Andersen Aluminum Ultimate Hitch Redesigned

Me Again wrote:


Have you ever heard of a 5th wheel king pin crystallizing and failing?

Crystallized balls do happen!

However different strokes for different folks!

Chris

"crystallizing", haven't heard that term used in decades.

I know a lot of folks who tow, and have done it myself for approximately 40 years now and never heard of or saw a fatigue failure of a ball. I have a cousin to whom the weld on the tongue of a new boat trailer failed, the coupler and chains stayed attached to the truck. Boat manufacture paid for the damage from that one. I personally had the receiver crack bad enough I replaced it on the class IV hitch on my 2011 ram 2500. Could have resulted in failure if I didn't inspect it periodically. With not all balls being equal rating wise I could easily imagine someone using the wrong size, or weight rating. That said, the only news stories I remember seeing on the issue were failure to properly hitch or that they were looking into the wrong size ball.

As far as kingpin failure, I have personally seen/heard and gazed upon the results of at least a half dozen 5ers dropped onto the bed of the truck over the years, the latest being last year when I watched a newer fiver drop down on a newer truck 2 sites away as I sat there enjoying the morning sun and a cup of coffee. I didn't have the heart to join the crowd that rapidly gathered around.

Finally, I've had to assist with the investigation of a pintle hook hitch failure after a mechanic used the wrong grade bolts to install it to the tug used to tow well over 300k. You need to ensure you're using equipment rated for the job at hand, and inspect it regularly.

A slider won't work with the kingpin on my trailer. Also I have the rail mount version so I won't get any bed deflection - the rails are mounted on brackets under the bed which are bolted directly to the frame. It's a very solid setup.

IdaD wrote:

RustyJC wrote:
Let me answer you this way....if ball hitches (including goosenecks) are superior, why aren't they used instead of 5th wheel (kingpin) hitches on Class 8 over-the-road tractor/trailers? Even those rigs towing double use pintle hitches to connect the dolly to the front trailer. As far as the implied integrity of the hitching arrangements, notice that safety chains are not required on kingpin-type hitches but are by some states on all ball hitches.

If you want to get into the design specifics, we can wade off into that discussion another time.

Rusty

Safety chains are required on ball setups because there are more opportunities for error, not because they're inherently weaker. Wrong size ball or failure to lock the hitch and you could have an issue, whereas a kingpin is a kingpin and it locks in automatically.

I like a gooseneck ball on rough terrain. Nice and flexible and no issues hitching or unhitching at an angle. Not an issue in Texas where you can stand on a tuna can and see 20 miles, but it can be important out west. :B

The flexibility can be a good thing or a bad thing! Most hitches have a certain degree they will tilt side to side that is to help prevent the RV from contacting the TV bed sides. With the Andersen type there is nothing to prevent contact. I guarantee I would have had bed contact when I was recently at Quartzite looking for a spot to Dry Camp if I had the Andersen. The road turned from nice smooth gravel to twisting wash with no way to turn around.

I have said this before, the Andersen is a quality built product that in MY OPINION should be used with RV's in the 12 maybe 14K and under applications. But it has no way of locking the RV to the hitch. Towing heavier with the Ultimate you will have bed deflection.

If people are happy with their Andersen that's great, newbies don't get sucked with the irrelevant crush test video.

There is a guy on another site that blew out his rear window after the installing Dealer told him with the Andersen he would not have any problem with cab contact. He returned it got a refund and installed a slider.

N-Trouble wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

N-Trouble wrote:
What does locking the RV to the hitch accomplish?

It will keep someone from pulling the handle and have the possibility of the RV disconnecting from the hitch. Yes it can and has happened.

Do you ever look in your rearview mirror while towing? Its right there... Might be a concern with a traditional 5er hitch that would just slide off, but its not like its going to jump off the ball without some serious effort.

On the other hand someone could just as easily pull the latch on my B&W Turnoverball so kind of defeats the purpose of having a lock on the Andersen anyways:P

The TurnoverBall latch will NOT pull with the Andersen torqued down same with the Companion. The fact is The roads in this Country are bad enough in places that the 5er could jump off the Andersen no problem. I do agree it won't happen as easily with the Andersen style hitch than a conventional hitch.

I think the fact that they're willing to change/upgrade their product is great. I think some companies are very slow to do that because they're afraid the public will think the original was flawed in some way and needed to be improved upon.

snippet ... This sounds like they had a failure of some sort and have addressed it with an upgraded product ...

