Since April 11, 2012 was our 9-year anniversary of full-timing, we though that a video about something really integral to RVing (like towing) was a fitting way to kick off our 10th year on the road.
When the arms of your tow bar are feeling kind of “sticky” (requiring a stronger pull to extend or retract them) it means the grease inside the bellows has begun to get old or dry and needs to be replaced. We re-lubricate our tow bar every year as part of our annual spring cleaning and maintenance.
It’s a quick and easy job that can be accomplished in short order by just about anybody with a couple of basic tools. As you can see in the video, no special skills are required.
We bought our Blue Ox tow bar for our first motorhome, but we liked it so much that we kept it when we bought a new RV after 2 years on the road. Blue Ox is one of the most respected names in the RV industry, and we’ve now had 9 years of trouble-free service from our tow bar. It’s incredibly easy to connect and disconnect and requires very little maintenance.
Whether you have the Aladdin model like we do, or an Acclaim, Alpha or Aventa model, maintaining them is the same.
Simply cut off both zip-ties (the large one on the RV side of the tow bar, and the small one on the car side) with a pair of wire cutters, clean the old grease off the arm with silicone spray, apply fresh all-purpose lithium grease, replace the zip-ties and work the arm in and out a bit to spread the lubricant evenly. Then repeat the same process on the other arm and you’re good to go for another year.
Duky
Monday 12th of November 2018
We've been trying to get the DIY kit for servicing our Blue Ox via Australia's main importer in N.S.W. for now about 2 months but feel as though we are not getting anywhere with them. Any suggestions?
TheRVgeeks
Tuesday 13th of November 2018
Sorry to hear you're having such trouble, Duky! If your primary source in Australia's having trouble coming through for you, you could consider calling Blue OX here in the States directly, to see if they can expedite something. And if that doesn't work, you might try to see if you can find an online retailer (maybe here in North America) that can ship overseas. It will (obviously) cost extra... but it might get it to you faster!
Greg Gimlick
Sunday 20th of July 2014
What do you do with the ball swivel on your Blue Ox to keep it moving freely. Mine has gotten very stiff and difficult to move. The instructions say not to lube it. I was told to see a Blue Ox rep at a rally and they'd take care of it, but we don't go to rallies so I'm sort of stuck.
Thanks for great tips.
Greg
TheRVgeeks
Sunday 20th of July 2014
Hi Greg. Do you have an Aladdin (aluminum, like ours) or an Aventa, which is steel, painted black? The Aventa is the only Blue Ox bar we know of with a ball joint, but we have no experience with that one. Ours is more of a hinge joint. If you have the ball, we're not sure what to do with it, other than to contact the factory and find out if they have authorized service centers, or if it can be sent to them (probably expensive shipping!), or if they can just tell you what to do. We've never had to do anything to our bar to keep it moving freely, other than lubricating the arms, as we showed in the video. It's been the same for over 11 years. Blue Ox has a great reputation for customer service, and I'll bet that a call to them will help.
Sorry we're not more help on this one. Maybe someone in the iRV2 forums has a better answer if you want to post a question there: http:irv2.com. Let us know how you make out.