Falcon 2 tow bar frozen in RETRACTED position

Glad it worked for you. Since it's in an unknown and non operational condition I would not use it. Safety, liability, etc.

Sorry for the delay reporting back. My solution was the brute force method.

Note that my problem was arms NOT EXTENDING. They were frozen in the RETRACTED position. This is an extreme case. I don't ever plan to retract them. They'll stay extended unless I send them in for a rebuild.

* Removed the square rubber caps at the base of the arms.
* Liberally soaked the rods with WD40
* Used an aluminum rod (so it would be softer than the steel of the towbar).
* With a 5 lb sledge hammer I drove the towbar arms out until they locked in place.

Of course this made it difficult to jockey the car so that the towbar could be attached. No, I don't recommend this, but it worked for me.

My Falcon II was getting really sticky and difficult to retract. I sprayed it with a dry silicone lube spray, and its been just great for 2 years now.

RM recommends brake cleaning fluid as required and silicon spray otherwise.

You can get the tow bar checked and rebuilt at the factory or any rally that they attend. They have never charged me for this service.

I totally agree with mlh, I bought the rebuild kit when mine started binding. The kit has great instructions and I took my time and cleaned everything and replaced the parts from the kit. I would also nix the WD40 as maintenance and use lubricating spray. I am sure my use of WD40 in the past was my binding issue cause.

Good luck, our Falcon has about 60,000 miles on it and is good as new.

Regardless of what you find, I would recommend getting the full rebuild kit and break it down to see what's going on in there. Even if you get it unstuck, you may have a problem waiting to happen that you can't see. I just rebuilt mine and it was not too difficult.

Attach the unit to the vehicle and slowlly go in reverse yust a tad not to fast and do not slam your foot on the gas, slow and easy then use a lubricant rather than WD40 as it is a water displacer.

navegator

MacManOne let us know when you get this solved and what you did, many of us use that tow bar. Have had mine since 2003 with no problems yet. Dick

cochise49 wrote:
Following.....my Falcon All-Terrain gets stuck when extended making it hard to disconnect on uneven ground.

Mine doesn't always want to disconnect. Usually just turning the steering wheel per the directions resolves it.

I would use Kroil Penetrating Oil. Also call RM and see if they have any suggestions.