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Old 04-02-2016, 06:27 PM   #1
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Sticky tow bar arms?

My tow bar arms have been reluctant to slide in/out since the tow bar was new. I have used Dry lube (several) with negligible help. Tried several cleaners including recommended orange peel juice - no help. Have used many super lube/penetrating oils with mixed results. Yesterday I noticed that I had a container of Co-Co oil that was supposed to lubricate tank valve seals and poured some on my sticky slides. Eureka!! They slid easily in and out. No idea how long it will last but this was the only thing that has been effective.
If you've had such a problem give it a try.

Have a nice day - Darrel
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Old 04-02-2016, 06:38 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Darrel View Post
My tow bar arms have been reluctant to slide in/out since the tow bar was new. I have used Dry lube (several) with negligible help. Tried several cleaners including recommended orange peel juice - no help. Have used many super lube/penetrating oils with mixed results. Yesterday I noticed that I had a container of Co-Co oil that was supposed to lubricate tank valve seals and poured some on my sticky slides. Eureka!! They slid easily in and out. No idea how long it will last but this was the only thing that has been effective.

If you've had such a problem give it a try.



Have a nice day - Darrel

What tow bar do you have Darrel?
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Old 04-05-2016, 04:18 PM   #3
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My towbar is a roadmaster All terrain. Don't want to badmouth them because i have found several others with the same setup who have no problems. Just had to share the unexpected success of the Co-Co oil experiment.

Have a nice day - Darrel
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Old 04-06-2016, 07:33 AM   #4
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Sticky tow bar arms?

DarreI,.....
I have the same towbar, with the same- but worse- problem. I'm in the process of rebuilding it as we speak.

Mine reached the point a couple of months ago where the arms were actually frozen in the out and locked position. That made hook-up and detach very tricky and inconvenient processes. I spoke with a tech at Roadmaster, concerned that one or both inner arms had gotten slightly bent. But he said no, they've seen this in some older bars, it's just excessive carbon buildup inside, on and around all the bushings.

So I bought the bushing/rebuild kits to thoroughly rebuild the whole assembly. I shot a lot of PB into every place I could access over the course of three days, and then still had to really whale on things to break the inner bars loose and drive them out.

Folks at Roadmaster support were extremely helpful. Their instruction was to thoroughly clean the parts of buildup, then thoroughly clean off all cleaning solvent, using Simple Green or equivalent. Let parts completely dry and reassemble using lots of silicon dry lube spray.

I'm now at the reassembly point. All parts are clean as a whistle. If I bother to repaint a couple of small parts- and buy a new set of decals somewhere- my towbar will look brand new! I'll let you know how it works.


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Old 04-06-2016, 12:09 PM   #5
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I'm not sure what Co-Co oil is but anything oil based will just attract dirt and make the tow bars get sticky and gummed up even faster.

I would clean the heck out of them and then only use silicon spray or dry lube types of sprays to lubricate them.
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