Anderson Ultimate and aluminum truck bed compatibility

Wow, the misinformation flying around on this thread are pretty bad. To Clarify, first, I've used an Andersen ultimate hitch on a 3500 Ram for coming up on one year now, a little over 5000 miles of towing, about 1k of that with a 17k plus triple axle rig, the other 4k with my smaller bighorn GVWR of 15.5k. I'm an engineering tech, almost 40 years as and aircraft mechanic, 20 of those in heavy crash repair, service life extension modifications and failure analysis. As mentioned, I use and Andersen ultimate, haven't complained about it, but try to keep the discussions honest.

Once again, the Andersen Ultimate hitch doesn't transfer the weight to the gooseneck ball. The square base tube base is made up of a tube within a tube, and doesn't have a socket per say and doesn't ride on top of the ball, it goes over it, whereupon you put in a pin that goes under the ball. You then tighten a bolt on top of the square tube that pulls the smaller tube insert upward pulling the base of the hitch down firmly into the bed of the truck. Any force put on the ball is pulling on it in order to pull the base of the hitch down. Once the hitch is anchored down on the bed you then tighten to bolts on the forward part of the tube assembly that takes out any play or slack out of the dual tube assembly. This setup does a great job of keeping the hitch assembly firmly mounted to the bed of the truck. The design distributes the weight over a fairly large footprint onto the bed of the truck. Whether you feel carrying the weight of the load on the bed of the truck or not is a good idea, that's valid question, and there are probably enough users around to make the decision fact based. My hitch was starting to cause some noticeable indentation on my truck bed, so I made myself some spacers to distribute the weight a little better.

Finally you see comparisons to the earlier version of the B&W hitch, but that isn't necessarily a good comparison because the way the bases distribute the load is a fair bit different.

johndeerefarmer wrote:
No answer from Andersen today. This makes me want to lean towards some other brand of hitch.

Get one of these, you WILL be VERY happy!

The FACT is weight transfers fore and aft with the 18 & 20K Companion and the Ultimate Andersen. B&W realized the truck beds were getting weaker so they changed the 18K base (that did deflect my 11 Dually) and created the 20K base that has spacers that allow that fore and aft movement to be transferred to the low part of the bed corrugations and then to the cross rails that sit directly on the frame.

laknox wrote:

sayoung wrote:

Searching_Ut wrote:
As Me-Again pointed out, all of the weight is carried by the bed of the truck when using the Andersen Ultimate hitch. I'd have to look in depth at the truck bed to see if I thought it would hold up to the weight and potential flexing. Personally I probably wouldn't use one with 5er of any size if I had an aluminum bed. That said, I would avoid the aluminum bed if possible as I use my bed for a lot of stuff, much of which would seriously scratch and gouge aluminum.

There is so little wieght on the bed there is a set of filler pads you glue to bottom when you put in truck 1st time . Line them up with the dips and this stops the small amount of twist some have, usually less than 1/2 in is what I experienced . No bed bending but then I drive a real truck, Chevy :B

It's not like B&W didn't do the same thing when GM owners started reporting bed dents/bending several years ago. Still, I'd rather have a D'max! :-)

Lyle

GM's had/have camber in the bed. That is not a good idea IMHO.

shepstone wrote:

johndeerefarmer wrote:
No answer from Andersen today. This makes me want to lean towards some other brand of hitch.

Unless you need an Anderson style hitch for a particular reason, then the field is wide open

I was mainly looking at it for the ease of removing it from my truck bed. I currently own a B&W Patriot slider but to use it with the B&W turnover that will be in my new truck will required a B&W gooseneck to rail adapter. eTrailer tells me that the rails on this adapter also put weight on the bed.
All I know is that I don't want to bend the bed of a $75k truck!

johndeerefarmer wrote:
No answer from Andersen today. This makes me want to lean towards some other brand of hitch.

Unless you need an Anderson style hitch for a particular reason, then the field is wide open

bucky wrote:
Dirty, Rams don't have aluminum beds.

bucky, I understand that, point was no deflection or dents, even when I had to "grind" out the spray bed liner to get the Curt fifth wheel adapter plate to sit low enough to allow me to slide the turnover ball pin into place it didn't even rub/scrap the paint I sprayed on the box where I had removed the bed liner. The so-called experts (non-Anderson users) would have us believe that the Anderson would dent or cause deflection (was just outside) and used a straight edge, box floor is as suspected flat and level no deflection! So, whether you have an aluminum or the excuse auto makers call a steel bed...the Anderson will not dent, deflect or even rub the paint off the box floor!

All this is coming from those that don't use the hitch...its something rather new and some have a hard time getting their heads around the new idea...the World is round not flat!

I'll post some pictures... when I get around to it.

No answer from Andersen today. This makes me want to lean towards some other brand of hitch.

IdaD wrote:

Me Again wrote:

IdaD wrote:


The bulk of the weight is on the ball but when you're moving the dynamic loads will be on the bed. .

Again wrong. The pin weight is transferred to the hitch base which rest on the bed floor. You can not put the hitch down the the bed floor with gooseneck and hold it up at the same time.

We once had a boat named Compromise!

Chris

I think you're incorrect. There will be some weight on the bed, both dynamic and static, but there's no reason the pin can't take the majority of the load simply because the hitch is snugged down to the bed - it's snugged on top of the ball too.

There are thousands of happy owners towing fifth wheels all over the country with Andersen hitches, turnover style and rail mount style. And evidently factory puck systems soon too, which will probably be the best version of all. I'll never go back to a standard fifth wheel hitch - the Andersen simply works better.

Well the square ball insert is held in place with a pin that "locks" it in place. To operate easily ther has to be a certain amount of clearance between the pin, the ball, and the tube the ball sits in.
That said 40# of torque sucks up all the clearance in an upward direction, for the ball to carry weight all the clearance needs to be taken up in a downward direction. The question becomes how much does the 40# of torque lift the ball off of the bottom of the ball socket on the GN hitch? 1/16"? 1/8"? 1/4", the more it lifts it the more the bed needs to deflect before the ball can take weight.
It all depends on how much play/clearance there is in the ball/pin/socket.

Me Again wrote:

IdaD wrote:


The bulk of the weight is on the ball but when you're moving the dynamic loads will be on the bed. .

Again wrong. The pin weight is transferred to the hitch base which rest on the bed floor. You can not put the hitch down the the bed floor with gooseneck and hold it up at the same time.

We once had a boat named Compromise!

Chris

I think you're incorrect. There will be some weight on the bed, both dynamic and static, but there's no reason the pin can't take the majority of the load simply because the hitch is snugged down to the bed - it's snugged on top of the ball too.

There are thousands of happy owners towing fifth wheels all over the country with Andersen hitches, turnover style and rail mount style. And evidently factory puck systems soon too, which will probably be the best version of all. I'll never go back to a standard fifth wheel hitch - the Andersen simply works better.