Well certainly that is a possibility, but that statement makes the assumption that it's a given that a failure of some sort prompted an upgrade. With that thinking, one would have to assume that the many regular upgrades and improvements to vehicles year on year, are ALL due to failures of previous designs, which is not at all the case.

IdaD wrote:

RustyJC wrote:
Let me answer you this way....if ball hitches (including goosenecks) are superior, why aren't they used instead of 5th wheel (kingpin) hitches on Class 8 over-the-road tractor/trailers? Even those rigs towing double use pintle hitches to connect the dolly to the front trailer. As far as the implied integrity of the hitching arrangements, notice that safety chains are not required on kingpin-type hitches but are by some states on all ball hitches.

If you want to get into the design specifics, we can wade off into that discussion another time.

Rusty

Safety chains are required on ball setups because there are more opportunities for error, not because they're inherently weaker. Wrong size ball or failure to lock the hitch and you could have an issue, whereas a kingpin is a kingpin and it locks in automatically.

I like a gooseneck ball on rough terrain. Nice and flexible and no issues hitching or unhitching at an angle. Not an issue in Texas where you can stand on a tuna can and see 20 miles, but it can be important out west. :B

Articulation has been an advantage of a gooseneck-type hitch. That's why goosenecks are the de-facto standard for off road applications such as livestock and agricultural trailers. The articulation advantage of the gooseneck has been greatly negated by the use of modern double-pivot (fore/aft and side-to-side) 5th wheel hitches. I've never had a problem hitching or unhitching on unlevel terrain.

Having said that, I don't tow my 5th wheel off road. In my case, I could tow either way since my B&W Companion 5th wheel hitch is mounted into my B&W Turnoverball gooseneck hitch, but my preference is to tow 5th wheel trailers with 5th wheel hitches for my on road application.

Rusty

IdaD wrote:

RustyJC wrote:
Let me answer you this way....if ball hitches (including goosenecks) are superior, why aren't they used instead of 5th wheel (kingpin) hitches on Class 8 over-the-road tractor/trailers? Even those rigs towing double use pintle hitches to connect the dolly to the front trailer. As far as the implied integrity of the hitching arrangements, notice that safety chains are not required on kingpin-type hitches but are by some states on all ball hitches.

If you want to get into the design specifics, we can wade off into that discussion another time.

Rusty

Safety chains are required on ball setups because there are more opportunities for error, not because they're inherently weaker. Wrong size ball or failure to lock the hitch and you could have an issue, whereas a kingpin is a kingpin and it locks in automatically.

I like a gooseneck ball on rough terrain. Nice and flexible and no issues hitching or unhitching at an angle. Not an issue in Texas where you can stand on a tuna can and see 20 miles, but it can be important out west. :B

Have you ever heard of a 5th wheel king pin crystallizing and failing?

Crystallized balls do happen!

However different strokes for different folks!

Chris

RustyJC wrote:
Let me answer you this way....if ball hitches (including goosenecks) are superior, why aren't they used instead of 5th wheel (kingpin) hitches on Class 8 over-the-road tractor/trailers? Even those rigs towing double use pintle hitches to connect the dolly to the front trailer. As far as the implied integrity of the hitching arrangements, notice that safety chains are not required on kingpin-type hitches but are by some states on all ball hitches.

If you want to get into the design specifics, we can wade off into that discussion another time.

Rusty

Safety chains are required on ball setups because there are more opportunities for error, not because they're inherently weaker. Wrong size ball or failure to lock the hitch and you could have an issue, whereas a kingpin is a kingpin and it locks in automatically.

I like a gooseneck ball on rough terrain. Nice and flexible and no issues hitching or unhitching at an angle. Not an issue in Texas where you can stand on a tuna can and see 20 miles, but it can be important out west. :B

N-Trouble wrote:

ramgunner wrote:
It would be great if they could make a replacement pin box with their system built-in, get it "type-accepted" by the manufacturers, and have it offered as a factory option. I once heard they were working on that.

Sounds like a good idea however if you were stuck somewhere and needed to have your trailer towed your kind of out of luck. Unless someone else happens to have an Andersen.

There is that, and also folks that want to use a tripod stabilizer when parked would need another option.

If they can overcome the issue of getting it accepted by the manufacturers and available as a factory option, they might just become commonplace, and you'd see stabilizers made to interface with it as well.

They have not done so yet.