Lower weight rated wd hitch on a heavier trailer, unsafe?

The blue ox bars on my sway pro are interchangeable. The same hitch but different rated bars. They are spring steel and are designed to bend when properly loaded.

I had a round bar 10,000/1,000 WDH before the one I have now (15,000/1,500) for my trailer that has 1,300-1,500lb tongue weight. I was able to restore weight to my front axle, but believe I had increased bouncing.. that I no longer have with the current setup.

If you use the bars rated for less than your tongue weight, you may end up with some extra bounce..

Hey all, I appreciate your feedback and advice.
The used Blue ox is on hold until I can find some heavier bars for it unless it sells.
Thanks

Careful...might get into a penny wise, pound foolish position noogling
saving an approx $258.99

Am sure you can find them on sale for less and/or used....then you can
sell your lower rated spring bars on the used market once you purchase
a higher rated set to match your new trailer...when you do upsize...

SwayPro Spring Bars - Pair - 1,500 lbs
BlueOx BlueOxSwayPro BlueOxSwayProBars BlueOxSwayProBarCost




Here is the Blue Ox Sway Pro site which lists their WD Hitch up to 2,000 lbs
BlueOxSwayPro PartNumbers

RinconVTR wrote:

The bars will not likely permanently bend because they are tempered as spring steel. They might break, but that would require more movement than your truck or trailer probably would allow before something bottoms.

Well they do bend, I've seen it for myself. Well distort is probably a better word. The overloaded bar gets an upward bow in it which makes it less effective at transferring weight and controlling sway. I could clearly see the bow when I put my bars next to the overloaded bars. It's probably not a permanent bow in the sense that you could probably knock the bow out by bending the bar in the opposite direction.

Here is a link to a thread addressing this topic and shows how Blue Ox Sway Pro
resists sway with a push/pull on the tongue via the spring bars

I'd personally go with higher rated bars than lower rated bars and
fine tune it via the amount of pull up by the chains



Friction sway to Blue Ox sway Pro

BenK wrote:
Without your setup specifications, all is out of context and just adjusting
the dials/knobs/etc...plus tossing in parts changes without really
knowing what the heck...

What are your:

• TV GVWR
• TV FGAWR
• TV RGAWR
• TV GCWR
• Trailer GVWR
• Trailer GAWR
• Trailer length
• Trailer actual weight
• Trailer actual tongue weight

Mod's to the TV?

• Lifted and whether suspension or body
• Tires/wheels
• etc

A sideview picture, on level ground would help tons and is part of
what others are saying that the setup is key, along with the properly
sized components. Orientation of the setup, on level ground, is to
have the TV drop as per the manual and the trailer level at it's highest
pointing...I like pointed slightly down and that has solved several
I've adjusted (only thing done) and many here on these forums

There is anti-sway built in via the architecture of how the bars provide
resistance to both directions of swing. Discussed here:
Eating Crow - the "new" Blue Ox Sway Pro Pg3

Here is the graph Ron Gratz made up, but you'll need to read the
accompanying text to get the total gist...

BlueOxGraph BlueOxForceGraph ForceGraph

I would agree the only thing wrong with running a set of bars at a lower weight rating than required simply renders them more useless.

The bars will not likely permanently bend because they are tempered as spring steel. They might break, but that would require more movement than your truck or trailer probably would allow before something bottoms.

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.

If your tongue will spend the majority of its time over 1,000 lbs then get the 1,500 lbs bars. Blue Ox bars are built with quite a bit of flex in them. When you overload them, you cause them to over flex which permanently distorts the bar.

If your tongue is barely over 1,000 lbs, you still have to take dynamic load into account. This is the stress that the bars experience when going over road imperfections like dips. The bars experience quite a few more pounds of stress during such an event and that could leave them bent. That's why it's a safe bet to go one size up when you're close.

You might be better off with a new hitch anyway. You wouldn't get to take advantage of the lifetime warranty since it's only available to the original owner.

There is a nice used Blue ox (used less then 5 times) for sale local.
Rated at 10000 trailer 1000 tongue, bxw1000 model.
I need a bxw1500, I could upgrade bars but that would put me over the price for a whole new hitch.
Im thinking (just thinking) about buying the used hitch and try it out to see how it performs.
If I can get him considerablly lower on the price I might try it.
Ill email blue ox and get thier feedback.

*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. ;)