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Old 09-01-2018, 12:44 PM   #29
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Originally Posted by jerichorick View Post
Chris, to save the equipment, I use reverse, with a bit of throttle, then hold it with the break and set it in park. Truly saves wear and tear on the tow bars.
Rick
My usual problem is that the toad slopes backwards where we unhook it at home ( also learned that the brake should be on when you disconnect as a previous poster noted) so going in reverse is not the issue. Going back would put more pressure on the bar.
I have the swivel arms for locking on my tow-bar and usually turning the wheel allows me to unlock the lever but some times the pin still has a bit of pressure on it. The rubber mallet usually starts the pin moving with a light tap.

If the arm won't unlock I do move forward a bit to take some pressure off so I can move the swivel lock to the unlocked position.

Chris
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Old 09-01-2018, 12:59 PM   #30
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Originally Posted by Waiter21 View Post
Connect the safety chains first, then disconnect them last...

There's nothing in the world like watching helplessly as your toad rolls down the street backwards immediately after you get that pesky tow bar pin removed..
But having it roll towards the coach is no fun either esp. if you are standing between the two...

Tom
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Old 09-01-2018, 07:02 PM   #31
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Roadmaster stowmaster, the easiest tow bar to deal with, just hit the release buttons and lift the tow bar off the ball and fold it down on the jeep to deal with later, easy on, easy off with no pins to bind.
This is the system that I used for almost 2 vacations. Very easy to disconnect and store, along with the cables into a sto bag on the vehicle. I had my disconnect time down to less than 2 minutes. That is very handy when you need to disconnect quickly and safely.

Sadly, we had a tow base plate snap in front of the mounting bolts. A potentially deadly disaster was avoided, but not by much. I have a lot of property damage to my toad including loss of both the plastic bumper fascia, the steel bumper cross section, the wheel inside shrouds, cross bar, ripped up wiring harnesses, and a few other broken parts. Roadmaster has been analyzing this failure. All parts are being mailed to them. All bolts were properly torqued and the entire assembly inspected before vacation. The steel simply snapped with no warning. I found out that the safety cables are attached to the base plate by design (terrible design).

I like the Roadmaster system and the plan is to get the vehicle repaired and get towing again. I just hope that Roadmaster engineers get to the bottom of this and figure out what happened.
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Old 09-02-2018, 03:16 AM   #32
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Let me make sure I understand. You first take the car out of tow mode. You have the car in Park with motor running and your wife releases the levers on the tow bar arms which makes the car roll a little forward which releases the torque on the pins. Is that what you’re saying?

By the way, what’s DW?
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Old 09-02-2018, 08:43 AM   #33
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Originally Posted by cvbdsl View Post
My usual problem is that the toad slopes backwards where we unhook it at home ( also learned that the brake should be on when you disconnect as a previous poster noted) so going in reverse is not the issue. Going back would put more pressure on the bar.
I have the swivel arms for locking on my tow-bar and usually turning the wheel allows me to unlock the lever but some times the pin still has a bit of pressure on it. The rubber mallet usually starts the pin moving with a light tap.

If the arm won't unlock I do move forward a bit to take some pressure off so I can move the swivel lock to the unlocked position.

Chris
Chris, I apologize about that statement. That is not true.
When the pins are jammed and the locks won't release for DW, I use reverse till she can release the locks and then move forward a bit. If I don't move forward the lock may reset. Once the tension is off the pins come out easy.
I like the way the BluOx stores on the coach hitch. Removing the tow pins from the car is important though. My wife was backed into in a parking lot and she was blamed for the bumper damage on the other guys car. Our insurance rate on the car and the coach doubled this year!
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Old 09-04-2018, 04:37 AM   #34
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I have a Blue Ox Avail tow bar and tow a Jeep Wrangler behind my motorhome. In the manual it says, "park the towing vehicle in tow in a straight line on a level surface to aid in the removal of the 1/2 inch pins" when unhooking the car from the tow bar. I understand that when you do it that way, you're exerting minimum pressure/torque on the tow bar legs. However, you can't always do that and, even when I think everything is in a straight line on a reasonably level surface, it still can be hard to remove the 1/2 pins from the base plate. When I can get the pins out, I take a screw driver and tap out the pins using a rubber mallet. Sounds good and it works but on a few occasions, I've gotten the screw driver caught in the triple lug of the leg of the tow bar. If that happens, it's hard to get the screw driver out. I have to move it up and down and around and eventually I can get it out. However, it's deforming the base plate attacher (or whatever it's called) and I don't want to keep doing that. While I realize that you really want to unhook in a straight line on a perfectly level surface, that's not always possible. When you unhook and you can't easily remove the half-inch pins, how do you get them out? If you tap them out, what tools do you use?


