Heavy tongue weight - change from PP 3P?
I have a 2020 SPORTSMEN® SE 301BHKSE that I tow w/ a 2015 F250 gas engine. I use a Propride 3P hitch. I went to the Cat scales today and found a hitch weight of 1220 lbs (did all 3 weight measurements...
Forum Discussion
I don’t understand all the problems people are saying about hitching up with a Hensley. “Truck isn’t straight in line”, “hitch is on an angle”, “ has to be level”, “Hensley bump” etc. If these are problems you don’t know how to use the hitch.
The hitch is adjustable in every direction, making it easy to line up in any case. The tongue jack is used to raise/ lower the hitch to the right height. The whole hitch head swivels nearly 90 degrees either side to hitch from any angle (need to use a finger to move the swivel latch), and the jacks can be used to pitch the hitch head up or down and even cant it on an angle. If you’re getting a bump then your trailer brake controller isn’t set properly.
When unhitching, I lower the hitch jacks just to the point the spring bars swing loose. Undo the ocl latches and while leaving the trailer plugged into the truck, manually hold the trailer brakes and ease forward until it breaks loose, then unplug the trailer and drive out. The hitch head will be pretty much set to hook back up this way, other than height after the trailer was levelled.
When hooking back up there is little adjustment required. I raise or lower the trailer jack visually to where I think the height is close to the unhitching height. With a backup cam I reverse the stinger to within an inch or two of the hitch head, get out and adjust hitch height, angle and pitch, then back the rest of the way in. Usually on the first try. Without a camera it sometimes took 2 or 3 tries, but the same would happen with any standard ball hitch too.
An added thought, and I imagine where a lot of people struggle, is you don’t need to seat the stinger all the way into the hitch head when you are backing in. That is difficult to do. You just need the stinger in far enough that the OCL latches reach over the wings (don’t know what to call them). You can then use the OCL wrench to pull it on the rest of the way.
The hitch is adjustable in every direction, making it easy to line up in any case. The tongue jack is used to raise/ lower the hitch to the right height. The whole hitch head swivels nearly 90 degrees either side to hitch from any angle (need to use a finger to move the swivel latch), and the jacks can be used to pitch the hitch head up or down and even cant it on an angle. If you’re getting a bump then your trailer brake controller isn’t set properly.
When unhitching, I lower the hitch jacks just to the point the spring bars swing loose. Undo the ocl latches and while leaving the trailer plugged into the truck, manually hold the trailer brakes and ease forward until it breaks loose, then unplug the trailer and drive out. The hitch head will be pretty much set to hook back up this way, other than height after the trailer was levelled.
When hooking back up there is little adjustment required. I raise or lower the trailer jack visually to where I think the height is close to the unhitching height. With a backup cam I reverse the stinger to within an inch or two of the hitch head, get out and adjust hitch height, angle and pitch, then back the rest of the way in. Usually on the first try. Without a camera it sometimes took 2 or 3 tries, but the same would happen with any standard ball hitch too.
An added thought, and I imagine where a lot of people struggle, is you don’t need to seat the stinger all the way into the hitch head when you are backing in. That is difficult to do. You just need the stinger in far enough that the OCL latches reach over the wings (don’t know what to call them). You can then use the OCL wrench to pull it on the rest of the way.
