My Blue Ox Sway Pro Experience (Bad, but now resolved)

[freymann]

I bought a 19 foot trailer about 10 years ago and it came with the basic Reese Weight distribution bars and the anti sway bar and did the job.

We later upgraded to a heavier 21 foot travel trailer and brought the Reese system with us. I guess it worked ok.

Last year we upgraded again to a 26 foot TT after upgrading our tow vehicle (2008 Ford F150 XLT Crew CAb). The Reese system moved with us but I didn't feel it was doing a good job with the 26 footer so I decided, after changing TV again (to a 2010 Dodge Ram Quad Cab) that I still wasn't happy with the way the TT towed so I was going to buy a new weight distribution system with anti sway.

I had decided on looking at the Husky Centre Line, Eqaulizer, and Blue Ox Sway Pro.

I called a dealer that was recommended to me, Peterborough RV and discussed my 3 choices. Rick said he doesn't recommend the Husky at all, said they prefer the Equalizer and when I mentioned Blue Ox he said they have never installed one but have only heard great things about the company. My friend has the Blue Ox, same truck, and a 28 foot TT, so I decided to go with Blue Ox.

I arranged a time when we were camping in Peterborough to have the old Reese system removed and the new Blue Ox installed at the end of one our camping trip in the area. Peterborough RV said this was the first Blue Ox system they have installed in 17 years of being in the business.

The tech seemed to have issues with the driver's side rotating latch coming undone and rotating and dropping the chains and bar when he lowered the rig to check for level. I witnessed this twice during the installation. This was a Monday and the tech didn't seem to be a good mood at all that day.

After more than an hour I am told everything is fine and I can leave. No instructions provided.

It towed home very well and I felt pleased.

Get home and try to remove the thing? I end up with cuts and bruises and **** near a broken arm.

I find their rotating latches to be a real problem. Instead of facing the trailer frame, where you have lots of room and lots of leverage, you have to position your body facing the front of your trailer to get leverage to rotate the latch. On the other side you have to face the rear of your truck.

The little "wrench" they provide to rotate the latch is small and awkward and rides too close to the bar and trailer frame. It can be difficult to have your hand around the wrench and rotate it because there's no room for your hand when you rotate past the bar or trailer frame. This thing requires a good half rotation or more to lock or unlock, so it's pretty difficult to spin it without finding your hand or arms dangerously close to something.

Even raising the trailer and TV didn't seem to help out much here. Who wants to risk injury every time you hook up and disconnect?

Ok, so I figure maybe it's just me. When we leave on our next trip I am careful to try and not position the wrench where I can't get hurt. Easier said then done.

It was a struggle and was scary trying to work with this system and not injure yourself. Wearing gloves helps prevent srapes and scratches.

I made it through a couple trips but then found out when backing up, the driver's side latch would rotate and come undone, causing the bar to hit the ground, and if on grass or dirt, it would embed itself and you would have to drive the truck forward and have somebody pulling on the chains to get it lose and over far enough that you could remove it. Not too handy when on a busy path.

I called Peterborough RV a couple of times to let Rick know I wasn't very happy with the system. I suggested they remove it and install the Equalizer system instead. Rick said NO as the warehouse won't accept used returns. When I explained the above issues to him all he said was he would call Blue Ox and see what they advise. Oh boy.

After 2 days of waiting I called Blue Ox myself and they decided to ship me replacement latches. When I asked for a refund they said that was up to Peterborough RV not them.

The new rotating latches arrive and Fed-Ex wanted $60 in import fees. I refused delivery as why would I want to spend more money on a system I don't like?!

I call Blue Ox back. Now they tell me if I had made the payment they would have paid me back. Oh well. So they agree to send another.

In the meantime I continue to struggle with putting it on and taking it off and it continues to pop off the driver's side bar when I back up. I advise Peterborough RV but my concerns seem to fall upon deaf ears.

Second replacement package arrives, no extra fees from Fed-Ex. I remove the driver's side rotating latch and place it next to the new one. I can see right away that the locking pin is not doing the correct job on the original. It barely goes into the hole! Glad it never rotated while we were driving down the highway!

I install the replacement, call Blue Ox to tell them what I discovered, ask them to speak to Peterborough RV.

We just did our last trip last weekend and I'm still struggling with this system. It is not pleasant to hook up and even worse to take off.

I emailed Connor at Blue Ox to state how unsatisfied I am with this thing and I print a copy and write a short letter to Peterborough RV stating how disappointed I am with them, the dealer, for not standing behind what they sell.

My goal was to upgrade to the latest and greatest and instead I am stuck with a system that is dangerous and difficult to use.

Based on my experience, I cannot recommend the Blux Ox Sway Pro system and I certainly do not recommend Peterborough RV either.

I don't have $1100.00 CDN to throw away again but when I do have some bucks I will have Blue Ox system removed and something else installed in its place.

In the meantime I can only cross my fingers and hope I don't hurt myself when hooking up.

What a huge disappointment.

[TomG2]

I am not saying that the OP did anything wrong, and I too am glad that the story has a happy ending. However, I do not buy Chevrolets from a Ford dealer or vise versa.

[wowens79]

Glad that you found the problem. It's a shame that consumers have to be the product experts these days. I've given up on getting advise from retailers. I no longer expect service, so I shop solely on price. 15 years ago I worked in a local bicycle shop, and we studied, and knew our products. People came to us for advice, and paid a little more for products, but we provided knoledge and expertise.

I did pick up one good idea about the ratchet, I think I'll start using one, as in some sites to get the camper in, you end up with the truck all twisted up, and it's hard to get all the tension off the spring bars.