Thanks for any suggestions/advice.
And this is why I choose the Roadmaster Sterling setup. It has levers on the Tow bar to release the pressure on the Tow Bar thus allowing my to remove the pins with the use of a hammer.
Its all in the equipment. These same levers on the Tow bar allow me hook up at an angle and not having to be at an exact distance from the MH.
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Old 09-04-2018, 06:08 AM   #35
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I don't usually have any issue removing my pins on my Blue OX. The straight alignment and reasonably level is the key. What that does is help reduce the tension on the arms so you can push down on the levers that are on the arms. Most important before pushing down on those levers is to put the parking brake on to keep the vehicle from rolling. I usually get in the vehicle before unhooking and put the parking brake on, put it in park then remove in my case the Patriot braking system. Those levers should not be hit with a hammer just a bump with the palm of your hand otherwise there is too much tension on the arms. The levers Have To be push down to release the tension and if the parking brake is not on it will roll slightly putting pressure on the pins making the hard to remove.
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Old 09-05-2018, 10:29 PM   #36
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I know tow bars are different, so one thing doesn't always work for everyone. I use a Roadmaster Falcon which has release levers like most Roadmaster bars. I typically disconnect by myself, so I use methods that only need one person. When my truck is sloped away from the motor home, I drive it forward, putting slight pressure on the tow bar and then engage the parking brake. I then pull the levers on the tow bar arms. The truck will lurch forward an inch or so and take the pressure off of the pins.

I use the SMI Air Force One braking system. When the truck is sloped toward the coach, I release the levers on the tow bar and as the truck starts to move forward, I pull the brake away pin, locking up the brakes. Even if it failed, the truck will only move until the arms collapse.

If you don't have the AF1, you can also partially apply the parking brake. I then pull the levers and the truck will move forward slightly, again making the pins easy to remove.
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Old 09-05-2018, 10:36 PM   #37
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I have BO towbar. Second one over the years. If rotating the front wheels side to side doesn't loosen the pins, I wrap a bungee cord around the levels and repeat rotating the front wheels side to side. The bungee pulls the levers down as the pressure was released.
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Old 09-06-2018, 12:41 PM   #38
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I have BO towbar. Second one over the years. If rotating the front wheels side to side doesn't loosen the pins, I wrap a bungee cord around the levels and repeat rotating the front wheels side to side. The bungee pulls the levers down as the pressure was released.


That’s a good idea.
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Old 09-06-2018, 01:00 PM   #39
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We release the pin pressure by one person lifting on the (Roadmaster) levers and the other person driving the car gently towards the coach. If I am doing this by myself, I'll set the parking brake, release the levers, stuff my work gloves underneath them to prevent re-engagement, then start the car and drive it towards the coach. It has worked each time, so far.
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Old 09-09-2018, 03:43 PM   #40
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I have a Blue Ox as well, and to unhook, I apply the parking brake and tap the tight release lever with a small rubber mallet I keep in the toad; then I make sure both levers are down and the pins always come out easily.
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Old 09-09-2018, 04:22 PM   #41
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My Tow vehicle is manual, so first step is to apply parking brake to prevent it from rolling, once that is set very seldom do I have to hit anything. If you dont set the brake, and drive an automatic and put it in park the car will still have some play and tend to roll forward or backackward putting pressure on the pins. I used to put it in gear to avoid loosing the car upon disconnecting but that always allowed the car to try to roll ever so slightly appling pressure on the pins. Since aplying parking brake diconnecting is much easier.
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Old 09-09-2018, 06:16 PM   #42
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Tow bar pins

This is what i did to my pins. I also carry a spare pin. The loop is big enough to use gloves and off set enough so twisting and pulling at the same time is easy. I have not had any problems.
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