Straight from B&W
OK, guys. Here's the straight scoop from a B&W engineer. As I contended in another thread, he said that the Turnover Ball base and Companion FW hitch =system=, carries the vast majority of the pin l...
Forum Discussion
Cummins12V98 wrote:
I remember LONG ago when Chris was mentioning bed deflection with the Companion hitches (I thought he was just being a dick). THEN..... My Dad said he had dents in the bed where the front of the hitch pressed down into the top corrugation of the bed no doubt from when braking hard. The bottom of the sides of the base were actually bent in an upward angle from level. He tows a 34' HH Premier. So I looked at mine and sure enough the bed had a couple small dents like his did and my base had a bend on each of the bottom rails of the hitch base so did his.
We contacted B&W they said they were aware of the problem. The fact is truck beds are getting lighter that means thinner steel. Also the main pressure point of the base was over a valley not on top of a rib like the same hitch was in my 98 RAM. They sent us both complete new bases with filler strips so the base could press down onto the strips and then the weight would transfer to the bed cross rails. They have since changed the base and upped the rating from 18-20K. I was towing at the 18K range at the time my dad's was around 15K.
So maybe those thinking I am "Bashing" Andersen for their Ultimate design where the base is sitting on the bed and actually carrying much of the load especially when braking hard will realize I do have personal experience on this subject.
Here is a pic showing the base looking from the back of the truck. You can see how the corrugation was not supporting the strongest part of the base where it bends.
