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

[Dumpster]

I am hoping to start an informative thread about this hitch. Info, help, tips, do's, buy it, or don't. What I would like to avoid is why every other hitch on the planet is better. I don't care about your Hensley, PP, Reese DC, EQ, etc. I also don't want to hear about your undocumented, unpublished 'research' on why brand 'Y' is better. I would like to stick to real-world experience of Sway Pro owners.

Now that we have dealt with that unpleasantness, let's get busy.........

I have been a proud owner of brand xxxxxx for about 12 years. Prior to that, I had brand yyyyyyy. Yyyyyy was crap, so I switched to xxxxxx. I had solid performance, both in sway control, and load-equalization. But one day it hit me(after listening to episode #196 of theVAP)- these load bars are rock-solid. If I go over a big dip, incline, or even pull out of my driveway, these bars are not going to bend. But something else is. My receiver hitch, truck frame, or God forbid, the A-frame of my trailer. Is there a better mousetrap?

So that is where I am at; the Blue Ox Sway Pro. As advertised, it does it all. It arrived yesterday in a well packed box from Etr*****. I have to travel 500+ miles to pick up my new-to-me trailer. All I will have is my toolbox, my new Sway Pro, and 500 more tense towing miles ahead of me. Setup looks fairly straightforward. Any tips or tricks you have that I don't need to learn the hard way would be much appreciated. I will also do my best to do the same going forward.

Thanks in advance,
Dumpster

[xrvr]

Isn't there a thread for this hitch? Many posts long.

[tjdonahoe]

Good luck with it...

[dkottum]

On the premise you don't want any comparisons it's probably best not to say hitches others have and like are crap.

Congratulations on the new trailer and hitch. I agree with you on the flexibility of the w.d. bars and is one of the reasons we started looking for a new hitch a few years ago. I think the ride is better and a little less stress on the Airstream. Of course many brands have flexible w.d. bars.

[cabinetmaker]

We have the Blue Ox Sway Pro...got it for the same reasons you mentioned. It's a great hitch. Be careful hooking and unhooking the chains...raise the trailer and truck with the jack and you will be ok. No noise and no stress on vehicle hitch or trailer that I can tell. Does it's job. Dealer installed mine and I had to apply one extra link of chain to raise tension on my bars to get the feel in the steering of tow vehicle I wanted after first tow. Other than that no adjustments needed. I got the 1000# bars even tho my trailer tongue wt. was only 750-800lbs. Better to be a little over than light. The Blue Ox bars seem to have more give and better flex than my previous xxxxx brand hitch.

Were happy with the Blue Ox! When installing be sure the chains are straight up and down when locked in for travel. There is a great video online of the installation. I think the link is on the Blue Ox website.

[NWRVR]

We have a Blue OX Sway Pro with 1K bars that we purchased with our AS last March. Airstream Adventures Northwest Portland, OR set up our hitch on our Range Rover HSE and we are very happy with it. We only have 2,800 miles towing on the west coast as far south as San Francisco from Portland, OR and multiple trips to the coast over the coast range. The hitch is rock solid with no incidence of sway, quiet and unobstructed backing.

We found that one chain link adjustment makes a big difference in leveling and tow vehicle handling and changing the weight on the TT tongue by 40 lbs necessitated a one link change. Follow hookup and unhook procedures exactly, especially raising the TT tongue high enough to take all the tension off the bars. I found replacing the supplied wrench with a socket and breaker bar made things much easier. When set up properly you should have about a 2" deflection on the bars. We will be going through a complete setup with our new TV as soon as I pull the AS out of the garage for our first trip of the season next week. Good luck and enjoy!

Steve

[Dumpster]

Originally Posted by avionstream

Isn't there a thread for this hitch? Many posts long.

Re-read OP

[Dumpster]

Originally Posted by dkottum

On the premise you don't want any comparisons it's probably best not to say hitches others have and like are crap.

Congratulations on the new trailer and hitch. I agree with you on the flexibility of the w.d. bars and is one of the reasons we started looking for a new hitch a few years ago. I think the ride is better and a little less stress on the Airstream. Of course many brands have flexible w.d. bars.

Intentionally went out of my way to avoid saying any other specific brand was crap. Re-read OP.

As to your second paragraph- thank you for the input, as it is much appreciated.

