Official? Blue Ox Sway Pro Hitch Thread, or, The Least Antagonistic Thread Ever

[Dumpster]

Originally Posted by PKI

Death sway? - Just how fast do you drive that Dumpster? Pat

Just like before we had no speed limit here in Montucky, I always drive at the speed I feel comfortable. Every day, and every situation is different. Generally speaking, that speed is about 65 mph. One day last summer, the planets were aligned, had a tailwind, and I was tooling along at 75+.

I am knocking on proverbial wood as I write this- I have only been in a death sway situation once, and it wasn't towing Dumpster. I rented a double-axle open trailer from Uhaul that they refer to as an "RO". I went to the nearest gravel pit and had it filled with gravel for a landscaping project. I didn't notice it at the time, but the pile the loader dropped in the trailer was well behind what I would consider the center line of the trailer. I hit the scale so I could pay, and thought I might be in trouble. Exactly 14,500 lbs. was flashing at me on the screen. Keep in mind, I was in a 1/2 ton SUV with a relatively short wheel base.

I hit the road thinking, slow and easy was the name of the game. Heck, I was only a few miles from home, with only back country roads separating me from my destination. Well, thunder did strike. I hit about 40 mph, and the trailer started to sway, violently. It was so bad, that with each back-and-forth, the rear end of my TV actually lifted off the pavement. The overfilled trailer, weighing significantly more than my TV, was having its way with me and my SUV. Let me tell you, it was in charge.

I obviously had no equalization or sway control. I have read that the best way out of that situation was to basically floor it and apply the trailer brake simultaneously. Well, no trailer brake, either. All I could do was hold on, keep my foot off the brake (made it worse), and try to keep in on the road until it stopped. Fortunately, it did.

I spent the next hour with no shovel, moving as much gravel as I could forward of the axles. Truthfully, I didn't want to get back behind the wheel.

So that is my own personal horror story of 'death sway'. It is something I never want to experience again. Ever since that day, every jerk, twitch, creak or moan has me on edge. Is it happening again? I am a bonafide paranoid tower, plain and simple. Rereading this, I am also never going to attempt a go at writing a short story. Yikes!

I hate towing. I hate every single minute of it. I want to feel comfortable doing it, though I never truly have. Maybe I never will. The BOSP probably isn't the answer, but I am hoping it just might be.

[Echelon73]

I have been towing boats my entire life. Most were in the 4000 to 7000 pound range and never required weight distribution or sway control hitches. I never had a boat try to sway on me. Owning a travel trailer was a whole new experience though! When I bought the Airstream last year I did a ton of research and decided to go with the Sway Pro. I watched all the videos on installing and setting it up properly. On our first tow we experienced a lot of sway. I was almost ready to take the RV back to the dealer. I ended up adjusting tire pressures and tweaking some settings on the hitch though trying to get everything level and properly balanced/distributed. It towed a lot better after that, but with our 30' Airstream I would still get sway in high winds and when certain vehicles passed. Also, our jack on the front of the trailer struggled to pick up enough weight to take the tension off the rods, which made for scary unhitching. There were things I really liked about the sway pro (quiet, clean, good quality, durable paint job), but I was just never completely comfortable with it. I ended up switching to a different hitch and have been very happy. I am not trying to "badmouth" the Sway Pro. It certainly had its good points, but like all hitches I felt it had some trade offs. I know some people will say I just did not have it set up correctly, but I personally think it only has mediocre sway control ability. My dad has since bought the Sway Pro from me and has used it on two separate trailers. It worked great on a 25' trailer he had, but he is having some minor sway issues with it on his newer (and taller) 28' trailer he just bought. I think he is still happy overall with the hitch though. Certain hitches excel at certain things. I think you just have to chose what you want most from your hitch and go from there.

[dznf0g]

Boats have a completely different weight distribution relative to axle placement and th the boats heaviest part. Try a mismatched boat to it's trailer and it'll handle poorly.

