5th Wheel Stabilizer Tripod Adapter

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.

At 12K your RV is a good match for a Andersen. So you should not have bed deflection.

Crush test has nothing to do with what it can pull and stop. That's a sales gimmick.

Well the companion head is 75# and the base is 131# for a whopping total of 206# now subtract the Andersen from that at 85# and you have a difference of 121# If you are that close on carrying capacity you have the wrong truck.

Please show me a pic of the Andersen being locked to the kingpin.

The Andersen is a quality US Made product, it is no where the same league as the B&W RVK3500 or the 3600 that I have. Compare side by side then make your decision.

If you are happy with your Andersen that's great my comments are directed to those that are in the market for a QUALITY long lasting hitch.