Maneuvering at fuel pump with dinghy

Red Sky · 11-28-2020, 06:54 AM

Blue Ox Avail tow bar, two years old. Yearly tow bar maintenance Feb '20. Towing '18 Ford Fiesta, manual transmission, four-down. About 5,000 miles towing this arrangement with no problems. Yesterday at fuel pump: tight maneuvering stop/turn-hard/start. Dinghy front wheels go HARD LEFT toward fuel island. Stop & straighten dinghy wheels while co-pilot moves RV slowly forward. Dinghy DRAGS to left toward island. Stop, disconnect. After refueling we hooked up and drove away with no issues.

Possible causes: 1) Hard turn from stop (We were warned by tow bar installer not to do this.), 2) 1/2" vertical pavement lip caught front tire of dinghy while approaching pump, and/or 3) left arm of bar un-latched during 1) or 2) (possibly; not sure if this happened) causing dinghy to be pulled by right arm only - which would cause dinghy to pull to the left.

Any ideas, or experience? Thanks.

**creativepart** · 11-28-2020, 07:49 AM

I’m not sure but it’s likely friction binding, the same thing happens when attempting to back up with your flat towed vehicle.

In 30,000 miles towing a toad this has happened to my Lincoln MKX toad once in a similar situation but it was attempting to back up 12” inches in a tight parting lot. We ended up disconnecting and starting the engine to get the toad’s wheels to straighten.

Morich · 11-28-2020, 08:19 AM

A s above but do be sure that you are leaving the key in the correct position so that the front wheels do not lock on turns!
That locking could leave you chewing a major chunk off the front tires if you did not notice, so be sure of the correct way to set the ignition key before taking off.

Red Sky · 11-29-2020, 09:23 AM

I appreciate your taking time to respond. I am still uncertain what happened, but I will follow your advice.

TKep · 12-02-2020, 04:37 PM

We had a similar issue with our BlueOx Tow Bar. One side failed to lock in the extended position when we started. Resulted in some really squirrelly toad movement at slow speeds and stopping. The fix was to clean the tow bar. It needed it more than I care to mention. It is now on our annual list of ToDo's

JoeC · 12-02-2020, 05:12 PM

Welcome to the club! The toad club. First, only back up slowly IF you are in a straight line with the toad. Second, disconnect before trying to back your way out of a bind. Third, get good, with practice, at picking a path IN and OUT of the fueling station. You can't just fuel up anywhere and choose wisely. I tend to fuel up only at truck stops and larger interstate fueling stations and take up the entire path between the pumps if I have to. Once I had to wait for the jerk who squeezed in to the store parking spot right in front of me while I was fueling. There is no magic bullet here. Do the best you can. Best wishes and happy camping.

1237dmctlc · 12-02-2020, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TKep

We had a similar issue with our BlueOx Tow Bar. One side failed to lock in the extended position when we started. Resulted in some really squirrelly toad movement at slow speeds and stopping. The fix was to clean the tow bar. It needed it more than I care to mention. It is now on our annual list of ToDo's

A few weeks leaving a campground I took two right turns then a left all slow at a set of lights and up a small hill when it felt like my car or DP was bouncing across the road. Never had this happened. The car would continue to more or less bounce until I slowed down and pulled over. I wasn't sure what happened, scared the you know what....my buddy behind us in his MH saw it happening but couldn't say with certainty what happened but he had heard before this is caused by one of the tow bars not locking in place. On the rest of the trip made sure it was locked and turned many times afterwards without incidence.

Red Sky · 12-05-2020, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TKep

We had a similar issue with our BlueOx Tow Bar. One side failed to lock in the extended position when we started. Resulted in some really squirrelly toad movement at slow speeds and stopping. The fix was to clean the tow bar. It needed it more than I care to mention. It is now on our annual list of ToDo's

Thanks. Q: Did you clean under the tow bar arm’s rubber accordion cover? I assume that’s where the locking latch mechanism is.

Morich · 12-05-2020, 03:29 PM

I think of the latch as further back but I have not actually seen it! But I'm guessing it is under the two levers we squeeze to release and fold the arms? There are different versions of Blue Ox but mine can only lock when fully extended so I was assuming the indent had to be at the end of the bar covered by the rubber?
But that a guess that's prone to being corrected!!

Retired FF · 12-13-2020, 09:28 PM

Learned the lesson. Simply add another item to maintenance, spray lubricate from latch mechanism now. Every season remove boot strap, clean arms shiny, lubricate, re-strap boot. My Blue Ox bar has adjustable screw for latch, refer to Blue Ox site for your tow bar application. After Alaska I replaced the nylon spacers/washers. Thinking Amazon, maybe ETrailer?