air pressure. That air pressure of 32 is way to low for towing. You get to much tire flexing with that pressure which causes the vehicle to wander. I use 42 psi, which seems to work good.

I agree add more air.
My TV also calls for 32 psi and I use 38 psi cold, my TV computer complains when the air pressure gets above 44 psi (TPMS) so I keep the cold pressure just low enough that the hot pressure stays below 44 psi.

[PharmGeek]

any follow up here folks....I am picking up new 30' 2014 bunkhouse AS in oct/nov and dealer is installing blue ox at "no cost" as part of my deal...mostly I read good things about the hitch...if I get jittery about the hitch, I may just go for the propride...but would like to give this one a shot first....

What surprised me was that so many SOB tuggers on other sites have had reportedly good results with this hitch pulling some quite large box trailers...

Contemplating still....

[RLS]

Originally Posted by PharmGeek

any follow up here folks....I am picking up new 30' 2014 bunkhouse AS in oct/nov and dealer is installing blue ox at "no cost" as part of my deal...mostly I read good things about the hitch...if I get jittery about the hitch, I may just go for the propride...but would like to give this one a shot first....

What surprised me was that so many SOB tuggers on other sites have had reportedly good results with this hitch pulling some quite large box trailers...

Contemplating still....

I would go with it. If I had to choose one today, it would be the Blue Ox. The dual cam I have is good, but this one sounds better to me. And then if needed, go with the expensive one. I am not able to even think about that one due to the weight. You really need to consider the total tongue weight loaded. I know with mine, it is a major factor. JMHO

[louaxtjr]

...with the Blue Ox SwayPro. Have an older version from the current one. Tow vehicle is a "heavy" half ton longed pickup with coil springs and the trailer is an older 24' TradeWind. Always have a full water tank ( up front) with at least one of the propane tanks full. I also load as much heavy items in the front of the truck bed or over/in front of the trailer axles.

The SwayPro has made towing much less hair-raising and very stable through the twists and turns of New England secondaries. I have had no problem leveling the Airstream with 550 pound bars but am considering buying a second set of heavier bars for flexibility.

I have found it necessary to retighten the SwayPro's sway control adjustments periodically.

[PharmGeek]

great feedback...I got mine for "free" within my deal for new AS and will be giving it a whirl...

I am guessing I will need the "three notch" bars that are 1000 lbs ones given my tongue weight per AS specs is 880 lbs...that plus the hitch....1000 should be about right...

I like the simplicity of the system, seems actually pretty easy to hookup per watching the videos...

I hope it does very well, because later I would like to consider it + airsafe combo as a possibility (this assumes it does very well with sway).

I will be using a RAM 3500 so the tongue weight will be no problem for any of the hitches I am considering.

[gmw photos]

Originally Posted by louaxtjr

.....
I have found it necessary to retighten the SwayPro's sway control adjustments periodically.

Lou,
I too had to occasionally retighten the sway control adjustment bolts. I had always run them torqued to the max factory value of 80 lb-ft, so I pulled them out, cleaned the threads ( and the female threads up in the head ) and put a couple drops of blue loctitie ( 242 ) on them. They have never loosened since then.
Same with the two smaller bolts that hold the plates that capture the trunnions. Those are to be torqued to 47 lb-ft.

For what it's worth, now of this will apply to the new style swaypro that Pharmgeek will be getting.

[gypsydad]

SSquared- I have a 25' 08' FB and used to own an 06' 25' FB. With the 06' had a reese pulling with a 08' new Tahoe. Terrible towing the AS; no power and it never felt stable, even after having dealer set up 3 times. Dealer talked me into an 2012' Tahoe with newer AS (08'); said with 30 more HP and 6 speed trans would tow like they were made for each other; THEY WERE NOT! Now have 2013' Ford Echoboost short bed, and night and day difference. You don't even know the AS is hooked up! Wheel base, suspension, and power of the truck are so much different, you would have to drive yours against the pickup to understand and see for yourself! I tow to MT from TX and now have 30K miles on the truck. No problems and wife also drives from time to time with no concerns. Oh yea, I have the 750 lb bars on Blue Ox....link is between 7-8. No issues so far after a year, and much easier than the reese.

