Forum Discussion
- WOW...lot of weight, and obviously a lot of torque. IMO, asking too much of a hitch, with this type of attachment.
Jerry - The mechanical engineer's comment sounds reasonable. But like others, I'm suspicious of the Anderson and will stick with my solidly constructed Pullrite.
- Folks this show is over the Fat Lady Has Sung. The fat 5er ##### sure ended the show, and maybe the Roto Flex has a part in that show
- Just posted today, it will be interesting to see how it "Plays Out". That is a small tube to be capable of supporting 24,000#. As it appears that the failure happened while pulling, and not braking as another failure was reported in the past. That failure was much smaller.
- Doesn't speak well for Anderson hitch so far.
- It appears to me the emergency brake pin got pulled out(appears to be hanging down at the center of the hitch) and locked up the trailer brake and it was to much with the Powerstroke pulling up front.
Several of us have pointed out that Andersen vertical compression testing does not account of situations like this. It would collapse the other direction in a wreck. Chris - LOL...lots of guessing and posturing and I said this or that when problems arise and all the facts aren't in on any product.
And like the B&M hitch dropped my trailer tread we may never know all the facts.
Conspiracy theories arise once again. - I have watched the video from the Anderson people and their test show it performing as a downward pounds of pressure, but a catastrophic panic stop could cause failure in the other direction or a sudden pulling action from the rear causing a sudden and large amount of rearward force could have caused this rearward failure. I have the steel version and I believe am well within the design limits. I try to be constantly aware of what I am doing when ever I get behind the wheel of what ever I drive especially when pulling my trailer, but like so many other factors out there **** happens all the time folks. I drove heavy semis most of my adult live, and there is the case that can be said for metal fatigue from sudden amounts of force on metal that can sometimes cause failure. Case in point the twin towers and metal failure because of fire on the metal supports melting from intense heat and pressure on the structural design.
- this should be good...or not :)
- As an AUH owner, I've been quick to comment on threads like this...only in defense of the product and engineering behind it, but never as a fanboy or promoter. This failure is what, maybe 3 or 4 that we've heard of? I like the response from Andersen where they rightly proudly proclaim that this represents only about 0.000007% rate of failure. Not too shabby.
The crush test is realistic because of the design and the direction of pressures exerted against the supports. In fact, the crust test puts pressure in a more perpendicular direction against the supports than the more lateral directions experienced when towing. In other words, the crust test exerts more shear pressure (weaker) than compression pressure (towing, stronger). The engineers that commented on the original thread more than likely have it right...that there was some sort of damage to the one bent tube beforehand or perhaps a defect in the material. For a topic like this, I prefer the intelligent and thoughtful comments of an engineer far more than a regular joe piping up to say "I just don't think its any good".
As an additional thought, considering that we're all hauling around a poorly-built RV, held together only by a hope and a prayer that some Amish kid did his job correctly on an assembled piece of junk that was put together in a day's time with staples, cheap self-tapping screws and puddle welding...why so much hate against a thoroughly-engineered hitch product?
