Blue Ox TrackPro Weight Distribution w/Sway Control - 7-Hole Shank - Underslung - 8K GTW, 800 lbs TW

Video Transcript for Review of Blue Ox Weight Distribution Hitch - 8K Underslung WD With Sway Control - BLU23FR

Hi there, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. In this video, we're gonna take a quick look at this Blue Ox TrackPro Weight Distribution System with Sway Control and we're gonna go over some of the features and kind of compare it to some other options that we have here at etrailer.com, make sure you're getting the right one for your setup. So if you're not familiar with what a weight distribution system is or does, basically speaking, it's going to distribute the weight of your trailer across all the axles of your tow vehicle and your trailer, so it's gonna level your whole setup out to give you more stability and control. So rather than having all of your trailer's tongue weight pushing down on that one connection point of your coupler and hitch ball, which can oftentimes cause your tow vehicle to squat at the rear end, putting a lot of strain on your rear suspension system, causing your tires to wear unevenly, can bring your front end up, causing your steering to be pretty light and your headlights to be shining into the eyes of oncoming traffic, this system is going to help level that all out so you don't have to experience those issues. Most weight distribution systems are going to function on the same basic principles. They're gonna use spring bars that are under tension that give you that lift that you need to get everything leveled out.

Where they differ mostly is in how they connect to your trailer's frame and how they achieve the sway control. So this system is going to use two different methods to give you that sway control to keep your trailer in line so it's not moving side to side if you experience big gusts of wind or a big semi truck comes by, something like that. So when you're considering what weight distribution system to get, there's few main things I would suggest looking at. The first for this system is that it is designed specifically for your underslung couplers. Now, those are kind of rare.

They're not the typical coupler, as you can see on the left side of that overslung or top-mounted coupler is more standard. That's mounted on the top of your trailer's frame. This is designed specifically for your underslung couplers that are mounted on the bottom of your trailer's frame. So if you are needing, if you do have a overslung coupler on the top of your frame, we do have lots of other options available for you, but this is designed specifically for your underslung couplers. So the next thing is gonna be your weight capacity, or your trailer's weight.

So this system is going to have an 8,000 pound gross towing weight. That's the weight of your trailer plus the load included. It's going to have a max tongue weight of 800 pounds and you're gonna need a minimum tongue weight of 600 pounds, so a tongue weight range of 600 to 800 pounds. You wanna make sure that your system is going to be within that range. That includes all the weight behind your tow vehicle's rear axle and in front of your trailer's front axle, and that's gonna be your tongue weight, so if you get a weight distribution system that's rated too high for your setup, it's gonna be too stiff, so it's not gonna give you the stability and ride comfort that you need.

