Good and Bad about Blue Ox Sway Pro

Mike Up wrote:
OK I FINALLY SEE the affect as I was reading an old email from one of their engineers.

He stated this new head offers supperior sway control and now I see why. It finally just dawned on me and it's very simple but very effective.

First as mentioned, the spring bars bend much more than any other makers bars and Blue Ox took advantage of this.

They angled their head more than other heads because they can get away with it because the bars will bow, while other bars would be straighter interfereing with ground clearance and the such.

The steep angle, which is greater than the Reese trunnion, Equalizer brand and even Blue Oxs old head, allows the bar to swing up when pushed outward and load more, putting more push on that side, while the other bar swings inward and down, putting less force than normal, allowing the other side to push toward it, in that direction.

This force isn't done by other system because they don't have the steep head downward tilt that the Blue Ox head has, which is allowed by the bars ability to bend up and not have inteference issues.

There ya Go. Now you got it. While I can see it, and understand the bicycle fork example, I have no good handle on how effective it is. Have not yet thought of a way to calculate the force correction to compare it to the more traditional friction approaches, which is more straightforward.

If my curiosity gets the best of me (has before) I may take one of my old hitches, tilt the head back 15 degrees and go play.

The Blue Ox rotary chain bracket also creates more trunnion bar end lift (force) when the TT & TV becomes more off - center than the traditional chain hanging on a hook. The Blue Ox chain is wrapping around a drum so to speak as the chain and WD bars swings towards the TT. The chain will shorten in vertical length more than a chain hanging off a snap up center hook where the chain only pivots. The swinging chain on a high up pivot has a shallower angle to the chain less than chain wrapped around a drum, which has more mechanical advantage in this case. Granted this WD bar lift action is small however, an increase in spring force will help the steering effect more that they are claiming.

Good luck and let us know if you get one.

John