[PKI]

Spent some time reading through the other BOSP threads and found interesting and helpful information, even in the BOSP to Hensley/Propride comparison thread.

Dumpster, which thread did you find problematic with respect to content? Pat

[Alumitater]

Gents: am in the process of purchasing a Blue Ox and have heard if your truck is equipped with anti-sway (as is my 2016 F-250) you should turn it off when using the Blue Ox as they tend to work against each other. Have you "experienced" Blue Ox users heard that? Thanks in advance.

[AWCHIEF]

Originally Posted by Alumitater

Gents: am in the process of purchasing a Blue Ox and have heard if your truck is equipped with anti-sway (as is my 2016 F-250) you should turn it off when using the Blue Ox as they tend to work against each other. Have you "experienced" Blue Ox users heard that? Thanks in advance.

That is certainly not true with a Jeep GC (my TV). A couple of times while towing I have had my ABS and Jeep anti-sway kick in under pucker factor conditions. Seemed to keep the drama to a manageable level. Curious as to where you heard about turning it off.

[PKI]

Turning off a sway control system sounds like flawed logic, but it may be correct. Only the manufacturer of the vehicle can answer this question.

Travel safe. Pat

[clamb]

I'm in the club now! After reading this and other threads, I decided on the BOSP for my '16 F150/25' AS Classic. I found the lowest price online ($541 at RVUpgrades.com). The local RV dealer agreed to $550 (always ask for price match), down from $595, and I picked it up.

After assembling it, I find that the lowest ball height is 20" (guesstimating, because my driveway has a slight slope). From the manual, my hitch height is 18 3/4", so I'm 1/4" higher than the recommended height range. This is with 18" wheels on the truck and 15" wheels on the trailer.

I think I have read that it is better to be low on the hitch rather than high- please correct me if I'm mistaken.

FWIW, the bottom inside surface of my receiver is 18", for those of you who might have larger TV tires.

[AWCHIEF]

Originally Posted by clamb

I'm in the club now! After reading this and other threads, I decided on the BOSP for my '16 F150/25' AS Classic. I found the lowest price online ($541 at RVUpgrades.com). The local RV dealer agreed to $550 (always ask for price match), down from $595, and I picked it up.

After assembling it, I find that the lowest ball height is 20" (guesstimating, because my driveway has a slight slope). From the manual, my hitch height is 18 3/4", so I'm 1/4" higher than the recommended height range. This is with 18" wheels on the truck and 15" wheels on the trailer.

I think I have read that it is better to be low on the hitch rather than high- please correct me if I'm mistaken.

FWIW, the bottom inside surface of my receiver is 18", for those of you who might have larger TV tires.

Give Blue Ox a call, they will work with you getting correct drop bar.

[franklyfrank]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

Boats have a completely different weight distribution relative to axle placement and th the boats heaviest part. Try a mismatched boat to it's trailer and it'll handle poorly.

Yes it is so.
I attended a workshop by Blue Ox last year in Farmington. They advise to turn of three TV Sway Control. The BO works by resistance built up in the bars on opposite sides of the sway as the distance is shortened. That force seems to be counter to the TV sway control.

[Alumitater]

Originally Posted by franklyfrank

Yes it is so.
I attended a workshop by Blue Ox last year in Farmington. They advise to turn of three TV Sway Control. The BO works by resistance built up in the bars on opposite sides of the sway as the distance is shortened. That force seems to be counter to the TV sway control.

Interesting! Actually the source of my original question is a conversation I had with Blue Ox tech support. The tech I spoke with mentioned if my TV has sway control to turn it off when using the BO hitch. I was just wondering if other Airstream owners using the Blue Ox system were aware of this recommendation as I had not heard this using my current hitch system. My Ford owners manual recommends utilizing the sway control when towing. Thanks for your response.

[Plasma800]

I use a blue or on my 2500.

I have zero experience with any other hitch.

So far so good.

