towing with my new Hensley arrow...

The spring bar keepers helped... I also got as close to level as I hooked. Up.. Some minor mods to the spring bar keeper... Good to go. Unhooked at a 45 deg angle in my normal spot... Wow.... Hitch slid right out.. Put e chains on the brackets to help hold em... Good to go....

Next outing is on the 14th, we'll see how that goes!

Out of curiosity, why did you go with snap up brackets instead of the jack screws? I love having the jack screws vs having snap up brackets.

As others have mentioned, no need to lube the stinger. I stripped the paint off mine and it goes in and out like a dream.

It was offered as a cheaper alternative... and my propane tanks are mounted a little further rear due to the electric tongue jack. I would have but space is tight... Hindsight.... I should have just moved all that junk around.

I use some teflon dry lube on the HA. It's a solvent like Brakleen but has powdered teflon in it. Spray it on the four beveled flanges of the stinger and also on the corresponding mating surfaces on the hitch itself. the solvent evaporates almost immediately and leaves a teflon film behind. This gives you the benefits of lubrication without the grease.

This is the brand I use, but there are several brands sold at home centers and hardware stores.



When we used to camp at the beach, the unpainted flange surfaces of the stinger and hitch are prone to surface rust. I can tell you from experience that the slightest amount of surface rust will seem like that stinger is welded into the hitch. I have pulled the TT tongue jack off of the blocks with chocks on the wheels more than once...now I hit it with the dry lube before every hitch up.

Also be sure to use a grease gun on the fittings where the spring bars go into the hitch head. I have Mobil 1 in my grease gun, you can't overgrease these, that bronze insert that the bars go into will wear out from lack of lube...fortunately it's easily replaceable.

Good luck with the hitch, the more you tow with it the more you will appreciate the design.

I loaded the zerks up with a good lucas oil Grease, and silicone sprayed the******out of the stinger.. Helped a ton...

Yup, makes a difference! Don't grease the stinger it becomes a mess in a hurry, use the teflon or silicone.

bigcitypopo wrote:
It was offered as a cheaper alternative... and my propane tanks are mounted a little further rear due to the electric tongue jack. I would have but space is tight... Hindsight.... I should have just moved all that junk around.

Yep, most likely you had enough room to scoot the propane forward a bit and redrill it's location. Had to move mine forward close to an inch. Four self tapping screws later and it was all done.

I've never had to silicone the stinger.. once there's slack between the stinger and receiver box, a shove with my foot always 'unlocks' it.

I put up a 46 month review of my Hensley on my blog, if you're interested.

Snow ski wax works great on Hensley stingers. And, it's not messy!

boondockdad wrote:
I've never had to silicone the stinger.. once there's slack between the stinger and receiver box, a shove with my foot always 'unlocks' it.

I put up a 46 month review of my Hensley on my blog, if you're interested.

I just read your blog about the Arrow. Curious why you claim you cannot hook up the hitch when the TV/trailer are at an angle. I have never had a single problem doing that and have done it many times.

Here is what you wrote. If I have misinterpreted what you said I apologize.
"Also, don’t ever unhitch when your TV is at an angle to the TT; The reason being: you can’t hitch the Arrow at an angle. The receiver box needs to be centered and straight forward under the orange head in order to hitch up."
Barney