Anderson Hitch

handye9 wrote:

On an Andersen WD hitch, the ball shaft fits into a tapered cylinder. The outer surface of the shaft and the inside of that cylinder are covered with automotive brake material. It's the friction between the shaft and cylinder (brake material) that controls sway. Tongue weight causes that friction. More tongue weight means, stronger sway control. Less tongue, means weaker sway control. If tongue weight percentage got down to zero, there would be no sway control.

I have an Andersen WD hitch. With no weight on the ball, I can turn it (simulating sway) by hand.

It doesn't make sense that someone from Andersen would say something like "no minimum tongue weight percentage".

I've been considering the Andersen for a lighter weight TT we are looking to pick up in March or April. I found this statement in the "Which weight distribution kit do I need?" documentation on the Andersen web site:

"For sway control to work well, you will need at least 100 lbs minimum tongue weight."

I skimmed through their installation manual as well and don't recall seeing any recommendations in it regarding minimum tongue weights, etc. It seems to me there is an assumption that the end user would already have the necessary knowledge regarding appropriate tongue weights from other sources.

I've come across a number of rather lengthy threads on several different forums on the Andersen. There seem to be a lot of folks who like it as well as some who don't - pretty much par for the course of any forum discussion best I can tell. It does look like it works better for tongue weights less then 800lb's or so. As I expect my needs to be in the 400-500lb range this looks like a good, light-weight and easy to use option. Still looking though....