New Andersen WD hitch
A fellow camper bud showed me this. It's new and different. Anyone using one? Andersen WD hitches A U-tube video with the factory guy explaining it. You have to get past MR Truck doing his...
Forum Discussion
Don't get me wrong, as am a designer by training and in the heart. Love contraptions
of any kind...but...also by training look at how things fail in order to make
my designs 'good' to 'better'. Also lots of forensics from my own designs and
work fixing others design. Taught that Mr Murphy lives everywhere and to design
for the idiot and gorilla...as if it can go wrong, it will...
I've had some PE/ME's get into a Rube Goldberg situation trying to
design something marketing told them to. Easy to get myopic and
lose sight of the big picture and get caught up in a rat hole.
Les, the spring/bushings pull back on the plate below the hitch head ball and
that then pushes the tongue forward against the ball.
The contact point is inside the coupler at the pawl is my guess. Unless they
have a special coupler.
This is the leverage arm, I'd guess about 4 inches vs the Trunnion/Round bars
lever arm of 18"-20" times 2. That is a whole lot of PSI on that coupler pawl.
{edit}...okay, take this one back...the Trunnion/Round Bars do end
up in an area of about 4", so this is the same or no difference.
That is where I see a weakness, as am wondering if the coupler pawl is designed
for that kind of service.
Thinks like the surface area factored by the co-efficient of friction factored
by the moments (lever arm) telling to me that the amount of clamping force must
be huge. Plus the 'normal' recommended torque for any large ball (dia in the
2 5/16 range requires 500 ft/lbs of torque. Oh on that, the moment
on that friction material is the distance from the ball center line
to the trailer wheels
Then will the nut holding that ball shank back off with that kind of 'allowed'
rotation? As they allow the ball to turn along with the coupler (assumption)
and does the nut too? Then how do they manage the bearing and the loads on that
ball against whatever boss it rides on? Does it then need grease? If so, then
how do they manage from getting grease on/in the friction material mating surface?
It is right there
Allowing the ball to rotate along with the coupler and also having
to maintain something in the 500 ft/lb range requires a nifty bearing
setup. To allow the ball shank/nut to freely rotate and NOT back off
the nut, but to also maintain enough PSI on the friction material
to do it's job against that very, very long lever arm
Since friction material, assume it is the typical stuff I'm familiar with. I'd
wonder how well it does with the 'normal' banging all balls see during towing.
If it compresses does it go plastic or remains elastic? Will then wobble out ?
of any kind...but...also by training look at how things fail in order to make
my designs 'good' to 'better'. Also lots of forensics from my own designs and
work fixing others design. Taught that Mr Murphy lives everywhere and to design
for the idiot and gorilla...as if it can go wrong, it will...
I've had some PE/ME's get into a Rube Goldberg situation trying to
design something marketing told them to. Easy to get myopic and
lose sight of the big picture and get caught up in a rat hole.
Les, the spring/bushings pull back on the plate below the hitch head ball and
that then pushes the tongue forward against the ball.
The contact point is inside the coupler at the pawl is my guess. Unless they
have a special coupler.
This is the leverage arm, I'd guess about 4 inches vs the Trunnion/Round bars
lever arm of 18"-20" times 2. That is a whole lot of PSI on that coupler pawl.
{edit}...okay, take this one back...the Trunnion/Round Bars do end
up in an area of about 4", so this is the same or no difference.
That is where I see a weakness, as am wondering if the coupler pawl is designed
for that kind of service.
Thinks like the surface area factored by the co-efficient of friction factored
by the moments (lever arm) telling to me that the amount of clamping force must
be huge. Plus the 'normal' recommended torque for any large ball (dia in the
2 5/16 range requires 500 ft/lbs of torque. Oh on that, the moment
on that friction material is the distance from the ball center line
to the trailer wheels
Then will the nut holding that ball shank back off with that kind of 'allowed'
rotation? As they allow the ball to turn along with the coupler (assumption)
and does the nut too? Then how do they manage the bearing and the loads on that
ball against whatever boss it rides on? Does it then need grease? If so, then
how do they manage from getting grease on/in the friction material mating surface?
It is right there
Allowing the ball to rotate along with the coupler and also having
to maintain something in the 500 ft/lb range requires a nifty bearing
setup. To allow the ball shank/nut to freely rotate and NOT back off
the nut, but to also maintain enough PSI on the friction material
to do it's job against that very, very long lever arm
Since friction material, assume it is the typical stuff I'm familiar with. I'd
wonder how well it does with the 'normal' banging all balls see during towing.
If it compresses does it go plastic or remains elastic? Will then wobble out ?
