towing with my new Hensley arrow...

BurbMan wrote:
Agree with Barney on this...it's certainly easier to line up the stinger when backing into the hitch straight on, but I have hitched up at almost every possible angle. I installed a small wireless camera on the license plate frame for backing up and can see the stinger and hitch pretty clearly. Backing at an angle is just like backing straight, you still need to be sure that the stinger is aligned with the hitch box or it will cock partway in and not seat.

I have also twisted the nut clean off of the OCL trying to draw a poorly seated stinger into the hitch. Lesson learned was that if the stinger didn't seat when you backed it in, you won't get the hitch to come together using the OCL either. This is true regardless if you are hitching straight on or at an angle.

We camped on the beach in NY for many years, and towed the TT in very soft sand with 15 psi in the tires. The nature of the sand is such that it shifts in large degrees, and you are 100% guaranteed that you will NOT be able to duplicate the angle, yaw, pitch or any other measurement you took when you unhitched. I not only lined up the stinger side-to-side, but had to predict the vertical angle that the stinger would take as it went into the hitch based on the slope of the sand and use the screw jacks to adjust the pitch of the hitch accordingly.

Sounds complicated but when do it a few times and learn where to look and what to look for it is very easy. Granted not as easy as backing a ball under a coupler, but not rocket science either.



Old photo, but note how soft the sand is.

Great Pic!! quick question tho..

Did you roll the trialer tires on to 2x6 or 8's and the tongue as well. Just wondering if you snow shoe'd those tires to help with "sinking"? did you shoe your truck on the hook up?

bigcitypopo wrote:
Hi all,

So yesterday was "hook up, to unhook the trailer day" I hooked up in the morning, drove around town... parked in a few cherry picked spots and did the unhook.

not too bad, It is just gonna take some time to be able to eye ball it. I love the hitch. Period. Money well spent

ditto, great hitch

Did you try hitching up at an angle?

ya,

I setup an "almost" jack-knife, and a little hill - truck pull away downhill. Not too bad, was interesting.

Only real problem I've had is the "foot" for the tongue jack. The foot is rectangular and quite large, so if I'm at a sharp enough turn for the spring bars to pivot around toward the tongue, then I can't get the tongue down without removing the foot. The foot wants to actually catch the spring bar. Ask me how happy I was the first time I discovered that. LOL

Towed like a dream.... Can't wait for the longer road trips.

Found a mirror at a garage sale for $1.00, had the aluminum bar and bought a magnet at Harbor Freight for $4.99 (forgot my coupon:M) Works pretty good.

Nice - almost as good as a backup camera. Would be challenging for me to see that on my setup - darn rear seat plus headrests is so tall can't even see the top of the tailgate.

Backup camera was a good option for me.

bigcitypopo wrote:
Great Pic!! quick question tho..

Did you roll the trialer tires on to 2x6 or 8's and the tongue as well. Just wondering if you snow shoe'd those tires to help with "sinking"? did you shoe your truck on the hook up?

Nope...all tires at 15 psi, both truck and trailer, and rolling on the sand. Under the tongue jack I block it up as normal, but add a 12x24 piece of 3/4" plywood underneath the cribbing to keep the whole mess from sinking in the sand.

Bear in mind it's a about a 2 mile drive through the sand to get to the site in the picture, not gonna do that on 2x8's.

Point is that 99% of the time you re-hitch the same as you un-hitched. If something changes, like you unhitched at an angle are re-hitching straight, you can use the screw jacks to adjust that stinger box to any angle up/down or side/side and hold it there.