[Yake Bait]

Just put a Blue Ox Swaypro hitch on my Jayco today in preparation for a 900 mile tow to the Black Hills National Forest. Test drive today was encouraging, it definitely handles curves and hills better than before (I had a load distributing hitch with no sway control). The tow on Interstate 90 I think will be the real test. I will post my opinion after I finish the trip.

 

[Yake Bait]

Drove 660 miles today and so far have been impressed with the hitch. It straightens out really well with little effort on my part.

Highway 29 was a little bouncy - it is poured concrete and sets up a bounce between the trailer and truck. Tried a few adjustments on the spring bars and it seems that that stretch of road is just bad. Everything else was fine.

I was dissapointed in my mileage, 9 mpg so far. I lowered the ball 1.5" tonight based on taking up 2 chain links. Will see if this improves mileage before I get into the hills.

 

[Yake Bait]

Trip from Mitchell to the Badlands came with 25 mph crosswinds. Gusts of wind occasionally triggered the trailer sway countermeasures on the truck. I actually hit a tumbleweed as it rolled across I-90 which the kids thought was hilarious.

The BlueOx did a fantastic job of straightening the trailer in these conditions. I decided to disable the sway control on the truck because the hitch was doing the job.

Now for the bad news... I did find a problem with one of the assembly bars when I took the trailer off of the hitch in Custer State Park. It was bent slightly just below the initial taper. I contacted Blue Ox and sent them photos and they are replacing the assembly bars under warranty. They should be on my doorstep when I get home. They felt it was safe to use the bar on the return trip. They are making it right by replacing them and felt it was a problem with the tempering process. If it happens again I will add to this report. I don't know if was the crosswinds on I-90 or the bounce on highway 29 that bent the bar.

Truck mileage was 8.7 on this leg of the trip which I thought was low. The guy next to me at the campground in Custer had a new Dodge 5.9 V8 and he got 6 mpg on the same stretch so I'm thinking my mileage was OK. The EB did an absolutely fantastic job of pulling the trailer through the Black Hills in Custer. Some of the roads have an 8 deg grade and there was power to spare. I also liked the manual feature on the transmission. I used it to engine brake on the steep declines.

 

[Yake Bait]

Made the trip home. The bad bar bent a little further by my judgment. The other bar stayed straight like new. The fact that the other bar stayed straight make me more comfortable that this was an isolated incident. The replacement bars were on my doorstep. Overall I am happy with the way that the hitch performed. I made the rig very comfortable to drive and was a big improvement over my original hitch. As far as the bounce that I described, I could minimize it by traveling with an empty water tank. It is nice to have some for the bathroom, but definitely better with none at all.

As far as mpg I would say in the end that highway speed and headwind are the biggest factors. Hills make a difference but it tends to balance out somewhat when you go up and down. While driving some flat grades I was able to figure that I could get 11.5 mpg @ 60 mph, 10 mpg @ 65 mph, and 8.5 @ 70 mph. My mileage could go as low as 6.0 in a good crosswind or headwind at 70 mph. It definitely pays to slow down on a longer trip.