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A Towing System Catastrophic Failure By Dick Scheit I have traveled full time for work and pleasure for some nine years now. I have towed four cars with three different Class “A” motor coaches. I have traveled, driven towing approximately to 250,000 miles. The first two cars I towed were Geo Metros. One being a four door sedan and the second a Metro hatch back. Both cars were towed with a custom made hitch system that attached, bolted to the motor mounts on the bottom of each car. (four bolts) The tow bar was a ball type connecting the car to the coach for towing. The hitch system was used on both cars. Total cost = $250.00. This system assembly was made with two inch angel iron. Per one welding shop, “A hitch made in H_ _ _.” It did not bend or break when I backed up, a taboo with all other systems. My third car was a 1999 Kia, purchased used with a Roadmaster base plate system already installed. I had manufactured the necessary adaptor brackets so the two inch angle iron tow bar could be used. Please note, the Roadmaster base plate system was attached, bolted to the frame. I purchase my third used coach in April of 2008 (a 2002 HR Endeavor). It had a Blue OX Aladdin BX4325 tow bar assembly. It was time to match the Blue OX tow bar to the Roadmaster base plate attachment with a Blue OX BX 88178 bar assembly. The Roadmaster base Plate was attached to the frame. I purchase my fourth car, a 2002 Cavalier LS 5spd, in February 2010. This auto was purchase used in Houston, TX. It came with a towing / braking system already installed by the previous owner. The first problems: A Blue OX Toad Stop II, a BX 88175, was already installed in the trunk and I could read the model numbers. It was found to be inoperative for it had been wired wrong. I contacted a company customer service rep., they could not furnish me with a wiring diagram of the box itself to determine what was not wired correctly. To resolve the wiring error I traced the wiring and found that the Master Battery that was needed to run the Toad Stop II was not wired from the car but wired from the coach. Grave error by the installer this system. I connected the master battery from the car to the Toad Stop II. If left wired as it was, the car would have been an unguided missile if it had come loose from the coach. There was no battery to run the Toad Stop II. Also, the emergency safety stop switch could not have been used, for it was mounted in an unusable position on the Base Plate.. Page “2” and the rest of the story -- the Catastrophic Failure of the towing system The second and the Major Problem. Moving on to the towing / base plate problem, the Catastrophic Failure of the steel Base Plate as was attached to the car. An unknown model base plate was installed for or by the previous owner. It was determined to be a Blue OX system by what I could read on the ID stick on tag that was on the front of the iron work itself. Road grim had all but made the tag unreadable. The other key to the identity of the base plate was the insert tabs / pins needed for towing. I again consulted with a Blue OX customer service rep to ascertain which model of base plate was installed and to order the correct tabs. After describing the iron work as to the tab slots locations, coming out though front of the fascia and the hookups for the safety cable dropped down behind the fascia, it was determined that it was a BX 16?? (it is no longer on their web site), an older model of the one today. The tabs were ordered, cost $110.00 plus. I found out later, the base plate had not been identified correctly so I now had tabs that were too long for this car. The correct ones are about two inches shorter and the base plate was later correctly identified as an older model of the BX1647. During these consultations there were never a comment, question or statement made regarding the towing height between the coach and the car. The coach is nineteen inches and the car tabs are twelve inches off the ground. OOP’s I was towing in an upward condition coach to the car... putting extra stress on the car attachment points by the steel base plate according to a Blue OX dealer at an FMCA Rally in Albuquerque, NM, in April 2010. I was advised, by the dealer, that I needed a eight inch drop receiver adaptor costing $144.00, to tow correctly. I later found this to be wrong also. I should of have had a six inch adaptor which would have me in a slight upward towing position. I first towed seven inches up for some 975 miles from Seguin, TX, to Albuquerque, NM. I than towed one inch low position, for some 1200 + miles before discovering the failure of the system. Albuquerque to Seguin, TX, Talladega, AL, Columbia, TN, Elkhart, IN, on to Iowa City, IA, on many two lane highways. This information sets the scene for the Catastrophic Failure of the towing system as attached to the 2002 Cavalier. After a stop in Iowa City, IA, in mid May 2010, I proceeded to make the coach to car attachment for travel again. I pulled up on the tow bar and the whole front bumper fascia, raised upward about three inches. The whole bumper / towing assembly was loose on the car. SHOCK ! ! ! DISMAY ! ! ! I had been towing an unguided missile. After disassembling the front wheel well coverings to investigate the problem, I found that I had been towing on just two 3/8” bolts on the bumper for many miles. The whole, on both side of the car, area where the steel base plate, was attached to the car, was torn loose. I found also, as you will see in the pictures following, that the steel base plate had not been attach or bolted to the frame but attached to a pair of sheet metal support brackets, used to hold the radiator in the car. These were torn loose on both sides. Now for the pictures of the repairs and the damages. First the new radiator brackets.