[PharmGeek]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

SSquared- I have a 25' 08' FB and used to own an 06' 25' FB. With the 06' had a reese pulling with a 08' new Tahoe. Terrible towing the AS; no power and it never felt stable, even after having dealer set up 3 times. Dealer talked me into an 2012' Tahoe with newer AS (08'); said with 30 more HP and 6 speed trans would tow like they were made for each other; THEY WERE NOT! Now have 2013' Ford Echoboost short bed, and night and day difference. You don't even know the AS is hooked up! Wheel base, suspension, and power of the truck are so much different, you would have to drive yours against the pickup to understand and see for yourself! I tow to MT from TX and now have 30K miles on the truck. No problems and wife also drives from time to time with no concerns. Oh yea, I have the 750 lb bars on Blue Ox....link is between 7-8. No issues so far after a year, and much easier than the reese.

how close do you watch for ANY sway? Do you notice any at all? Small amounts that start but that the hitch mitigates and corrects? if it does move a bit, what is the most you have saw it move?

The PP folks seem to state that ANY movement could spell catastrophe and is thus highly undesirable...I guess I could buy that if it exceeds some small amound of oscillation...otherwise, the problem could be theoretical?

Your thoughts (and others) on describing sway in detail as you see it with this hitch is appreciated.

My plan is to video record my 4.5 hour trip back from dealer in oct/nov with a video camcorder HD, review it...and post it on youtube for other to analyse.

[PharmGeek]

I assume I will need 1000 lb sway bars with it...with my tongue weight being 880 lbs...

[gmw photos]

Originally Posted by PharmGeek

I assume I will need 1000 lb sway bars with it...with my tongue weight being 880 lbs...

Is your tongue weight going to really be 880 pounds, or is that simply the claimed TW from A/S ?
If that is the TW of a dry trailer out the factory door, I would suspect it is going to be substantially higher in the real world once you are loaded to head out the driveway.
Next item for discussion is going to be whether you are going to damage the relative fragile riveted aluminum structure if you over-bar it and/or tow it with the heavy duty truck !
This will be as big a discussion as everything else so far. I'm going to throw out a pre-emptive strike here and say that potentially the air safe hitch may have a role to play ?

EDIT: you may want to call Inland Andy and pick his brain on all this. There are possibly those on this forum that may disagree with him.....but....it's hard to ignore his long experience in all things Airstream. ....just sayin'.......

[gypsydad]

What sway?? don't see any sway...my take with F150...not sure if there are other folks who have issues, but I do not notice...I travel 65-70 most of the time...

[SSquared]

Here’s the final chapter on my SwayPro experience.

We have just returned from a month long, 3900mile round trip from Colorado to Ontario. (We have a 25FB FC, towed by a 2010 Yukon Denali, with a SwayPro and 1000 pound bars) The first couple days the rig felt pretty unstable—it wiggled a little after every bump, passing vehicle, and steering input. My wife got a scary case of repeating oscillations when coming around an on ramp. I decided to make one more attempt at going to a tighter chain link. By putting three plastic blocks under the jack, and running the jack all the way up, I was able to get the extra link. But it was difficult to turn the brackets, and the trailer creaked a lot when we jacked it up. The good news is, our handling improved noticeably, though not as much as we hoped.

I should say at this point that our TV receiver flexes more than you would expect (2010 Yukon). When WD is applied, the shank develops a significant slope down toward the front of the car. I believe the flex here means the SwayPro bars wind up with less flex than they normally would. The guys at Blue Ox say the bars need to have a good amount of flex to work well, so maybe the receiver flex was preventing the SwayPro from working like it should. Who knows.…

Andy T. at Can-Am RV told me this receiver flex is typical of this vehicle, and he recommended having the receiver reinforced. Since we were heading east, we went to his shop to have the work done. After discussing matters with Andy, we ditched the Blue Ox and replaced it with an EAZ-LIFT Elite plus two friction bars. This made a big improvement—better than the SwayPro ever was for us.

When we changed hitches, two other changes were made at the same time. The other changes were
1) Reinforcing the receiver to cut out the flex
2) Shortening the horizontal part of the shank, which reduces the leverage the trailer has on the TV

Also, Andy’s set-up used more WD force than we ever used with the SwayPro. With 4 ½ links showing on the SwayPro, we got the front axle weight close to what it was with the trailer not connected. And the front fender height was also about the same. With the EAZ-LIFT (1400 pound bars), Andy set it up with the front fender ¾ inch lower than when unhitched, and the front axle weight is about 200 pounds more.

So our experience is not a proper apples-to-apples comparison of the two hitches. Still, my conclusion is that the EAZ-LIFT is the better system for us.