[Dumpster]

After taking everything out of the box, I have some observations-

Good - The finish is nice. It appears to have a thick, powder coat. Fairly heavy-duty, and bulky. I also like that I don't have to mess with the pitch of the hitch head. Or could that be a negative later?

Bad - just like my last hitch, the shank is considerably smaller than the receiver on my TV. There goes the nice finish if I have to weld a shim on it to shore it up. Other ball mounts I have around the garage fit tightly into my receiver. No biggie. Been there and done that.

The other notable is that I expected the swivel joints where the bars go, to have some friction on them. Zip. I understand that the design of this hitch doesn't rely on friction at that point, but still surprised. These puppies are free-wheelin'.

Also had the tow ball mounted by a local shop. Just like other brands, a deep-well socket is needed. 1-7/8", I think. Well beyond what I have in my toolbox.

[PKI]

Here is the prior Sway Pro thread.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...-123666-7.html

The prior posts in your thread have most of the key information for the BOSP. Truly believe it is a good solution if the intent is to provide a soft TV to TT connection. Believe it has reasonable sway control. Suspect that force projection hitches offer better sway control at the price of a stiffer connection, more weight and higher cost. We all make a choice and need to drive the rig within the boundary conditions of that choice. We get some porpoising on rough roads. Slowing down helps a lot. When the wind is up or from an interesting direction, we do not like the wiggle that we get from passing big rigs and on occasion from some small vehicles. Watch out for livestock haulers, tall buses, and of course....anything that wags it's tail. Slowing down in higher wind conditions helps a lot. We drop down from 65-70 to 55-60 and have gone to 50 in some interesting conditions. Road surface can add to the problem. We do not find that adding or subtracting a single link helps much, but that may well be our lack of experience, an insensitivity to adjustment, or a characteristic of our tow vehicle. It's possible that we are not quite in the right adjustment range, but it feels close. We did add larger tires to the trailer this Spring. We'll see how the configuration works as we log another year of experience.

It is iimportant that you actively drive the rig all the time. Take care to control but not to over correct. If the rig is not stable, slow down. Be ready for the wiggle caused by passing vehicles. When you meet another vehicle there is a shock wave, but it is quick and has little effect on your rig. A vehicle passing you is different and more of a problem. It disrupts the air flow first on the back of the trailer, then at the front of the trailer, on to the rear of your tow vehicle, and finishes with the the front of the tow vehicle, but about that time it clears the rear of the trailer and the reverse effect occurs. A slow pass or a pass from an aero rig is different from a fast pass or one from a non-aero rig. All new experiences and they may or may not require correction, depending on the stability of your rig.

Do not become overconfident. There were two trailer accidents reported in Montana. These incidents were both on a section of interstate that is down hill, but not known to be windy. We traveled the area this year and saw absolutely nothing that looked like it should be a problem. It is highly likely that the rollovers were the result of driver error, but no one knows. The point is that experience and active driving is a requirement for safe travel trailer driving. Be conservative and be safe. Do not drive tired or distracted. And if you drop a tire off the pavement, do not jerk it back. Gently slow down until there is a safe level place to pull back onto the pavement. A bit of a bash on the bottom is not a good thing, but much less of a day killer than a rollover will be.

We made it through the first year. You will too. Please, post your experience to add to the general knowledge. Travel safe and enjoy the smiles. Pat

[Dumpster]

.....the type of discussion I was trying to generate from actual SP users. Thank you. I did read the thread that you linked to, but maybe I missed a similar post by you in all of the bickering. If so, my apologies.

Your post gives me some pause. Are your negative SP experiences with passing vehicles, wind, steep downhill grades, etc. different than with a previous hitch brand, or specific to this hitch? I have many years under my belt towing in hazardous conditions. My previous hitch felt rock solid in most of those situations. What bugged me was towing in slick conditions, and the aforementioned stress on TV and trailer parts that I have been lead to believe it creates.

Again, many thanks for your input.

[xrvr]

Originally Posted by Dumpster

Re-read OP

So? It's a rehash!

[mcomeaux]

Kudo's on Blue Ox that's what I've got and works great. Just be sure to follow the procedure for the bars unhooking and hooking up. I tried to short cut not good. No injuries but what a surprise.

[Paddledipper]

Following this closely as the brown truck brought us one of these to replace an Anderson and installing it tomorrow.