The sheet metal radiator support brackets are referred to by General Motors are Left and Right lower inner and outer Front Body Brackets. They are not part of the frame but welded to the frame. Four pieces of sheet metal are spot welded together to make two brackets to hold the radiator in place on the car. Now for
the company’s answer to the catastrophic failure, in pictures.
To conclude this report, a summarization of the catastrophic failure and the repairs offered and made by Blue Ox. After several telephone conversations, the Blue OX customer service rep referred me to a local, Des Moines, IA, hitch installation business. During my first conversation with the manager of this business he did not wish to see me. “There is nothing we can do to repair the damage that you have explained to me.” He finally agreed to at least take a look at the car and recommend a repair facility. Upon the inspection of the car by the manager and his staff, they were shocked to see the damage and were also amazed that the car had been towed by two 3/8” bolts. They all commented a vehicle should be towed with an attachment to the frame and not to sheet metal support brackets. “If you tow a trailer, you attach or bolt the hitch assembly to the frame so why not attach the front towing assembly to the frame?”, was the comment. Yes, everyone agrees, “The car was an unguided missile and it was fortunate for all that someone was not killer for maimed for life if the car had broken away. As for the Blue OX Aux Braking system stopping the car; the safety switch would have been ripped off and therefore no battery to run the system. The vehicle was taken to the recommend auto body shop for repairs. The frame tech looked at the damage and he too could not believe that the base plate was not attached to the frame.. Per his comments, “The towing assembly should have never been attached to the radiator support brackets. The brackets are never meant to be used for towing, the only purpose is to hold the radiator in the car.” “They do not have the strength for towing this car.” The cost of the repairs was $790.00 with two days down time. The Blue OX rep requested I bring the car to their location in Nebraska, so they could make a proper, safer installation of another base plated assembly rather than having the original one reinstalled. A days round trip travel to take the car to the factory and a second to retrieve the car a week later was the plan. Another two days of lost time. When I arrived to retrieve the car I looked at the Blue OX installation. I could not believe they had installed a newer assembly in the same way the one that had failed, on to the front body brackets, and supported the front body sheet metal brackets rather than the base plate to the frame. I ask the Blue OX rep., why the assembly was attached the same way. He commented, "This type of attachment is good enough to tow this car." I commented the installation was unacceptable and that it was still a safety hazard. Their comment, “There is nothing else we will do.” When I delivered the car for the factory installation of the base plate, I ask if Blue OX might defray or help defray the cost of the repair since in the opinion of everyone I had talked to about the failure, Blue OX had made an engineering error. Their comment was, “We can not help you with that.” “That is not our department.” I asked this same question again when I picked the car up and was given the same answer. The fact remains, that
the BX1647 towing assembly, manufactured by Blue OX, as mounted on this 2002
Cavalier, is not mounted to the frame in anyway except for two 3/8’ bolts
which hold it to the base of the bumper. Blue OX has failed to make this a
safer towing unit by not attaching the base plate to the frame in anyway.
Blue OX chose to support the sheet metal front body brackets rather than
extend a support from the base
plate to the frame.
” In reviewing the notes, this gentleman purchased a used tow car that
already had a base plate on it and unfortunately the prior owner had it
installed improperly.” I have since made a third request, for the company to defray or to help defray the cost of the repairs. It has now been two and one half months and there has been no reply.
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