etrailer | Comprehensive Review: Replacement Washer Kit for Blue Ox Avail and Ascent Tow Bars

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Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tv-review-bl...
Hey, everyone. Ryan here at etrailer. Today we're gonna be checking out and installing the replacement Blue Ox Washer Kit for the Blue Ox Tow Bars. Right away, what this kit is going to come with is the larger washers, as well as some of the smaller ones. That way, you can replace them on your tow bar. So today we're gonna be fixing up our Blue Ox Avail Tow Bar.

Blue Ox also says this kit will work with the Ascent Tow Bars as well. And you know, it's gonna give you the washers that you need to replace all these pivot points and everything, right So up here, and even the ends. And since it does require you to remove some of the hardware, they also give you new nylon lock nuts so you don't have to reuse the old ones. But the whole point of this, right, is to kind of bring the tow bar back to life, if you will. Because you know, after you put some miles on these things for several years, this one is several years old, still holding up, everything's working fine.

It's just kind of loose. It could be tightened up a little bit. You know, the ends have a lot of slop in them. This pivot point has a lot of slop in it. And when it's that loose, it's almost kind of difficult to manage, right To get everything to line up.

There's so much playing it. So by kind of bringing everything, rejuvenating everything today, hopefully that will correct these issues. With that said though, let's get right into it. We will start with our ends here. What I like to do is put these on a table, give you a good workbench.

And if you have something you can put your hardware in, great, just to keep everything organized. To get these ends off, get a three quarter inch socket and wrench. (wrench whirls) Get these removed, and just pay attention to how everything's set up. You know, it looks like we have a washer on each side of this lug here. And not a bad idea to inspect some of your other components too. You know, the bolt looks like it's in good shape and everything, So we'll pull those out. And then definitely a good idea to take a new one, and just kind of make sure everything matches up. You know, size of it, the opening. Looks like the new ones are definitely a little bit thicker, which is what I expected because these are definitely a little worn out. So it's a good sign. We'll set this stuff off to the side. And I'm gonna come back probably and clean this end up a little bit before we get the new washers in place. I got everything cleaned up. I just used a little brake cleaner, and some really fine sandpaper just to kind of knock down any of that grease, rough edges, things like that to fit on that into. And you wanna make sure you have everything positioned correctly. So in our case, this was the top, so it was set up like that. Kind of cleaned our bolt up a little bit too. And you're just gonna take a new washer, start to get the bolt through it. Line the log up there so I can push it through. And we'll sneak that other washer in place. Put on the new nut here, and we'll tighten it down. (wrench whirls) After just replacing this one side, I can tell a difference. You know, this has a constant tension on it. It takes a little bit of effort to move it, and that's about what you want there. You know, this reminds me of one you'd feel right out of the box, compared to the other side, which is all over the place. You know, you got slop that way, slop this way. And you know, first thought is to try to tighten these down. From my experience, it's kind of all or nothing, right If they're bad and wore out, they're bad and wore out. Usually it'll either be super loose, you try to tighten it down and then it's just super difficult to maneuver. So good sign here. Since this end is set up the exact same way as this side, I'll go ahead and get this one replaced too. I got this end change as well. And same deal showed an improvement, so that's good. And with these complete, we will work on the larger washers now. The large washers are gonna replace two pivot points. So we'll have these in here, and then these in here. So what I think I'm gonna do is just remove this portion, replace these, and then fix all this stuff, put it back together. That way, the shank and everything's not in your way. I think it'll be a little bit easier to work on. Pretty large hardware here. I have an inch one 16th socket for the nut. Just an adjustable wrench to hold the bolt head there. (wrench whirls) You know, with th