Blue Ox WD hitch tried to hurt me!

[KyDan]

Just brought home a brand new TT. I used to have the Reese dual cam WD hitch.
It never tried to get me. I had the 800 LB bars and even if the truck was down hill
from the trailer with serious weight on the bars I could un hitch them with the pipe
lever without harm.

My new trailer is significantly heavier and the dealer talked me into upgrading to a blue
ox sway pro hitch. In the dealer's garage with everything nice and level the mech
told me to raise the (electric) tongue jack as high as possible with the ball still
locked. Once it pulls up the back of the truck it's pretty easy to release the bar
chains.
At home my drive is not so level and I raised the tongue some- until the jack started
to sound labored- and then proceeded to release one of the bars. The handle snapped
violently out of my hand and hit the ground. I would up with a knot on one of my knuckles
and no idea what hit me. I do know it was a close one. That handle would have
really hurt me if I'd gotten between it and something else.

Anyone else with a blue ox hitch??
Can you give me some pointers??

[teddy]

Hey! I am glad you were not seriously hurt. I had the same thing happen to me. Except my accident was with the Reese Dual Cam WD hitch and the pipe went straight down hitting my toe. It made a dent in my shoe and hurt like the dickens. By some stroke of luck, nothing in my foot was broken.

Here's what I learned from that experience:

The bars of the WD hitch can be under tremendous forces. Depending on a lot of factors such as height from the ground, angle of the tow vehicle to the TT, etc. The force on the bar is not always easily predictable and may vary greatly from one side of the hitch to the other. So what I now do is to approach each bar that I am unloading as being potentially under great stress. I grasp the pipe with both hands firmly and spread my feet apart so as to not be directly under the pipe. It pays to be careful. And I hope no one else has to learn the hard way.

[4mula1fan]

I tap on the chains to see if the tension has relaxed before releasing the retainers. If I feel them to be still tight, I keep jacking up the truck. I have the EAZ lift.

[4mula1fan]

Oh, and glad it didn't really hurt you!

[slipf18]

First, the Blue Ox is a great hitch...we have used one for years without problems and have much faith in them. I agree with the above comment about tapping the chains until you feel a bit of slack...then you should be able to work the cam and not worry about the bars suddenly transfering a lot of energy to the handle. Also, try wearing a heavy leather work glove, just in case all that metal gets away from you. With a little practice and experimentation in order to get past the learning curve, you will be fine...remember, you've got a really well built and robust hitch there. Be confident and enjoy!

[SaskCampers]

One other thing, when you are raising the tongue jack just watch the WD bars. You will see when they start to unload as the angle of them starts to change. Then you can pop the chains off quite easy. Took me awhile to get used to this but it works well. One other thing, I pitched the little wrench they give you to release the rotary latches and now use a standard 1/2 drive power bar and shallow socket. It gives you much better leverage and control.