Is it time to replace my tow bar?

[Texas Clodhopper]

I have a 6 year old Blue Ox Avail tow bar that I've used for 38,000 miles. I would like your opinions and experiences please about replacing it.

 

[Rich W.]

I just replaced a 20 year old aluminum tow bar but it was getting pretty sloppy and it's a discontinued model. At six years old, I’d just continue to do maintenance on it. Even my old aluminum tow bar was probably perfectly safe (regular maint and inspections) but the current design releases more easily and I got a deal on the new one. IIRC BO recommends a 10 year replacement cycle.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I just replaced a 20 year old aluminum tow bar but it was getting pretty sloppy and it's a discontinued model. At six years old, I’d just continue to do maintenance on it. Even my old aluminum tow bar was probably perfectly safe (regular maint and inspections) but the current design releases more easily and I got a deal on the new one.

If I could find a deal ($100) like you did, I would buy it as a spare.

 

[Rich W.]

If I could find a deal ($100) like you did, I would buy it as a spare.

I ended up passing that deal along to someone else there who really wanted it and needed it worse than I did. It was a 10 year old ball type, also discontinued. But I got a nice “used only once” one year old unit for $500 locally. They have a date code stamped on them and this one looked new. I also sold my old one for $200. But if faced with another $1200 expense, I’d go the ten years BO recommends.

 

[J&JD]

I used a Roadmaster hitch for 11 years and 80k miles. When I purchased my DS I decided to replace it with a new Roadmaster simply because the old one sure showed a lot of slop/loosness compared to the new one. It was probably just fine but I felt better replacing it, much like replacing older tires.

 

[CaptainGizmo]

1000% YES!

I may catch some flak for this, but I'm telling you like it is.

Over the past 2 years, I've had a half dozen...YES...at least 6 friends have failures. The latest was a friend who broke a DEMCO tow bar, and subsequently bent an old BLUE OX that was "lent" to him by a shop to get him home.

While the actual TOW BAR, itself, may not seem to be worn, these things really take a lot of stress; ESPECIALLY with rough roads and DIPS, which is the event that caused both of the recent failures.

The other failures have been in the baseplates. And, again, while not actually the tow bar itself, in my opinion, it's all part of the "safety maintenance" philosophy to keep things tight, secure, and routinely inspected.

We spend thousands on keeping fresh tires, along with many other very expensive items to keep our coaches running a "safely" as possible. I just can't justify holding back on a $1k purchase every 3 years or so to keep your $70k tow vehicle AND your $xxx,xxx+ coach as safe as possible.

Can you "stretch" a tow bar to last longer? Of course...just like you "can" make tires last longer...maybe. But why take the extra risk when you KNOW that fatigue/wear has taken place.

So, buy a bigger capacity than you need, and replace it every 3 years, and sleep better knowing you've done what you can to at least not have THAT fail on you due to lack of maintenance.

Hope this sits well with all who read.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I tend to believe as you do, Steve. The one thing I've also been concerned about is some baseplate manufacturers suggest checking the bolts every 3000 miles. With mine, I would need to remove the bumper cover along with some other items and I would have needed to do this 3 times on my summer trip.

 

[Neal]

I'll toss in 2 pennies from me...

In my opinion, an inspection is your go/no-go. If you go to rallies, blueox may be there, ask them to inspect it. Otherwise inspect it yourself or take it to a place such as if in Elkhart the place that does a lot of installs can probably inspect it for you (can't remember their name...something hitch...). Ask the vendor, reach out to blueox and see what they have to offer on your question.

I would not just throw away a perfectly good tow bar. Some fail due to weld issues. You could get a brand new one with a bad weld and have an issue. You have safety cables and a braking system for a reason, not that you should even think on relying on those but it's not like it's all or nothing with the tow bar. As with anything with age such as this, inspection in my opinion is the answer. There are tens of thousands of these on the road, how many are truly failing? Is it a specific time frame maybe of bad welds? Who knows, we don't have the stats. Mine is nearly 7 years old and I have zero intention of replacing it unless I have some indication of it needing replacing.

Edit: synapse fired - Dan's hitch

 

[Rich W.]

My Blue Ox Ascent is probably the last tow bar I’ll ever need. I doubt I’ll still be towing with an RV more than 10 years from now. I’m towing a 3500lb Jeep and built my own connectors that are mounted on the bumper and through-bolted to the front cross member and I know they will never fail.

My tow bar is level, and because it‘s connected at bumper height, it will never come close to the ground. So that and my beefy cables and brake system should keep my out of trouble, but as Neal said, frequent inspections and maintenance are the key. I also look at my tow bar and all connections every time I stop, and frequently check the rear view camera to be sure the jeep is still there.

Given the low mounting point of a base plate, and the seemingly light duty connectors on them, I would be much more nervous about that than the tow bar. I have a 2016 Edge but bought a jeep to tow because the whole base-plate process didn’t appeal to me, and I didn’t want to put the Edge through that. The Jeep takes it’s share of abuse from road crud and rocks as it is.

 

[JRS]

My towbar company does lifetime rebuilds for free. Don't shoot me but have you checked if your's does? I've read companies rebuild/refurbish them at RV gatherings????

 

[Diesel Pusher]

I have a Demco Aluminator and Excalibar (different weight ratings) which I bought used about 20 years ago. When I do my own rebuilds every 2 or 3 years, I closely inspect all moving components looking for cracks, wear or elongation then replace the bushings, seals and use grade 8 fasteners to re assemble (the original fasteners were grade 5). All the parts are available. Do yourself a favor, take yours to an expert.

This video was helpful when I first rebuilt mine

I've rebuilt Demco, Blue Ox and Roadmaster tow bars for others (for the cost of parts) and frankly, from that experience, I won't use BO bars or base plates!