73guna wrote:
*EDIT*
I just called blue ox and talked to a rep.
While he said the bxw1000 would handle my trailers dry weight it could be problematic when loaded.
He didnt go into any details, which leaves me more curious now. ;)
The reason is that the Blue Ox Sway Pro spring bars, unlike spring bars for other systems, are
designed to bend noticeably when correctly adjusted as that's how the system also offers effective sway control. Obviously the "spring" in these bars can be manufactured to only cover a certain range of weights, ergo the reason the manufacturer offers bars with 6 different ratings. Generally speaking you're good up to the rating of the bars you're using - i.e. 1500 lb bars would be good from ~ 1000 lbs to ~ 1500 lbs but if your gross tongue weight is always sitting below 1000 lbs you should be using the next lower rated 750 lb bars. If your gross tongue weight averages slightly above the bar rating - say 1050 lbs for 1000 lb bars - then you can still use those 1000 lb bars as that's only 5% above spec and certainly isn't going to cause any long term issues. However, if your gross tongue weight is
well above the rating of the bars you have then you really do need to go to the next higher rated bars, in this case 1500 lb bars. A case in point - my current trailer typically averages ~ 600 lbs of gross tongue weight, sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more depending mostly on the content of the holding tanks at any given time ... if I were using a Blue Ox Sway Pro I could choose
either the 550 lb bars OR the next higher rated 750 lb bars - confirmed by the manufacturer when I queried them on this exact question. In your case, presuming your trailer's gross tongue weight is typically well above 1000 lbs, I'd agree you'd want the 1500 lb bars.