Sad thing is the OP probably paid a premium for the hitch buying from the dealer, and paid to have it installed. If the dealer had spent 15-20min to read what to order, and read the instructions, he would have had a happy customer that would buy from him again. Now he has an unhappy customer that won't be back, and a bunch of people on the internet that have seen the bad service.

[camperforlife]

freymann wrote:

TomG2 wrote:
If I have to know more than the dealer, then I will order online. It was a good thing the OP did not have a wreck towing with such a poorly installed device by a technician that was not familiar with the Blue Ox and had no intention of learning.

I agree.

What I've learned from today is:

One question the dealer, Peterborough RV, should have asked was: "What is your tongue weight?"

Second issue that relates to any hitching system is to get the ball on the tow vehicle at the correct height! 3 inches too low? You gotta be kidding me. Bad installer at Peterborough RV.

So in this case:

Blue Ox: A+ for listening and responding to my concerns and making sure that I no longer run around bad mouthing their product

Peterborough RV: F (for many reasons)

Freymann I did ask my dealer what my tongue actually weighed and the response was "I don't know we don't have a way to weight it". I gave in on what they suggested because they were a huge very reputable dealer who should have known the correct set up. We all live an learn.

[freymann]

SoundGuy wrote:

freymann wrote:
One question the dealer, Peterborough RV, should have asked was: "What is your tongue weight?"

Out of curiosity I have to ask - did this question not come up when you were first discussing weight distribution with whomever you were dealing with at the RV dealership?

Nope. Never.

[freymann]

disregard.

[coolbreeze01]

If you can't set the chains with just your fingers, you aren't jacking it high enough.

[SoundGuy]

freymann wrote:
One question the dealer, Peterborough RV, should have asked was: "What is your tongue weight?"

Out of curiosity I have to ask - did this question not come up when you were first discussing weight distribution with whomever you were dealing with at the RV dealership? :@ If not, that in itself would have been a clear indication this wasn't going to go well at all as no one can intelligently size any WD system without having some idea as to what the trailer's gross tongue weight is likely to be with the trailer loaded and ready to camp. Obviously, without actually weighing the tongue under these conditions the best one can do estimate but it's not that difficult so there's really no excuse for selecting spring bars with the wrong weight rating. There's also no excuse for setting the hitch ball height so far off from what it should be, as apparently happened in this case.

[NorthTrail23]

I agree whole heartedly about the breaker bar. We use a heavy 24" bar and socket in place of the supplied wrench - soooo much easier...and safer.

[freymann]

TomG2 wrote:
If I have to know more than the dealer, then I will order online. It was a good thing the OP did not have a wreck towing with such a poorly installed device by a technician that was not familiar with the Blue Ox and had no intention of learning.

I agree.

What I've learned from today is:

One question the dealer, Peterborough RV, should have asked was: "What is your tongue weight?"

Second issue that relates to any hitching system is to get the ball on the tow vehicle at the correct height! 3 inches too low? You gotta be kidding me. Bad installer at Peterborough RV.

So in this case:

Blue Ox: A+ for listening and responding to my concerns and making sure that I no longer run around bad mouthing their product

Peterborough RV: F (for many reasons)

[freymann]

Actually the real moral to the story is to fully understand what you're buying, how it's intended to work, and what it takes to install properly even if you don't intend to do the installation yourself. 😉

Amen to that!

[TomG2]

If I have to know more than the dealer, then I will order online. It was a good thing the OP did not have a wreck towing with such a poorly installed device by a technician that was not familiar with the Blue Ox and had no intention of learning.

[73guna]

Glad you got it figured out.
Im not a fan of the Blue Ox rotating latches, they can be down right dangerous if not enough tension is taken off chains during hook/unhook.

On a side note, I hauled my 31qbts from Michigan to Nebraska without a WD hitch, the bucking was horrible at times.
The Blue ox fixed the bucking problem, tail wagging seemed about the same with or without.

[SoundGuy]

TomG2 wrote:
And thethe moral of this story is? Buy products from dealers who are familiar with them instead of a one off sale.

Actually the real moral to the story is to fully understand what you're buying, how it's intended to work, and what it takes to install properly even if you don't intend to do the installation yourself. 😉

[TomG2]

And the moral of this story is? Buy products from dealers who are familiar with them instead of a one off sale.

[freymann]

Thank you to everyone who has posted and messaged.

Key fixes:

1) exchange 1000 pound spring bars for 1500 pound bars
2) Raise the ball 3 inches

I just spent 90 minutes with my neighbour, who has the same Blue Ox Sway Pro system, same truck, and almost the same trailer (his is 2 feet longer).

First words out of his mouth "your trailer ball is way too low!"

He drove home and brought back his hitch head assembly. His ball is a lot higher than mine is.

I asked him to bring his spring bars too. They have 4 dots so they are 1500 pound bars compared to mine, which are 1000 pounds.

We use Jason's hitch head assembly and he proceeds to hook up the bar on the passenger side. They go on surprisingly easy. I mean completely different than what I have been struggling with. I do the other side and can't believe how simple this works. We didn't have to raise the trailer and truck that much either.

We drive the rig around the block and park in a flat driveway just up the road from me in front of a private garage. Lots of room.

Time to unhook, level the trailer, and take some measurements. I install my hitch head assembly.

22 3/8 inches to bottom of coupler
19 5/8 inches to the top of my ball

That's 3 inches too low!

I measured to the bottom of the fenders on the driver's side wheels before hooking up and after (while using Jason's Hitch Head Assembly). The truck goes less than a couple inches down and with the trailer leveled by using the correct chain link the rear of the truck sits a bit higher than the front. Perfect.

So that's it folks. Wrong bars and trailer ball is too low.

During all of our fiddling, hooking and unhooking, with his hitch head assembly and 1500 pound bars there were no issues, no scary moments, and no fear of hurting yourself.

So time to make a few changes and tow happily ever after. 🙂