Hensley Arrow: How does it REALLY work?
There have been several discussions on this hitch that have become somewhat 'controversial'. I am NOT trying to stir this controversy/bashing back up. Instead, I'd like to see a good, intelligent di...
Forum Discussion
I just had another thought...
With all of this talk about virtual pivot points, and hanging trucks up to illustrate this, I can see why the fiver would rotate at its pivot point, as there is a mechanical link which will allow it to pivot.
Try hanging my Yukon up like this, with the Hensley, and it would be impossible for it to swing on anything other than at the hitch. The virtual pivot point would not matter, as there is no place for it to pivot physically there.
Now, the question is, WOULD it pivot at the Hensley Hitch point?
My guess would be yes, because of what I said about linkages above. It obviously is not going to pivot at a point about 20 inches behind the rear axle, because, as mentioned, there is no physical place for it to pivot there, VPP or not.
This example assumes hanging my Yukon up by the front bumper, and applying swinging forces there.
A TT with a conventional hitch would swing easilly at the ball, Hung either way.
A TT with a friction control would swing at the ball, but tend to resist the movement, hung up either way.
The same is true with a dual cam.
The Hensley would swing freely, without noise or resistance from the hitch. And, it would swing at the location of the linkage, or where the black part meets the orange part.
If you hung it upside down, as mentioned by Burbman, it would tend to not pivot where the hitch is, but to swing as one unit, quite possibly due to the linkage discussion that I had above.
Therefore, I would maintain that perhaps it IS more about the linkages actually prohibiting (or preventing due to the force that would be required) the TT from initiating a pivot at the hitch point.
Really think about it... If the TT can not move the TV as a lever, it has to move the entire TV, across all four wheels. This requires a huge amount of force to do.
A fiver would actually have a better chance of swaying, because the fiver CAN act on the TV (nothing prevents this). Yes, it does have to move all four wheels, and it would take an incredible amount of force to do this. But, (I do not have calculations for this), I think it would take even more force to have the TT react on the TV, with a Hensley, due to the fact that the TT would have to exert even more force to overcome the linkages in the Hensley, and make a way for it to pivot.
Since the connection is "virtually" solid, couldn't it be considered that the "virtual pivot point" is non-existant, due to the excessive force that would be required to cause the Hensley to pivot at its hitch point when being reacted upon by the TT?
I hope I haven't totally butchered this discussion, as I am not an engineer, but simply trying to visualize in my mind how this concept works.
With all of this talk about virtual pivot points, and hanging trucks up to illustrate this, I can see why the fiver would rotate at its pivot point, as there is a mechanical link which will allow it to pivot.
Try hanging my Yukon up like this, with the Hensley, and it would be impossible for it to swing on anything other than at the hitch. The virtual pivot point would not matter, as there is no place for it to pivot physically there.
Now, the question is, WOULD it pivot at the Hensley Hitch point?
My guess would be yes, because of what I said about linkages above. It obviously is not going to pivot at a point about 20 inches behind the rear axle, because, as mentioned, there is no physical place for it to pivot there, VPP or not.
This example assumes hanging my Yukon up by the front bumper, and applying swinging forces there.
A TT with a conventional hitch would swing easilly at the ball, Hung either way.
A TT with a friction control would swing at the ball, but tend to resist the movement, hung up either way.
The same is true with a dual cam.
The Hensley would swing freely, without noise or resistance from the hitch. And, it would swing at the location of the linkage, or where the black part meets the orange part.
If you hung it upside down, as mentioned by Burbman, it would tend to not pivot where the hitch is, but to swing as one unit, quite possibly due to the linkage discussion that I had above.
Therefore, I would maintain that perhaps it IS more about the linkages actually prohibiting (or preventing due to the force that would be required) the TT from initiating a pivot at the hitch point.
Really think about it... If the TT can not move the TV as a lever, it has to move the entire TV, across all four wheels. This requires a huge amount of force to do.
A fiver would actually have a better chance of swaying, because the fiver CAN act on the TV (nothing prevents this). Yes, it does have to move all four wheels, and it would take an incredible amount of force to do this. But, (I do not have calculations for this), I think it would take even more force to have the TT react on the TV, with a Hensley, due to the fact that the TT would have to exert even more force to overcome the linkages in the Hensley, and make a way for it to pivot.
Since the connection is "virtually" solid, couldn't it be considered that the "virtual pivot point" is non-existant, due to the excessive force that would be required to cause the Hensley to pivot at its hitch point when being reacted upon by the TT?
I hope I haven't totally butchered this discussion, as I am not an engineer, but simply trying to visualize in my mind how this concept works.
