Forum Discussion
rhagfo
Nov 22, 2015Explorer III
hbillsmith wrote:Cummins12V98 wrote:
What I mean by "another negative"
Another good list from a non-owner. After a year and 10,000 miles with the Andersen, here's what I've experienced.
1. "Side to side movement off road."
I usually, adjust the ball up or down if I need to adapt to a particularly rough terrain. It's a simple task and requires no tools.
2. "Can't lock the kingpin to hitch."
You can put a lock on the turn latch if you want.
3. "Need to use safety chains since it is considered a Gooseneck hitch."
True in some states. I believe it's like 2 or 3 states. I just use a pair of cables.
4. "On heavier RV's the hitch will deflect the bed with fore and aft movement. Just like the old 18K B&W Companion did with my heavy MobileSuites."
I have no idea what this means. The pyramid spreads the weight across the bed and seems to me to be a good way to do it.
5. "Ratings are not realistic. They leave little to no safety factor when advertising their ratings. Kinda like a Craftsman shop vac "develops" 6 HP. Just look at a 20K Companion side by side with the highest rated Andersen that's I think is 24K. I am not an engineer but I have had to build things my whole career that have held up and there is no way the Andersen is a stronger hitch."
You are correct the Andersen is rated at 24K. Their crush video shows a much higher weight, but conservatively they rate at 24K. If you need more, you should not use an Andersen. Pretty simple I think.
I really liked the B&W companion, it was just so heavy I couldn't get it in and out of the truck without a helper. Also, I didn't want to lose the extra couple of hundred pounds of payload.
Looks more like 37 States require safety chains for Ball hitches.
Hbillsmith, looks like Texas is one of those states requiring safety chains.
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