mrschwarz said:
I have one of these. What kind of issues did you have?
Well, 3 failures actually. The first one was one of the connecting arms bent. The rod portion that connects to the vehicle. Called Blue Ox and sent them pics. They said that they would send me a replacement, and to ship mine to them. If their inspection showed that it was my fault, that they would bill me. I agreed. Never heard from them.
The second was the articulating ball that attaches the two arms was slowly working it's way apart. It can't be tightened from the outside. Called Blue Ox sent pics. They again sent a replacement, same conditions. Never heard anything.
The last time was the most spectacular. During a hard brake situation from about 45 MPH, felt a "thump" didn't know what it was. Looked in the back up camera, the Jeep was missing! Looked behind me, it's sitting in the middle of the street, about 100' behind me. Later determined that the connecting "bolt" that secures the articulating ball that the tow arms hook onto, and holds the ball to the main body of the tow bar snapped off. This was troubling enough, but the safety cables that attach the MH to the Jeep via the eyelets on the Blue Ox tow bar ripped out leaving the cables intact, attached to the MH. My brake system locked the toad brakes preventing a major crash on a heavily traveled 6 lane highway at rush hour.
I called Blue Ox, sent pics of tow bar and base plate. I get ignored for about a week. Finally I get a hold of some one at Blue Ox who sends me to a dealer about an hour away. I take him my tow bar and he is floored. He gives me a replacement and says he has to get it authorized with Blue Ox for the trade, but is sure that there will be no problems. He calls me the next day and says that Blue Ox is denying to cover it because the serial # on the tow bar shows that the MANUFACTURE DATE MADE IT TWO WEEKS PAST THE WARRANTY DATE. Not the day it was sent to a dealer, or sold to me. I was furious. The Dealer I went to called a few more of his contacts at Blue Ox until he found someone that would agree to warranty the failure.
I took the new tow bar and immediately sold it on e-bay. My Jeep still has the base plate with the ripped out eyelets. My new Ready Brute tow bar has Blue Ox ends on it. I connect the safety cables to 2 WARN D-hooks that are mounted next to the winch. I use the base plate to show others the quality of their base plate.
Sorry for the rant, I have not posted this before but I was asked. See why I recommend Road Master or some other brand of tow bar?