-
Blue Ox vs Roadmaster
-
I cannot prove this conversation ever took place, but when we got our 6700# Hummer I had a Roadmaster hitch mounted All Terrain tow bar. It was designed to stay on the front of the toad, and to drop over a ball on the coach hitch.
But at some point I ended up with a coach mounted All Terrain tow bar and I realized the Roadmaster ratings did not make sense. The toad mounted tow bar was rated for 6000#. The coach mounted was rated for 10,000#. I prefer the toad mounted bar because I have an adjustable height 10,000# 2″ ball and because I can tow our 50 Ford, the Hummer, or my Ram 2500 I want to be able to adjust the ball height so the tow bar is level, something I cannot do with the model that slides into the receiver on the bus.
So I asked the Roadmaster sales guy at an FMCA convention why the different ratings. He started to tell me one was built stronger than the other, and I stopped him before he placed his foot in his mouth. I measured tube diameters and thickness, bolt sizes, etc and the bars were identical except for how they were attached to the toad or bus. So he said using the 6000# bar on the 6700# Hummer or 7600# Ram2500 would be OK.
I think we have dragged the Hummer behind us now for at least 120,000 miles and see no signs the tow bar has any unusual wear. The Ford is so light a rope would probably be OK, and the miles I have towed the 2500 Ram are as little as the dues money I have received.
-
50 Ford, Hummer and Ram for towing, now you know where the dues money went.
-
The difference is due to the ball mount vs the receiver mount. It uses a 2″ ball and thus is limited .
-
We tow an Escalade ESV and have only ever used the Blue OX.. since we live only 100 miles from the installer also for the added brakes it was an easy decision for us… We have used the BlueOx for towing for 20 years !! No experience with Roadmaster but I know it’s good also.
Cheers, Diane
-
We are using a BlueOx towbar that was given to us (THANKS DAN!!!) along with Roadmaster baseplate/adapter on a GMC van (Roadmaster was the only baseplate avail).
My question is, for the comments regarding slop etc, how can anybody tell while towing? I can turn the camera to “hitch view” and see the front of vehicle, but as far as feeling or hearing any slop or movement – nada. Just curious.
-
Slop is inherent in the entire toad towing system. Every connection point has a degree of slop. Over time as the toad is tugged to start and pushes when stopping connection points start to elongate and you can feel it when starting from a stop.
But the arms of the tow bar should not have much movement. Our original tow bar was a Roadmaster and it used pins that were spring loaded to lock the tow bar arms. At one point the pins on one arm failed to lock and the toad would move side to side a noticeable amount, and as it moved from side to side it could be felt going to the limit in one direction and then hitting the limit in the other direction.
If you go to FMCA conventions I think both Roadmaster and Blue Ox provide on site tow bar inspections.
-
My Blue Ox was showing alot of wear after pulling either a Ram 2500 or Jeep Wrangler for about 40k miles. I contacted Blue Ox in Pender Ne, they provided me a FedEx label and pickup via email. They are paying shipping both ways and overhauling the towbar for a quoted $150, it was picked up Saturday supposed to be back in a week to ten days. I thought it was a helluva deal.
Jeff and Lindsay
91 Marathon XL -
Dan did you have to have th receipts or proof of purchase?
I have one I retired because of wear, that I was going to get repaired at one of the fmca get together’s, but they are always book up before I get there.
-
Nope, just called them……Now, right after I posted above I received a call from Steve in their service dept, he said the receiver shank was in bad shape (I kinda figured that) and needed replaced. That was going to be another $330, so instead I just traded for a new latest and greatest for $875, it’s their new non-binding model. He mentioned that they are coming out with a 15000 lb model in January.
-
Same deal with my Roadmaster, when the shank gets worn you have to send it in for repair. There is a big nut down in the tube holding the swivel and you have to have a special tool to remove, so easier just to replace the shank.
-
What is really needed is a standard for testing or measuring tow bars so we have a means of knowing when service or repairs are needed.
Log in to reply.