Tow Bar Angle and Height Difference

[Sixpack98]

Quote:

Originally posted by porscheracer: I know you've been checking every day for the last 6 months to see if anyone ever answered you. Yes, it affects the dynamic. Probably not enough to matter, or even be noticeable. My situation was the reverse of most. The Dakota's baseplate is about 7" higher than my hitch - so we installed an 8" drop hitch in the inverted mode (my siggy is an old pic). It also has the benefit of giving us about 10" of extra "swing" room for those really tight maneuvers.

Thanks Norm. Since April I have swapped back and forth with the drop receiver and noticed the extra swing with the drop receiver installed. During a turn he toad tracks more in line with the coach and not outside the rear wheels. Have not noticed any problems with sway with the drop receiver either so I am keeping it on.

Thanks for the reply.

mark

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally posted by porscheracer:

The downside is that I can't easily remove my towbar! It's starting to get a little corroded and rusty in places.

[blacktie.shooter]

Without a toad brake, I would be scared to death to hook it up behind my 36' gasser with a huge overhang. I run the brake a little high on sensitivity, and upon anything other than gentle normal braking, my red indicator light pops on, and almost immediately I can feel the "comealong" helping with the braking requirements. Also have to admit, my receiver is probably 5-6" above the base plate. Zero problems, so far.

[theiler]

I'm new here so please bear with me. I see many references to less than 4 inched height differences between the hitch and the attachment tabs on the toad. My Acclaim Manual 292-2205 1/01 Page 4 of 6 clear shows that I should have 7 nches between the center of the ball and the center of the attachment tabs. What is happening?

AJ

[Gary RVRoamer]

Good question. The instructions differ depending on the type of hitch. Obviously the correct thing is to follow the instructions provided with the hitch (they are available on the Blue Ox site if you don't havethem).

For the Acclaim coupler type it says 7" height difference but then warns NOT to have the tow bar coupler at an angle and that the coupler must be parallel to the ground.

Quote:

Blue Ox tow bars are designed for the coupler to be parallel to the ground when towing. The height difference from the center of the attachment tabs to the center of the 2" ball on the towing vehicle should be approximately 7 inches. If the tow bar coupler is at an angle, damage or accident could occur. See figure below.

See the Acclaim manual and diagram here:
http://www.blueox.us/Towbars/bx4330.pdf

The pintle hitch version of the same towbar says 4" difference instead of 7" but is otherwise the same warnings.

The Adventurer, also a coupler type, merely warns that the coupler must be parallel to the ground.

For the Aventa and Alladin tow bars it says no more than 4" up to the hitch.

It appears the Acclaim coupler type of drawbar is an exception to the general rule in the original post (Towing Physics 101). Subject, of course, to the requirement that the 7" does not make the coupler end up other than parallel to the ground.

[theiler]

On the Acclaim the coupler is at an angle with the tow bars. When the coupler is parallel to the ground, the tow bars are at the angle associated with 7 inches on one end and the length of the bars. The picture in the manual is consistent. Given that the manual is corrrect as written and the reader is aware that the coupler can be parallel as an exception to the rule other other products, why do not the laws of physics and safety apply if the label on the product says Acclaim?

AJ

[wa8yxm]

Driver... I'm wondering if we have met fact to face, perhaps the Monday following Thanksgiving, 2006.....

You see. When I got my Damon Intruder I let the dealer measure the height of the tow bar.. I felt it was improper so on my trip west in 2006 my first stop was Benton Harbor... Lunch with my brother who lives on the other side of the state from me (He is a professional driver)

Second stop was Pender, NE. A very nice little campground (less the wind is coming from the stock yards) and a lovely town. Spent the weekend, Had the drop receiver replaced with one that was...(And is) a lot more to my liking, Custom adapter too (You welded on an additinal part to hold my bicycle carrier)

By the way.. I speak highly of Blue Ox.. You folks really treated me right.

[Tom N]

Anyone care to post Blue Ox's manual??

My Roadmaster Sterling tow bar manual is quoted below:

-Tom

[theiler]

9. Blue Ox tow bars are designed for the coupler to
be

parallel to the ground when towing. The
height difference from the center of the attachment
tabs to the center of the 2" ball on the towing
vehicle should be approximately 7 inches. If the
tow bar coupler is at an angle, damage or
accident could occur. See figure below.

Here is the link to the manual: (I'm not smart enough to paste the figure, but this paragraph and related figure in on page 4 of 6):

http://www.blueox.us/Towbars/bx4330.pdf

AJ

[porscheracer]

The reason you can't copy and paste it is because it's in an Acrobat pdf file.

The Aventa LX (with an integrated hitch) manual ( http://www.blueox.us/PDFS/BX7445.pdf ) says the mounting pins should be 0 to 4" below the drawbar.

[DriVer]

If the tow bar is slightly uphill from the toad to the motorhome that would great in my opinion. I would feel very cautious if the bar were going downhill from the toad to the motorhome. I would do something about that to at least get the tow bar as level as possible.

I just spoke with Jerry from Blue Ox who is working here at Bounder Rally and Jerry said that in all of seminars he tells people to never tow a car at a negative angle, it adversely affects the tires and suspension on the toad vehicle. One other thing to be concerned about is the leverage that is imparted on the attachment points when the car immediately dives when the brakes on the RV are applied. Once the toad brake kicks in all is well if you have a good auxilliary brake. The rear of the motorhome has a tendency to go upward while the front suspension on the car nose dives into the road surface which isn't a good thing. Just pulling the vehicle down the road with a negative angle can also damage your toad in the event you hit some type of weird road topology.

He also told me that RoadMaster and Sterling say it's OK but if Jerry says it isn't so; then I believe the Blue Ox guy.

A level tow bar is a happy tow bar!