Quote:
Originally Posted by rob lay
I bought a blue ox aladen tow bar made out of aluminum , I will be towing a 2004 jeep liberty . Has anyone had any issues with the aluminum tow bar , I know I will not be exceeding the weight limit but I was just concerned about the bar being aluminum .
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Rob,
Well Sir, first off, if I'm not mistaken, that model is the same one we have and it's called the Blue Ox Aladdin. And, again, if I'm not mistaken, it's rated at 7,500 lbs. Your Liberty is far below that. In fact we have used our Aladdin now for three years, towing our present toad, an '11 GMC Sierra 1500 Extended Cab 4x4. That truck weighs 5,300 lbs. according to the scales where we used to live.
And, most of the time, we carry an '08 Honda GL 1800 Goldwing in the back of that truck, weighing right at 900 lbs. AND, it's loaded onto the bed of that truck via the use of a Rampage motorcycle lift/carrier and it weighs close to 300 lbs.
So, all together, using advance math, we're dragging along behind our coach, a whopping 6,500 lbs. Now, like stated, we've been towing that kind of weight for over 3 years and, over 10,000 miles in trips. The real kicker here is, IT WAS USED WHEN WE BOUGHT IT!!!!
I recently attended the WIT Grand National Rally in Forest City IA and, one of the vendors there was Blue Ox. They were scheduling the rebuilding of their tow bars for anyone that wanted it while at the rally. Well, being that there was several hundred there with Blue Ox tow bars, needless to say it was going to be days before they'd get to ours.
So, I was given a shim kit for it which, was all they were doing at that rally(I watched the tech tear down two and that's all that was done).
When I got home from the trip, I tore into that Aladdin and, thoroughly checked out all the pivot points, stress points, and, locking mechanisms. I have no idea how many miles and time was on the tow bar prior to us purchasing it off ebay but, there was absolutely nothing that was worn to the point that it was questionable whether or not this tow bar should remain in service or not.
All pivot points were in perfect shape. There were/are no cracks or signs of stress in any of the welds. The sliders and, locking mechanisms were perfect. As expected, the shims were a bit worn but, they're suppose to wear, it's designed into that bar and any of their models. So, I cleaned all the components up and, installed the new shim kit. It's now as good as brand new.
I recently acquired a Blue Ox Aventa II which, is a steel version and has a capacity of 10,000 lbs. It had a bent tube from an incident while towing and, drug along the road 'till the owner got a chance to pull over and get stopped.
I tore that whole tow bar apart too. I straightened that bent tube out, (it was only bent by two or three degrees anyway) and, did the exact same process as I did on the Aladdin. I inspected every inch, sliders, lock mechanisms, welds etc. I then purchased a shim kit (same kit as the Aladdin) for a whopping $15.00 and, rebuilt that one. Now I have two perfect tow bars.
I might sell the Aladdin just because I have a better margin of weight capacity in the Aventa II. But, I sure like the lighter weight of the Aladdin when installing and removing it.
Scott
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