what is life expectancy of a tow bar

Our Blue Ox is 10 years old with 65,000 miles...never any problem with it.

I have had my Blue Ox for 10 years and ~50k miles. It was inspected by Blue Ox at a Rally about 3 years ago and they replaced some parts. Other than some peeling paint it still looks good.

I've had 2 Blue Ox bars and get mine checked/serviced annually at Quartzsite, however, I've replaced them at about 70,000 even with the professional service. The connecting knuckles and all swinging joints are wearing way too fast in my opinion. On both bars I've had to disassemble and put steel shim stock in the bolt holes to compensate for wear. I've also had to replace one set of toad connecting knuckles due to tow bar wear. I recently purchased a Road Master Blackhawk 2 and have no intention of going back to the Blue Ox's.

We pull the Silverado but load it to 6500-7500 pounds for summer Alaska trips and Arizona snowbird trips, which should be well within the weight limits Blue Ox specifies. To me they just wear too fast

My Demco tow bar was showing some wear at the seals after 10 years and 50K miles of service. I called Demco for advise and was told as the original owner I could send it to the factory for reconditioning at no charge, I only had to pay shipping one way. Service was fast and the refurbished bar looks and works great. Good company.

I've put 40,000 miles on my ReadyBrute. This year I sent it back to the company for refurbishment when we got to our winter site and they checked it out and returned it to me for just the cost of shipping.

They need inspection and as a result of the inspection may have to have some parts replaced. I have been told by Blue Ox that a tow bar has a life of about 75,000 miles. I had one that had more than that , was inspected and maintained, but when checked by Blue OX at a rally showed me wear and said it needed to be replaced. I replaced it there at the rally for a rally price which is much better than buying through a dealer. Have a friend that had a Road Master tow bar and he was told about the same thing about his. Not sure there is a hard and fast "rule". Have it inspected by a qualified person and expect some day at about 75,00 plus miles it will need replacing.

Ours is over 12 years old, with close to 100K miles and still like new. Had Roadmaster do their free factory service and update on it at their booth in Q in 2010 and the tech said it was good for another 10 years, so draw your own conclusion.

I don't know of any manufacturer that has a recommended replacement time or mileage for tow bars. We had a Roadmaster Sterling (not the Sterling All Terrain) for 7 years and over 100,000 miles. It was in excellent condition right up to the time the Jeep we were towing was rear ended.

Most manufacturers recommend an annual inspection and assessment. We cleaned and inspected our Sterling regularly in the 7 years we had it. We replaced a few of the thrust washers at the 5 year mark. At that age when I called the manufacturer for parts I needed to supply the serial number. It was one of the last in that series so parts were still available. I was told at the time that once the current parts stock was depleted they wouldn't be manufacturing any more and the bar would be considered obsolete, and no longer supported.

Basically what it comes down to is that as long as the manufacturer is willing to provide replacement parts you can repair the unit. At some point in time they're going to decide that there aren't enough of that particular model on the road and stop supplying parts. At that time you have to decide whether you still consider it a viable unit.