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steveandjil's avatar
steveandjil
Explorer
Aug 18, 2019

dumb problem with blue ox tow bar hookup

Hi Folks,

For 5 years I have been towing a Jeep Wrangler behind my Winnebago View. I have a blue ox setup. It works like a charm, but I have one problem - a thick steel pin slides through the tow arms from the motorhome and receiving brackets on that are put onto the jeep tow bar when you are ready to tow. This in turn is held in with a cotter pin. The cotter pin is in turn "locked" into place with a circular piece of steel that is off center in the way it ia attached - this keeps it in place. I know this sounds confusing, but to anyone who has used it, you should immediately recognize what I mean.

Here's the problem, if the pin is put in top to bottom, after towing for a time it turns a bit and gets stuck on the metal of the tow arm. You need a hammer to get it out. It seems this just cannot be right. The one way I can avoid this is to install the pin from bottom to top, but even with those circular locks, it just does not seem safe.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. If my description is impossible to understand, I'll post pics.

Thanks,

Steve

18 Replies

  • The "big pin" is indeed horizontal. The little pin that holds that in is vertical. The idea of switching the orientation may work, I'll try that. I also saw the locking pins, may try that.

    Thanks all, anyone else that this problem?

    Steve
  • top to bottom?? The attachement pins on my Blue Ox both run horizontal to attach the tow bar arms to the base plate. There are two small pins on the ends to keep the big ones from working loose.
    I am sorry, but I just can't vusualize and 'top to bottom' anywhere on the hookup.
  • Insert pin from inside-out so the ring pin is on the outside of the arms. :)
  • The pin is not going to fall out, but you can by a set that locks if it makes you feel better.
  • Guess you could always replace them with a bolt and nut if you didn’t like the way they operate or didn’t think they were safe.

    Jerry Parr

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