The blue ox the dealer sold me doesn't fit my receiver as I have the big one, so I have to use an insert, which I kinda get a little peeved that the dealer didn't order the proper size down bar, cause blue ox does make it.

Also they had to get a second down bar as the normal one wasn't tall enough due to the height of my truck bed, so mine has more holes in it.

I use 8 chain links, but I can't ever remember if the dealer told me 8 or 10 ��

I haven't had any problems at 8 though.

One time I tried taking off the bars without unloading enough tension and the wrench smashed my hand into the underside of the propane tank covers, lucky I didn't break my hand.

Raising my tow vehicle with the jack never feels like it raises enough to completely remove tension, but enough to easily get them off. Maybe I'm just being wimpy on the raising of the truck and should just go more.

[switz]

I wonder how long the trailer jack motor and screw will last hoisting up the front of the trailer and the back of the tow vehicle, which in my case when added together would exceed the lifting capacity of the electric trailer jack?

[NWRVR]

Originally Posted by Alumitater

Gents: am in the process of purchasing a Blue Ox and have heard if your truck is equipped with anti-sway (as is my 2016 F-250) you should turn it off when using the Blue Ox as they tend to work against each other. Have you "experienced" Blue Ox users heard that? Thanks in advance.

We just completed the first leg of our tow with our new TV. Apparently all the BOSP shanks come standard with six holes for the head and our Range Rover HSE was fine with one hole to spare as it had 19" to the inside top of the receiver. The new TV is 23.25" to the top so even after dropping the head to the last hole and the TV spring sag I am still about 1.5" high on the tongue. I had no problems on our 4.5 hours maiden voyage (towed beautifully, sweet having enough power on long grades and exhaust brake) but ordered a Curt 17120 shank that will give another 3" of drop so I can have the TT level or slightly down at the tongue. The Curt shank fits the BOSP and is rated 15K lbs/1.5K lbs tongue for less than $70 on Amazon.

News to me on other posts regarding shutting off the F350 sway function, need to do some research to see what is correct.

Be sure to raise the tongue jack/TV to load and unload spring bars!

Steve

[Overloaded]

I have never turned off sway control when using Blue Ox. Not saying Blue Ox is wrong but sway control will only kick in when things get wild back there. If that's the case I think it would be better to have both helping out. I have to do some research, but then again my Blue Ox is up for sale. Fifth wheel coming soon.

[clamb]

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

Give Blue Ox a call, they will work with you getting correct drop bar.

Today I did a proper set up on level pavement, and with the Blue Ox hitch head at the lowest position and WD checked and correct, the AS sits at a very slight nose down, so I feel it is perfect. I couldn't do a test tow, as I needed to find a 1-7/8 socket to tighten the ball nut (with I could not, so had to machine the nut down to 1-3/4. I am a machinist, BTW) Keep this in mind if you purchase this hitch- the ball nut is completely enclosed by the hitch head structure and you will need a socket. You may need to have the dealer tighten this nut.

BTW How did I do, matching the truck and trailer colors??

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by clamb

...snip...
BTW How did I do, matching the truck and trailer colors??

Good - but you need some of those trailer stickers on your truck 😀

[NWRVR]

Looks like ours, the ingot silver metallic is a great match!

[clamb]

Originally Posted by NWRVR

Looks like ours, the ingot silver metallic is a great match!

Wow- you are in the neighborhood! We should hook up sometime!

[AWCHIEF]

Originally Posted by clamb

Today I did a proper set up on level pavement, and with the Blue Ox hitch head at the lowest position and WD checked and correct, the AS sits at a very slight nose down, so I feel it is perfect. I couldn't do a test tow, as I needed to find a 1-7/8 socket to tighten the ball nut (with I could not, so had to machine the nut down to 1-3/4. I am a machinist, BTW) Keep this in mind if you purchase this hitch- the ball nut is completely enclosed by the hitch head structure and you will need a socket. You may need to have the dealer tighten this nut.

BTW How did I do, matching the truck and trailer colors??

Color match looks perfect as does the level.