Blue Ox Sway Pro Setup question UPDATE

Walaby wrote:
Hooked everything up yesterday, and took pictures of setup and sent to Blue Ox. Got a call back today. Technician told me everything on my setup looked perfect, and based on that information, the only solution to try is to put some additional wood or lego blocks under the jack to be able to raise the hitch higher for hook-up.

That's really not an option for me, as my wheels are just barely touching when I jack it up now.


I did change from 10 links back to 9 during this process. I remeasured the height of the front wheel well unloaded (41") and with WD hitch at 10 links. 10 Links the height was 40.5 inches, so it added more weight to front than unloaded. 9 links and height was 40 15/16 inches.

9 links is easier than the 10 was, but still a good deal of tension (Mike's opinion). I asked again about going to 2K bars and he said he would recommend against it. Going to 2K bars with TW less than 1500 (even by a little) would make the ride rougher. He said bars looked great and the tension on them fully loaded looked perfect.

So, I'll accept that answer and not worry about it. I know how much tension is there, and am very comfortable dealing with it.. just have to know my wife cannot hook it up herself.

Mike

Hi,

Trying to help and learn too. I have setup one of the new BO hitches on a friends camper, she has a 2500HD with a 1,1,00 # TW camper so I know some about the hitch and I have set up and used many other brands. For her she had to have the rig jacked up enough to unload the bars as there was no way she could latch up the snap ups.

Something is not adding up on why you cannot jack the camper and truck hitched up high enough to unload the WD bars. I hear you that you this is this way too high but still there is a missing piece in all this.

On my rig I have 1,700# WD bars with a 1,600# loaded TW. I have no option other than to have to jack the truck and camper up high enough to unload the bars as if the pipe on the snap up's ever flew out it could do a mega job of hurt.

I do have to use a 6" wood block under the tongue jack to get the rig up high enough to flip up the snap ups by hand.

There is one thing no one yet mentioned. The truck reciever. What does the receiver rating sticker state for use with a WD hitch? On that big and new enough of a truck it should be up pretty high in rating to match the tow rating, but still what is the rating?

Can you post some pics of the setup?

What is your loaded camper tongue weight and how much bed weight is there in the back of the truck?

Does your truck have a lift kit on it raising the entire back end of the suspension?

A receiver that has too much flex and wind up in it, can affect the WD on the truck per normal increments of WD hitch settings and in this case, it may affect how high the truck has to be to unload the WD bars.

I agree, going to 2,000# bars is not the way to go. Odds are high your truck receiver is not rated that high and those are a lot stronger than the 1,500# ones. The trailer A frame may even have issues using a bar that heavy. While the TW may not be there, the bars still create high forces going up and over high elevations changes. Like those high up and over RR crossing etc.

And I agree, you do not want to get a bigger wrench as that adds a level of danger are the rotary latches.

Ideally we can help you sort out why you cannot unload the WD bars to hitch up.

Hope this helps

John