[NWRVR]

I have not experienced any sway or "wiggle" when trucks, buses or whatever overtakes or passes in the opposite direction, but then again, I drive 55 to 60 maximum.

[AWCHIEF]

Three lessons leaned the hard way from an actual Blue Ox user,
1. Keep a close eye on the brackets. Make sure they are properly torqued down on the frame. Under tension and unhooking the brackets can come loose from the frame. Happened to me, resulting in a cracked occular bone, concussion and overnight stay in the hospital. Black and blue and other interesting colors for a month. Half an inch in either direction might of resulted in blindness or death according to the Doctors.
2. Do not be afraid to lift your tow vehicle rear end as high as it takes to relieve ALL the strain from the bars/chains for hooking up and unhooking. If high enough chains can be tightened or removed without the use of tools.
3. Sometimes the parking slope is two steep to comfortable hook up or unhook. It is ok to move to a level area and then move back or head on out.
Blue Ox has excellant customer service if you have any questions or issues.

[mcomeaux]

I'd like to add to my original post regarding my Blue Ox. My prior was a equalizer with the sway bar attachment along with the spring bars. Worked great for years but with new trailer I opted for the Blue Ox at the suggestion of the trailer dealer. Both tow well I feel the equalizer was safer to hook up in my opinion regarding the "Bars". The Blue Ox is a nice concept and works well. I can't empathize extra care at hookup and disassemble for safety sake. It is a nicer looking hitch to. Listen to what AWCHIEF experienced sorry to hear about the injuries.

[PKI]

AW - sincere condolences for your experience. No one deserves that event to occur. Thank you for the warning. Your recommendation to use a socket and breaker bar in place of the OE flat wrench has likely saved us from an injury. The day I unwrapped the chain with full load on the spring was a real eye opener. There is a lot of energy stored in those springs when loaded, and with only 600#s on the tongue, we run the small ones.

OP - Our direct RV towing experience is with the BOSP. We had no problems climbing or descending passes, no problems with backing, no difficulty with sharp turns, and no reluctance in transitional tracking or rapid deceleration. Let us tell you about shooting Smuggler's Gap looking for foliage color. Our experience has not been negative.

We are challenged in windy conditions but have not experienced excessive sway. We have not had difficulty in rain. However we can provide no information on BOSP towing in slick conditions like those found in winter weather.

The BOSP design controls sway with spring force and uses the head geometry to amplify that force. At least, that is what the tech support guy told me.
Consequently, it is not a friction based design.

The stinger fits our receiver reasonably tight, so if yours has significant play, the receiver should be checked for wear or distortion. We got the H-beam stinger and like that the configuration represents some weight reduction. However, because there is only one lock pin hole boss, it would require welding and drilling an additional boss to move the ball closer to the TV.

You all travel safe and make some smiles along those miles. Pat

[Dumpster]

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

Three lessons leaned the hard way from an actual Blue Ox user,
1. Keep a close eye on the brackets. Make sure they are properly torqued down on the frame. Under tension and unhooking the brackets can come loose from the frame. Happened to me, resulting in a cracked occular bone, concussion and overnight stay in the hospital. Black and blue and other interesting colors for a month. Half an inch in either direction might of resulted in blindness or death according to the Doctors.

Thank you kindly for that little tip. Sheesh. If you still own it, you are a bigger man than I. I would have shown my maturity by taking my frustrations out on an inanimate object with a cutting torch I don't own, and would have to go buy, giving me plenty of time to think about how stupid what I was doing was. But would still do.

[Dumpster]

Originally Posted by PKI

OP -
We are challenged in windy conditions but have not experienced excessive sway.
You all travel safe and make some smiles along those miles. Pat

This is the portion I am most curious about. Can you elaborate on the BOSP performance in these conditions relative to other hitches you have owned and used in similar circumstances?

Again, we don't have to name brands. Just truly curious how well this hitch handles sway. I get how subjective this issue can be.

I was thinking the other day about how this hitch design is supposed to deal with sway; a loaded spring bar bringing the trailer back to center. Blue Ox should create a mock up of a loaded trailer tongue, suspended in the air by being attached to the hitch and a TV. Theoretically, if you tried to swing the tongue to on side or the other, significant force would be required. Am I thinking about this correctly?

Thanks