Andersen WD Ball Housing Maintenence

Jeremiah,

djsamuel is towing with a Ram 1500 and, as he says, there is "Not much of a need for weight distribution".

IMO, your Minivn will have a need for weight distribution.
The question is: How much load will you need to transfer and will the Andersen be able to do it?

I'm guessing you'll need to restore 100% of the load which is removed from the front axle.
If you can provide:
Minivan wheelbase,
Distance from Minivan rear axle to receiver opening,
Expected loaded tongue weight of the trailer,
I can provide an estimate of how much load transfer the Andersen might be able to provide based on scales reports from Andersen users.

Ron

Thanks for the feedback!

Y'all have given me some more to consider!

We haven't bought our pup yet but will consider the Andersen in light of your experience.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

I run 500-600 pound tongue weight and have used the Andersen for about 6,000 miles. Works great for me, especially for sway and bounce control. Not much of a need for weight distribution. I have no desire to change to anything else.

jerem0621 wrote:
I spoke with Andersen and they admitted that they do not do as good a job at WD as a spring bar hitch.

They said that they control bounce better and makes for a smoother ride.

I think its a great hitch for a HD truck that really doesn't need much WD but does need some and needs some sway control. i may be speaking out of turn, but its a $450.00 gamble I am not willing to take at this point.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

I have also spoken to them about scale weights and distribution, their response was "it's a little soft on weight distribution, specifically on trailers with tongue weight in the area of 1000 lbs. It works great with lighter tongue weight."

My tongue weight is in the 1000 lb area, and it meets my truck's specs on wieght distribution.

My old hitch (wore it out) was a standard trunion bar type. It may have transferred a little more weight (don't know, never hit the scales with it), but the bouncing, sway control (friction bar), and the noise were much worse than with the Andersen.

I actually had purchased two hitches, Andersen (I had heard about the weight transfer issue, but, liked the other features) and a Blue Ox Swaypro. Figured I'd send the Andersen back, if it didn't perform. I tried the Blue Ox first (installation looked faster) and had a trunion bar break within a mile. I was leaving on a trip in two days, and Blue Ox sent one "overnight". That was on a Friday, Monday morning I left with the Andersen, and four years later, I'm still using it.

There can be issues with any hitch. You're looking at less than 500 lbs tongue weight. I don't think the Andersen hitch would be any gamble for your setup, but, I might feel the same as you, if I had not tried one.

What ever you decide, get the hitch and tow with it, before you are ready to leave on an extended trip.

With the EZ lift WD I used to have, I could get the truck back to level. With the Andersen, I can get it back to 1/4" in the front. I can't tell a bit of difference sitting in the truck, though. Driving is where the real difference is. I would not go back to bars again.

Damdifino wrote:
I have that hitch, though I'm currently using an Equal-i-zer. Good luck finding a snap ring pliers beefy enough to handle that snap ring! I finally ended up taking the whole assembly to a local transmission shop that was kind enough to do it for me for free--on two separate occasions. Even they were cussin' it a bit.

I love my Anderson hitch, but it's just not adequate when I'm towing with my short wheelbase Land Cruiser.

Thanks for the feedback. I am going to be pulling a 3000 lb pop up with my Minivan. I will need a a weight distribution hitch for my rig. I really want to use this Andersen WD hitch but I think I need to go with a standard WD hitch. I spoke with Andersen and they admitted that they do not do as good a job at WD as a spring bar hitch.

They said that they control bounce better and makes for a smoother ride.

I think its a great hitch for a HD truck that really doesn't need much WD but does need some and needs some sway control. i may be speaking out of turn, but its a $450.00 gamble I am not willing to take at this point.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

I have that hitch, though I'm currently using an Equal-i-zer. Good luck finding a snap ring pliers beefy enough to handle that snap ring! I finally ended up taking the whole assembly to a local transmission shop that was kind enough to do it for me for free--on two separate occasions. Even they were cussin' it a bit.

I love my Anderson hitch, but it's just not adequate when I'm towing with my short wheelbase Land Cruiser.

Thanks for the share.

I may have seen a post last year from someone who had too much material squeeze out and Andersen sent the replacement material without charge.

2 weeks until I pull our TT out of storage, and 3 weeks until the first trip. Looking forward to Camping Season!

Thanks,good to know. Bookmarked the link in case we ever need it.

Thanks for posting that. It's nice to know I can replace the cone material myself if necessary. Mine is out about 1/4" or so after about 5000 miles.