Demco Excali-bar advice

I have had the original Excalibar for 14 years now. It is steel and rated for 10500 lbs if I remember correctly. I have only needed the tool a few times to unlock the bar at an off angle. After a trip to Alaska fine dirt got into the locking mechanism and had to be cleaned. I have only taken it apart to clean it twice in 14 years. I would choose the steel over Al only because of its higher rating. It has served me well.

The first generation Excalibar is a steel tow bar and is very tough. It lacks the rubber boots that the later versions have so it's easier for dirt to get into the locking collars. Not too difficult to keep clean. Needless to say it is quite heavy. Honestly I have never tried to unlock the collars without the tool. The tool does give you a lot of leverage. Mine is still working fine.

I've had several generations of the Demco aluminum towbars, due to factory replacements. The 1st was an Aluminator had a separate tool to un-lock the slide couplers, the second had basically the same "tools" built into the outside of the bar, the third has the locks and levers acting internally. By far the third version (now called Dominator) is the best. I had failures of the "hinge" area on each of the 1st two tow-bars with welds and aluminum fracturing. Personally if it's not a machined block connecting to the pivot pin, I would not have it. I have towed 2 Ford Aerostar vans, a '96 Tracker, a 2003 Ford Sport Trac and now a 2014 Ford Flex with the Demco Aluminum towbars