If you get one that's underrated, it's not gonna be enough for you, so you wanna make sure that that is a main component. Like I said, we do have lots of other options available here at etrailer.com so if you do need a higher weight capacity, if your trailer's higher than this weight capacity, we do have other options available for you. There are a few that are different style that are a lower capacity as well. So this system is going to slide right into your 2-inch-by-2-inch trailer hitch receiver on your tow vehicle. You do wanna make sure that your hitch is rated for use with weight distribution. Not all of them are and obviously your whole setup is only as strong as the weakest link, so you wanna make sure you're not overtaxing your hitch. They do include this standard 5/8 inch pin and clip to hold this in your hitch. We do also sell walking pins if you're wanting to add a little extra security, make sure no one can come along and just pull off your clip and take off with your setup. Then our shank is a adjustable height shank so we can move our hitch head up and down along these seven holes here so we can accommodate trailers with different coupler heights. To measure that, we're going to go from the top inside edge of your receiver tube, which is about the top of our shank here, down to our ball platform, which is about where your coupler's gonna sit. So if we have this in the drop position, as we do here, if we set our head at the lowest position available, which we have set up here, we're gonna have a max drop of two inches. So if your coupler sits two inches lower than the top edge of your receiver tube, this will accommodate that. We can also flip this over and use it in the rise position and then if we set our head at the highest point, we'll have a max rise of eight inches. So if your coupler sets eight inches higher than your hitch, that will accommodate that. And then of course we have all those incremental changes between those two extremes so that we can make sure that we're getting the right height for our trailer. Make sure everything's gonna be nice and level. So our head unit is going to have this 2 5/16 inch hitch ball that comes pre-installed so that's one less thing that you're gonna have to buy separately and install yourself. It's torqued down to the appropriate specs. This does have the required tilt built into the head, which is a big thing for me. One of the reasons I like this system is because with most weight distribution systems, you are going to have to have a tilt in the head, but a lot of them use washers on a pin at the backside of the head here so you are gonna have to stack a certain amount of washers to get it tilted appropriately, and if that's not the right tilt, then you'll have to take washers off or add washers to it and oftentimes you're having to disconnect your head unit 'cause it's down there where it's hard to reach, so that can be kind of a hassle. Having that tilt built in is gonna be much more convenient for you, so one less thing to worry about, one of the things I really like about this TrackPro system. This does also have a positive castor angle in the hitch head so that's gonna be the first part of our sway control system, one of the two methods that they use in this system, so that is going to help keep your trailer centered and help to prevent sway before it begins. So that caster is kind of like on your vehicle, so when you're turning your steering wheel and you let go, it's going to automatically come back to center and that's the caster at work, so this is gonna use similar methodology to help keep your trailer in line there. This does also have these grease Zerks on the backside of our trenyons here so very easy to hook up your grease gun, pump some grease in there, keep those lubricated and functioning properly, so very easy to maintain. Our tapered spring bars here are going to connect to our head unit with these included pin and clips, so very simple to slide your spring bar through, line up those holes, pass that pin and clip through and you have a nice solid connection there. And these spring bars are going to give you the bend that you need for the tension to give you the nice level ride for your whole setup. And one, another really nice thing about this system is that these spring bars are interchangeable so there are other spring bars that we have here on our site that give you higher weight capacities so if you we're to ever get a bigger trailer and you wanted to change your setup, instead of having to buy a whole new weight distribution system, you can just switch out these arms. Very simple to just pull out these, put the new ones in, use those clips, and that's gonna give you that higher weight capacity. These are going to flex appropriately for a nice controlled ride and give you that stability that you need. The spring bars are then going to connect to your trailer's frame with these brackets here. These are clamp-on brackets, so you're not gonna have to drill into your trailer's frame at all. These will clamp around a trailer frame up to six inches tall and these can be mounted 20 inches back from your hitch ball up to 25 inches back so it's gonna give you about five inches of wiggle room there to accommodate your frame-mounted items like gas tanks, battery boxes, tool boxes, generators, that sort of thing. The spring bars are going to be on this L bracket here and that's going to be the second part of our weight distribution system, so that rigid metal-on-metal connection is gonna help keep your trailer in line during sudden maneuvers and the high speed winds and that sort of thing. It's gonna keep it from swaying too much. One of the negatives of that steel-on-steel design is that it can be pretty noisy having that steel squeaking as it's moving across there, so some other systems use chains to hold the spring bars to your trailer frame, but typically those don't give you that same sway control capability 'cause the chains move too much. There are a few that kind of hold the chains in place on either side so that you still have some sway capabilities but just something to consider there. To get these mounted in place, or to get your setup hooked up, and once you have your brackets mounted on your trailer frame, you'll wanna make sure you get the rest of it installed on your tow vehicle. And then you'll use your trailer's tongue jack to raise your trailer up a little bit to take some of the pressure off at your spring bars, then you can use the included lift lever here. It's just gonna hook underneath your spring bar and then allow you to raise that up onto that L bracket. And then you can put in your retaining bracket here to make sure that spring bar's gonna stay in place and put the clip through. It's very simple to do. And then once you have both sides done, you can lower your trailer's jack to put that tension back on those spring bars. This is constructed of a steel construction so it is gonna be very durable for you. It's got a black powder coat finish on it to help resist rust and corrosion. It is made here in the USA so you can trust it's made to the high-quality standards we've come to know and trust for products made here in the US and it does come with a limited lifetime warranty so if you would have any issues, you're more than welcome to reach out to us here at etrailer.com. They do include instructions, not only to get everything assembled properly, but also to help you get it installed and get your trailer set up so that everything's gonna work right for you. They also include a couple additional things, safety chain links extensions. So if your safety chains don't quite reach your hitch anymore, you can put these on to extend those. They also include a hitch ball reducer sleeve so if you we're to ever need to switch out your hitch ball, your new one had a one-inch diameter shank and this would allow you to reduce that opening to accommodate that and make sure it's still gonna be nice and snug fit in there. So comparing this to other weight distribution systems, looking at your good, better, best options, your best option is kind of in a category all on its own. The ProPride style, they're all gonna use basically the same weight distribution system, it's just the way that sway control works. So the ProPride is in a category all on its own, much higher price point. This system I would say is somewhere between your good and better so it's using basic technology. I do like that the tilt is built into the head. I like that the spring bars can be changed if you get a different setup. I'm not crazy about that steel-on-steel friction. I think the chains might do a little bit better of a job, especially the style that has the channels for the chains to fit into so that you still get your sway control, but if you're just looking at, is it gonna get the job done, I think this is gonna do a good job for you. Doesn't have some of the bells and whistles that some of the higher-end models do, but it is still gonna do a good job of leveling out your trailer, just like all weight distribution systems will, and then that sway control I think is gonna be decent for you. So that completes our look for today. Again, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Thanks for watching..