Blue Ox Sway Pro

myredracer wrote:
FWIW, there was an interesting 9 page thread in 2013 with discussion and analysis of the new Sway Pro WDH. Link

Ron Gratz (one of the resident towing gurus) had this to say: "IMO, the new Sway Pro will not come close to providing as much "sway control" as the EQ or DC do. I would not tow with the new Sway Pro without using one or two friction sway bars."

It would be really interesting for someone to do an actual real life towing test between the Sway Pro, EQ and Reese using the same truck and TT with a detailed technical anaylsis.

All I know is, we have the Reese DC, and I really like it (despite being finicky to set up and all), therefore I recommend it.

If you read that thread, be sure to also read this later thread..
Eating Crow - the "new" Blue Ox Sway Pro

goducks10 wrote:
I towed for 2.5 years and over 10,000 miles with my EQ. I never torqued the head bolts. Just used a 1/2" breaker bar and a 3' piece of pipe. I made numerous changes when setting up and could change out the washer in 10 mins. Never had any bolts loosen up.
I will vouch for the noise though. I remember when I 1st got it. I was pulling thru a CG and while making some turns it was shrieking like crazy. 4-5 sites ahead of us people were turning their heads to see what the noise was. Couldn't park fast enough. If I were to get back into a TT again I would get something different. Between the noise and the grease it was a PITA. There's fixes for both but why not get something that works as well and is greaseless and quiet.

What I found with my EQ is the socket bolts would tend to loosen up a bit when new as they were breaking in. I've torqued them maybe 4 times in 2 years and they don't get loose much any more. The sockets ride on a wear surface and will loosen over time simply due to wear so they need to be checked from time to time.

I've got an Equalizer but a friend has a Blue Ox Pro with a trailer a bit heavier than your and really likes it.

On the sway-pro I did grease the hitch ball before towing. There are Zerk fittings on the hitch but they do not contact the external surface. No noise at all pulling or backing. After the initial set up it is plug and play, as long as you load the trailer similarly each trip. I tow with 10 gal. fresh water incase we need to use the rest room or sink other than that I do not tow with grey water and about 3 gal. of black water to keep that tank agitating.

I towed for 2.5 years and over 10,000 miles with my EQ. I never torqued the head bolts. Just used a 1/2" breaker bar and a 3' piece of pipe. I made numerous changes when setting up and could change out the washer in 10 mins. Never had any bolts loosen up.
I will vouch for the noise though. I remember when I 1st got it. I was pulling thru a CG and while making some turns it was shrieking like crazy. 4-5 sites ahead of us people were turning their heads to see what the noise was. Couldn't park fast enough. If I were to get back into a TT again I would get something different. Between the noise and the grease it was a PITA. There's fixes for both but why not get something that works as well and is greaseless and quiet.

My Equal-i-zer was pretty simple to set up and has never needed any adjustment since. As both my black and grey tanks are at the rear of the trailer, they can affect the tongue weight significantly, along with all kinds of other scenarios that do happen, none of which has even come close to requiring an adjustment. The head is the ONLY location for grease, and I have no problem staying clean while handling it. The onetime installation of the ball did require unique tools, but a shop did that for me for free. I marked the nut and threads so I can tell if it's loosened at all. But otherwise it's set it and forget it. A very nice feature is the fact that the bars don't even have to be removed from the head once you unhitch. They can just be pushed up under the bumper, where they will stay put. Certainly not a perfect hitch, but it does its job well. It can be noisy, no doubt.

I towed a KZ Spree 240BH-LX for several years using a 1,000 / 10,000 lb Equal-i-zer and was completely satisfied with it's performance - i.e. it did exactly what it was designed to do. However, it is likely the noisiest WD system on the market and IMO is a real nuisance to properly set up as the head must be disassembled in order to change the head height or adjust head angle by adding/subtracting head washers. That requires the use of a heavy duty torque wrench capable of torquing the head shank bolts to 320 ft-lbs, a tool many are unlikely to own ... certainly I don't and only got lucky as I have a friend who owned one rated to 600 ft-lbs, handy since the instructions also call for torquing the hitch ball to 430 ft-lbs using a thin wall socket, another "tool" I don't own. Aside from the need to also periodically check these various torque settings the Equal-i-zer isn't a one time "set and forget" system ... as the load changes so too must one consider whether it's necessary to readjust the EQ, as pointed out in the Equal-i-zer's own installation instructions -

The operator is responsible for making necessary adjustments to the
hitch to optimize weight distribution and sway control. Each trip is
different, and the weight distribution setup and towing performance
should be evaluated by the operator and adjusted when necessary.
Never tow with your hitch adjusted incorrectly.

The instructions also go on to say -

The setup may need to be changed slightly at times to accommodate
changes in your towing configuration, perhaps even during the same trip.
For example, a trailer that starts with full clean water and propane tanks,
may tow differently when that water becomes black and grey water, and
the propane tanks are empty. Or, a trailer loaded with gear for a long cross
country trip may tow differently than the same trailer loaded for a weekend
getaway. The driver must be conscious of these changes, and adjust the hitch
accordingly.

Indeed, I found this to be the case in my own situation, adjusting / re-adjusting my EQ at least a half dozen times to fine tune it - to adjust for load variances when I changed my Spree's cargo loading procedure in order to increase gross tongue weight, and when I changed tow vehicles - so having free access to a heavy duty torque wrench was essential.

Another drawback to the Equal-izer is the lack of interchangeability - move to a heavier (or in my case a significantly lighter) trailer and it may well be necessary to change the Equal-i-zer system you're using to a heavier (or lighter) version. That to me is a significant advantage the Blue Ox Sway Pro holds over the Equa-l-izer - change trailers and all you may have to swap out are the spring bars as everything else remains the same. Certainly installation and any post installation adjustments one might want to do with the Sway Pro are far easier as no head angle adjustment is required and setting the shank bolts only requires a torque wrench capable of 257 ft-lbs, a tool many of us do own.

If there's any weak link to the Sway Pro I've heard about it's that the clips securing the spring bars in position can break or pop free but Blue Ox does sell an inexpensive replacement kit which can be carried as a spare should this ever happen. When we purchased our current Freedom Express 192RBS I could have gone with another time tested Equal-i-zer (this time a 600 / 6,000 lb version) but having dealt with the drawbacks of this older design I decided I'd this time around instead try a similarly priced Blue Ox Sway Pro. As it turned out I was gifted a used Reese trunnion bar system which over the course of many towing miles has proven to work just fine for this relatively light weight trailer, otherwise I'd unquestionably have invested in the Blue Ox Sway Pro for what I view as the many advantages it offers over the Equal-i-zer.

I just returned from a round trip 2400 miles using the Blue Ox pro. I really had no issues it pulled great and no sway even though I am at most of my weight limits. I was in in this awful weather no snow but plenty of rain and some wind. Very little push pull when semis passed me and there were a lot of them. I can't compare to the other hitches.

I would like to ask Ron Gratz if he has ever used a Blue Ox sway pro hitch. I don't like when people look at something and make comments based on what they see before using the product. He needs to use the product and then his opinion would mean something to me. Maybe this is just my opinion, but listening to someone make claims based on nothing is not a good idea.

:) Have had the Blue Ox setup for about 14,000 miles and am very happy with it. Have had no issues and am told one can backup without disconnecting (I never disconnect before backing) unlike some others. It seems very well made and I would not hesitate to recommend it. My trailer only weighs about 4,800 lbs empty.