Community Forums

Larry Calfee · 01-08-2008, 03:21 PM

Last summer while touring in Nova Scotia, I felt something bump in the back of the motorhome. Looking in the monitor, I could see that the car was not tracking right and was over to the side. I slowly pulled to the side of the road and found what at first looked like the tow bar had collaspsed and the car was up against the motorhome rear bumper. After disingaging everything, I found that one of the base plate locking pins was missing and that arm of the Blue Ox aladdin was dragging on the ground. The car had been pulled therefore by on arm only and as we crested a grade the car ran up on the motorhome. The good news is there was really only minor damage to the car bumper and none to the motorhome, but it could have been a disaster. I hooked up the towbar again and used the non locking pins to secure the towbar to the baseplate pegs. I took the remaining locking pin slapped on the lock in and tossed it in the tow equipment bin. For some reason I pulled it out again and found the locking cap loose in my hand. This is just a warning to those using the locking pins to always check that the lock actually did engage when placed on the pin. Apparently mine did not. Locks were about 15 months old. Blue Ox said they were only garranteed for one year. I am not bad mouthing Blue Ox. They seem to be a good company. I would just recommend that you double check locking pins

Larry Calfee · 01-08-2008, 03:21 PM

Last summer while touring in Nova Scotia, I felt something bump in the back of the motorhome. Looking in the monitor, I could see that the car was not tracking right and was over to the side. I slowly pulled to the side of the road and found what at first looked like the tow bar had collaspsed and the car was up against the motorhome rear bumper. After disingaging everything, I found that one of the base plate locking pins was missing and that arm of the Blue Ox aladdin was dragging on the ground. The car had been pulled therefore by on arm only and as we crested a grade the car ran up on the motorhome. The good news is there was really only minor damage to the car bumper and none to the motorhome, but it could have been a disaster. I hooked up the towbar again and used the non locking pins to secure the towbar to the baseplate pegs. I took the remaining locking pin slapped on the lock in and tossed it in the tow equipment bin. For some reason I pulled it out again and found the locking cap loose in my hand. This is just a warning to those using the locking pins to always check that the lock actually did engage when placed on the pin. Apparently mine did not. Locks were about 15 months old. Blue Ox said they were only garranteed for one year. I am not bad mouthing Blue Ox. They seem to be a good company. I would just recommend that you double check locking pins

footdoc · 01-08-2008, 06:14 PM

For that reason and others I removed ALL 6 of my "locking" pins on my Roadmaster baseplate and replaced them with padlocks all keyed the same..it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling

park_ridge_dave · 01-19-2008, 03:00 AM

I had the exact same thing happen to me Larry!

So I now do the same thing! EVERY TIME!

Jestme13 · 01-19-2008, 04:58 PM

I'm with Doc, I use pad locks, never had or heard of an issue with them

Marv · 01-20-2008, 06:40 AM

We lock our tow bar to brackets and brackets to car. Never had a problem in over 40K of towing.
Also, prevents someone from pulling the pins while you are away from motorhome. Yes, we still check everything before leaving and carry spare pins.
Marv

RON BREWER · 03-04-2008, 06:16 PM

THIS JUST HAPPENED TO ME THIS PAST WEEKEND.
THE PIN I QUESS JUST CAME OUT. IT WAS GONE.
I TALKED TO BLUE OX AND WAS TOLD THEY WOULD NEED TO SEE IT BEFORE SAYING ANYTHING. THE PIN HAS A LOCKING , SPRING LOADED TAB ON THE END
TO KEEP IT IN PLACE. AFTER DRIVING 20 PLUS MILES THE TRUCK, WENT FROM SIDE TO SIDE AND
HIT THE BACK OF THE BUS. MAYBE $ 2000.00 DAMAGE
SHOULD I SEND THE HITCH OR HOLD IT FOR LAWYER.
ITHAD TO MISS FUNCTION OR I COULD NOT HAVE DRIVEN 20 PLUS MILES. I THINK THE TAB ON THE END OF THE PIN DID NOT STAYOUT. THUS LETTING
IT MOVE OUT OF THE NUCKLES ON THE TRUCK END?
IT HAS ME REALLY WORRIED ABOUT WHAT COULD HAPPEN.
I CHECKED THESE TWICE BEFORE PULLING OFF.
WHAT DO YOU THINK COULD OF HAPPENED AND SHOULD THEY BE RESPONSIBLE. THEY HAVE SAID THEY WILL REPLACE THE BAR.
IT WAS 7 MONTHS OLD.

RON BREWER · 03-04-2008, 06:21 PM

WHAT ARE PAD LOCKS? THEY SAID THEY WOULD SEND ME SOME LOCKS TO KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN?
I WAS TOLD THEY WERE GOING TO SEND ME SOME LOCKS.
WHY DO THESE NOT COME WITH THE TOW BAR. HOW MUCH MORE DANGERUS COULD THIS BE. SOMEONE COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED VERY EASY. YOU CAN REPAIR ALL OTHER BUT NOT A LIFE.

ruthie · 03-06-2008, 06:40 PM

From what I have heard about Blue Ox it would be best to send them the tow bar for evaluation. I have a set of locks and they lock with a key to keep the tow bar hooked to the baseplate. I feel locks are safer.

DriVer · 03-07-2008, 01:54 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by RON BREWER:
SHOULD I SEND THE HITCH OR HOLD IT FOR LAWYER. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Send the hitch to Blue Ox, they will make what ever problem you had with your hitch equipment right. Blue Ox is a great little company and they support their owners in my opinion to the utmost degree.

Jay Hesse is the president of Blue Ox and he's a regular guy just like you and me. I am certain that if there is something wrong with your hitch equipment he will make sure that it gets resolved.

Give the Blue Ox system a chance to work before you go the legal system route.

The only locks I use are the hitch pins in my receiver attachment points. I have been using the Blue Ox spring pins on my tow bar since 2001 and I have never seen an instance where a pin appeared to be disengaging. Locking pins are a deterrent to tampering however I haven't experienced a tamper. I know that there are cases out there where hitches were tampered with but that's criminal.

Ron, Thanks for joining us here on iRV2.com.

footdoc · 03-07-2008, 03:18 AM

Locking pins are a deterrent to tampering however I haven't experienced a tamper. I know that there are cases out there where hitches were tampered with but that's criminal.

It only takes ONCE...that's why I lock all 6 of my points....it's at least a feel good thing