We had a failure of the passenger-side push pin on our Blue Ox Aventa LX towbar. The failure occurred on a busy interstate and we were able to get the toad off the highway with minimal damage to the vehicles and major damage to the towbar. Here is a video of how easy the pin was to remove:
http://bec-ed.com/Blue%20Ox/
If you have the the pins shown in the video, get some new pins and send your old ones to Blue Ox. The first person I talked to at Blue Ox told me I was two months out of warranty and my only option was to buy a new tow bar. After the purchase of a new tow bar and the continuation of our trip to the Fleetwood Rally, the Blue Ox reps at the rally bent over backwards to assist and they repaired the bar at no charge. Now I have two bars and enough pins to give to anyone I see with the defective pins.
Even if you think your pins are functioning properly, take them out of service. I was lucky not to destroy my toad and Harley, but that was the least of my concerns. If the pin failure had led to a loss of life or injury to an innocent person(s), the first name on the lawsuit would be Blue Ox, regardless of warranty issues. I was told the only reason there was not a recall of this product was because they have no idea who has the defective pins. Throw them away.
Thomas and Betty w/Bailey and Gypsy (our fur-bearing masters)
07 Bounder 35e (F53)
07 Nissan Frontier (toad) 2010 FLSTC (passenger)
