bigbaddog

Does anybody have a b-w companion hitch and how do you lie it?Would like to keep my bed clear when not towing.

firestorm

I've got one, and I love it. Two things though. First, you're supposed to tighten the adjustment bolt until it puts tension on the locking pin, this makes it troublesome to remove. I shimmed the adjuster so that I can engage and disengage the locking pin. Secondly, I would strongly advise that you build a sturdy table to store it on, when it's not in the truck. It is HEAVY. I am able to back up to the front porch, which happens to be the same height as the truck. Other than those two things, no complaints.

whiteeye42

love mine it is the best hitch i have owned

Busboy

The hitch has 2 sticking points other than being heavy. As firestorm said torquing the pull down bolt each time is a pain as well as stretching the bolt and ubolts also the lock nuts losing their locking ability. I also shimmed mine. The second point is the rubber mats glued to each corner the rubber is too thin and the glue doesn't hold. I replaced mine with thicker rubber belting and used 2 small 3/16 bolts to hold each piece on placed between the corrugations in the bed, then re-shimmed the pull down bolt. I made up a 5ver pin that attaches to an arm that fits my skid steer. I use this to remove and install the hitch which I keep on a wheeled dolly when not in the truck.
Other than that I love the hitch, very smooth and the hitching/unhitching is a breeze. Two thumbs up for B&W

Falcon1

What do you mean by shim the adjuster?

rebal

great hitch the only thin I don't like is it is not self locking you need to hold pressure on the king pin and then get out to lock and clamp the jaws shut > I also have a husky 20k and its just as heavy and you have to install 4 pins to get it in .the BW has 1 pin and then snug the bolt up .they take about the same amount of time to put in ,but I really like that the husky self locks on to the pin.

firestorm

After setting everything where you want it, remove the draw sown bolt, and install shims. Tighten bolt, check that the companion is seated on the bed, and the lock pin can be activated. Add, remove, replace shims as needed, until everything is seated, and lock pin works. Tighten the U-bolts, and recheck everything.


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Falcon1

Lock pin is to be in a bind, is what the instructions say, it is not to be able to be pulled out when hitch is installed. I just re torque the draw down bolt and u- bolts when I install it every time.

Busboy

You can do that too but to get the correct torque each time the lock nuts must be replaced every time to say nothing of stretching the bolt and U bolts, besides if using the truck as a truck the hitch is in/out/in out and so on and when using the goose neck ball the pin is just slid in.

whiteeye42

that size of metal did you use to make the shims and how many did you end up using to get everything to work right.

tankn60

Give B & W a call and see if they say the same for the draw down bolt and U bolts and lock nuts, and by the way do you replace the lug nuts on a car/truck each time a wheel is removed and put back on again and torque down to spec, I think not.

Busboy

A wheel lug nut is NOT a lock nut, it's just a plain nut, plain and simple. A torque wrench measures friction, that's why a plated nut and bolt would have a different torque to the same size un-plated nut and bolt. Likewise a lock nut only has the designed amount of friction the first time you use it, after that you are "over tightening" the bolt. Splitting hairs??? well if they give a specific torque, they want a specific torque and not something remotely in the ball park or they would use a standard torque for that bolt size.

I did contact B&W through their web site, they ignored my first one. A few days later I called them. The woman was NOT friendly at all and when I tried to give feed back on their product she was very defensive and rude. Good product crappy customer service maybe she hates Canadians or the fact I live in a city that has an excellent hitch manufacturer right here that I had used for many years, just thought I would give B&W and their reputation a try, tis what it is.