Blue Ox Sway Pro

[AWCHIEF]

Ditto, if under normal straight flat conditions you have to force the brackets to release or hook up - stop and reevaluate the situation. Either the tongue needs to go higher or sometimes it is best to wait to attach or disconnect the chains after temporarily moving to a straight flat spot. And this can not be stressed enough always check the brackets for correct tightness prior to attempting to hook up. Safety first!

[Tincampers]

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

Ditto, if under normal straight flat conditions you have to force the brackets to release or hook up - stop and reevaluate the situation. Either the tongue needs to go higher or sometimes it is best to wait to attach or disconnect the chains after temporarily moving to a straight flat spot. And this can not be stressed enough always check the brackets for correct tightness prior to attempting to hook up. Safety first!

Good advice there Chief. I know you narrowly avoided a serious injury with yours.

John

[AWCHIEF]

Originally Posted by Tincampers

Good advice there Chief. I know you narrowly avoided a serious injury with yours.

John

Still gun shy but using the socket with offset extension and cheater bar keeps my face away from the brackets.

[Landrum]

I have a question for you Blue Ox users. Do you happen to know if your swivel tubes (what the spring bars snap into) have some.....not sure the best way to describe....I'll call it vertical play. Mine have some wiggle to them and for some reason I started to worry something was off.

Thanks

[AWCHIEF]

Mine has some play in them. Nothing new, they came that way.

[Caffeinated]

Originally Posted by Landrum

I have a question for you Blue Ox users. Do you happen to know if your swivel tubes (what the spring bars snap into) have some.....not sure the best way to describe....I'll call it vertical play. Mine have some wiggle to them and for some reason I started to worry something was off.

Thanks

Mine seem to have a bit of verticle deflection when they need grease. After I grease them, the deflection isn't noticeable. I don't know how one would tell if they are out of spec. I'm guessing a call to Blue customer service might answer the question.


Mike

[Caffeinated]

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

And this can not be stressed enough always check the brackets for correct tightness prior to attempting to hook up. Safety first!

How do you do that? Every time I hook up or unhook your story comes to mind.

Mike

[AWCHIEF]

Originally Posted by Caffeinated

How do you do that? Every time I hook up or unhook your story comes to mind.

Mike

By sticking a wrench and a cheater bar on the bolt holding the brackets on and give it a crank. No room for a socket and torque wrench.

[TG Twinkie]

In nearly 20K miles of towing in 15 months. I have never had a problem with the bolt coming loose on either bracket.
By following the instructions for installation and use I find the hitch easy to use.

[AWCHIEF]

Originally Posted by TG Twinkie

In nearly 20K miles of towing in 15 months. I have never had a problem with the bolt coming loose on either bracket.
By following the instructions for installation and use I find the hitch easy to use.

Good to hear that. Hopefully you will continue to have a pleasant experience.

[garybair]

We have close to 6000 miles on our blue ox, towing behind '14 Dodge Durango Hemi, and are very happy with this set up.

Our tips:
1. We do put a little grease on the ends of the bars to eliminate some occasional creaking when they get dry.
2. Put the bar ends in a plastic garbage bag when not in use to keep grease off other things, and dirt off the bars.
3. Also, we put a bit of red paint on the bar chain links (#9 for us) so we don't have to count any more.

[PKI]

The grease on the bar ends is a new thought. Got to think about that one.

The one thing that keeps being a problem is the grease getting on pants, the car .... etc. Thought that if the plan is to grease the pivots and ball each time the trailer is hitched that a wipe down when unhitching would be a good method of controlling the mess. Plan to try it. Will use zip locks to hold the soiled paper towels and regularly dispose of the waste.

But that deal of marking the chain.....don't you get that you are skipping the key experience that links BO users. Not counting links is unthinkable. Now what kind of paint did you use?

Travel safe. Pat

[Hans627]

Originally Posted by garybair

We have close to 6000 miles on our blue ox, towing behind '14 Dodge Durango Hemi, and are very happy with this set up.

Our tips:
1. We do put a little grease on the ends of the bars to eliminate some occasional creaking when they get dry.
2. Put the bar ends in a plastic garbage bag when not in use to keep grease off other things, and dirt off the bars.
3. Also, we put a bit of red paint on the bar chain links (#9 for us) so we don't have to count any more.

FWIW on my BO I put a zip tie on the correct link and then just cut off the end. Works great.

[The Colonel]

After my one little experience I painted the right link florescence orange, went to a 24" breaker bar with ext and socket, and eventually went to a 5000lb tounge jack. No problems now

[GinaNBob]

My husband wrapped bright orange tape around the correct link. Works great.
Gina

[AWCHIEF]

I had orange paint on my links but it wore off. Time to repaint.

[zapper]

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

I was told by Blue Ox to count the links from the u-bolt. I count up 7 and the 8th link is captured in the bracket.

Hey Awchief, had a hell of a time finding this thread again. I went back and looked at the installation manual for my New BO and it says to count the 9 links from the loose end. Lol it actually has an arrow pointing to loose end. If counting from the u-bolt end works for you and gives you the performance you want, so be it.

The AS dealer installed the BO on my new FC 30 with the older style latch brackets and told me to count 5 links from the u-bolt. This put the bars almost up to the TT A frame. Never looked right. After reading the BO posts I bought the rotating latch brackets and installed them according to instructions. Haven't yet hooked up the TT with TV but I hope for a better ride using a 2" deflection rather than having the 1000lbs bars practically tucked up under the A frame. Learned a lot from the posts. Thanks to all.

(And yes I use the trailer jack to assist in lifting the bars in place)

[AWCHIEF]

Hugh, I also had a hard time finding the post you quoted. I misspoke, I was told by Blue Ox to count 8 from the loose end of the chain and that is what I do. The 9th link gets captured. Suspect counting 8 front the u-bolt would probably put little or no tension on the bars.

[zapper]

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

Hugh, I also had a hard time finding the post you quoted. I misspoke, I was told by Blue Ox to count 8 from the loose end of the chain and that is what I do. The 9th link gets captured. Suspect counting 8 front the u-bolt would probably put little or no tension on the bars.

Understood. Thanks Michael.

[AirMiles]

I use a 1500# Blue Ox Sway Pro on a 14000# GVWR utility trailer with 1400# of tongue weight. I need to be on the 10th link from the loose end of the chain to transfer enough weight to the front axle of the tow vehicle to meet GAWRs. The trailer has a manual jack that feels inadequate to lift this tongue weight plus the rear of my heavy truck high enough to connect the 10th link. To take the weight off the Blue Ox chains without straining my tongue jack or muscles, I drive my tow vehicle's rear tires onto a set of Anderson Levelers. This is equivalent to raising my tow vehicle rear wheels 4" off the ground without any strain on the tongue jack. I plan to use this same method when I get my new AS FC25FB next month. Give this a try if you are straining your tongue jack while hitching your Blue Ox Sway Pro.