One other surprise to me was that I found it easier to apply the chain tension with the EAZ-LIFT’s old-fashioned snap-up brackets that with the SwayPro’s rotary brackets. I chose the SwayPro in the first place partly because I thought the rotary brackets would be easier and safer to use.

Compared to the EAZ-LIFT, the SwayPro still has some usability advantages:
• No grease on bars
• Bars weigh less
• More ground clearance
• No friction bars to mess with
• No clips to remove
• Don’t have to remove friction bars to back at sharpest angle

[gypsydad]

Passed right through Longmont on way to MT last month...no issues; no sway; Blue OX working well with 25FB 08' AS...towed to Glacier couple weeks ago on windy highway through Sealy Lake and Flathead area...no issues...Again; I understand there are several higher price hitches, but so far, Blue Ox working fine and 25' AS is well matched for my F150 short bed Echoboost.

[SteveSueMac]

I just saw an ad in the current Blue Beret for the Swaypro that says it prevents sway from happening. I checked it out at their site:

http://www.swaypro.com/p-1181-swaypro.aspx

They mention a 4-point system which calls to my mind the Hensley design.

Does anyone know from an engineering perspective if this is a "virtual pivot projection" type of hitch? I was under the impression that the PullRite (no longer manufactured for most vehicles) was a sway prevention hitch as the pivot point is literally/physically at the tow vehicle's rear axle (it's basically an upside down 5th wheel). The Hensley designed hitches (the Arrow and the ProPride) prevent sway as they virtually project the pivot point near the rear axle of the tow vehicle through the geometry of the 4-point hitch head.

The Blue Ox doesn't seem to have that design, but I'm no engineer. Can anyone tell if their 4-point system is a virtual pivot projection and whether it truly does prevent sway before it can happen? Thanks!

[Vitaminsea]

If you can, just make one adjustment at a time to the rig. That way you'll know better on what effected the change. Sounds like a great rig.

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

I just saw an ad in the current Blue Beret for the Swaypro that says it prevents sway from happening. I checked it out at their site:

SwayPro By Blue Ox

They mention a 4-point system which calls to my mind the Hensley design.

Does anyone know from an engineering perspective if this is a "virtual pivot projection" type of hitch? I was under the impression that the PullRite (no longer manufactured for most vehicles) was a sway prevention hitch as the pivot point is literally/physically at the tow vehicle's rear axle (it's basically an upside down 5th wheel). The Hensley designed hitches (the Arrow and the ProPride) prevent sway as they virtually project the pivot point near the rear axle of the tow vehicle through the geometry of the 4-point hitch head.

The Blue Ox doesn't seem to have that design, but I'm no engineer. Can anyone tell if their 4-point system is a virtual pivot projection and whether it truly does prevent sway before it can happen? Thanks!

The Blue Ox is not a pivot point projection hitch.

[lindaebrewer]

First significant trip - Sacramento, CA to Whistler, BC. Have BXW1000 installed by dealer on 2015 23' FC. MAJOR (scary) sway. Previous TT 17.5' Bigfoot w Equalizer was rock solid. Bad installation of Blue Ox possible???? Wrong TV 2006 Toyota 4Runner, V8 w tow package for this unit possible????

[gmw photos]

Originally Posted by lindaebrewer

First significant trip - Sacramento, CA to Whistler, BC. Have BXW1000 installed by dealer on 2015 23' FC. MAJOR (scary) sway. Previous TT 17.5' Bigfoot w Equalizer was rock solid. Bad installation of Blue Ox possible???? Wrong TV 2006 Toyota 4Runner, V8 w tow package for this unit possible????

Let's see your scale tickets from three passes over the CAT scale. See Ron Gratz's posts for how to do it if you don't know the procedure.

[Echelon73]

Originally Posted by lindaebrewer

First significant trip - Sacramento, CA to Whistler, BC. Have BXW1000 installed by dealer on 2015 23' FC. MAJOR (scary) sway. Previous TT 17.5' Bigfoot w Equalizer was rock solid. Bad installation of Blue Ox possible???? Wrong TV 2006 Toyota 4Runner, V8 w tow package for this unit possible????

The SwayPro really needs some bow in the weight distribution bars to bring the sway under control. I'm not sure what the tongue weight is on a 23, but the 1000lb bars may be too much for that trailer. I think BlueOx sells 750lb bars. You may want to call them and see what they suggest. If the 750lb bars will distribute enough weight then I think they would give you better sway control.