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
From a few posts back:
BTW, I think you're being a little unfair to Ron - perhaps because he wasn't in agreement with you. Sometimes we say things that can be interpreted in more than one way and we're misunderstood, and I think this is what happened with what Ron was saying. The way I interpret it, he was saying that because the ball was securely attached to the rear bar, that when the rear bar translated it brought the ball with it. I'm positive he was referring to when the angle between the vehicles was changing. I also think his numbers regarding how much the rear bar and ball translated with respect to the original centerline upon turning were very close.
Tim
Stressor wrote:Are you talking about the side links? Or one side link and one end bar? When I ran the sketch which is based on the Hensley patent dimensions through all the possible angles, there was no point at which both side links were at 90 degrees to the hitch bar. Perhaps your hitch is a special edition that wasn't addressed in the patent? In that case, I'll just have to take your word for it, but it doesn't make any sense.
Whatever Tim, the fact is that the links are at 90 degrees to the hitch bar when the angular difference between the Tow vehicle and travel trailer is approximatly 30 degrees.
I have a Hensley Arrow Hitch, and I looked and I measured.
Stressor wrote:So when you hit the brakes on a slight downgrade at a stop sign on a curve, you won't see any translation that's not initiated by the TV? Other HA owners have commented on a type of surging under such conditions that's indicative to me of a translation. If I remember right, I believe it's even been aluded to at least once in this thread.
...In operation the rear of the travel trailer moves very little, until the steering wheel is turned...
...it does not translate at all during straight ahead pulling.
Stressor wrote:I can post a link to a short clip of that part of the Hensley video that may be helpful to readers of this thread. Should I put it up?
A TV camera would be nice, but Hensley did that already and it shows a lot of translation as the tow vehicle travels in and around a series of pylons.
BTW, I think you're being a little unfair to Ron - perhaps because he wasn't in agreement with you. Sometimes we say things that can be interpreted in more than one way and we're misunderstood, and I think this is what happened with what Ron was saying. The way I interpret it, he was saying that because the ball was securely attached to the rear bar, that when the rear bar translated it brought the ball with it. I'm positive he was referring to when the angle between the vehicles was changing. I also think his numbers regarding how much the rear bar and ball translated with respect to the original centerline upon turning were very close.
Tim
