93Cobra2771 wrote:
Wes Tausend wrote:
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*snip
I would recommend against leaving the jack foot down below the WD bars on a Hensley. The Hensley hitch is capable of turning so sharp (I'm not sure about the Pro-Pride), that under some tight-turn conditions a bar will side-swipe the jack shaft and cause a severe bind. Keeping the foot up and clear and, if necessary, straightening the hitch head by straightening out the rig angle is the preferred method to be able to lower the jack for parking. The Hensley can turn significantly sharper than standard hitches because the extra stinger length provides extra clearance so that the truck bumper does not strike the A-framed TT tongue so far back where it is still wide. A Hensley is about one foot longer than a standard hitch, and in my case as an advantage, allows my tailgate to drop fully down clear. I can't say that about the new Eaz-Lift I bought (The tailgate hits my power jack head just past half open).
These ingenious 4-Link Hensley designed hitches do exactly as they state. They provide a sway-free, safe towing experience, even in extreme adverse conditions, and no other TT hitch type (other than a Pull-Rite) can perform as well. That is why I am keeping mine, even if I don't use it all the time.
I do a lot of local camping where I don't need an anti-sway "highway" hitch.
Wes
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In my case, I have no choice. My OEM hitch foot will not go high enough to clear the WD bars. The Foot was JUST high enough that it actually caught on the bar once while turning, which is how I discovered the issue.
I have towed over 3000 miles with the current combo, and had no interference issue with the jack shaft. Doesn't mean it can't happen, I just know it hasn't so far. I'll try to remember this evening to pivot the head to it's max turning point and see if interference can, indeed, occur. If so, I'm not sure what I can do.
I suspect that the top links on the hitch (strut bars) will bind before the head can rotate past that center point, but I won't know until I test at home. Should be easy enough to do while unhooked and tongue jack all the way down.
Richard,
I'm going to have to eat my previous words here. I got back from camping, read this, and did the experiment you suggested. With my truck disconnected and the tongue-jack post down to unhitch, I hand-operated the Hensley lock-to-lock. Everything cleared just fine.
Out on my level street, the Hensley turned both ways about 87 degrees (just short of 90) until the 4-bar linkage crank arms hit either internal stop welded onto the bottom pivoting head.
At no time did the WD bars come too close, or hit the jack.
I did have a problem with post clearance in the past, but thinking back, I had just parked in my driveway with the truck turned sharply at an extreme tilt angle up a sidehill. Consequently I couldn't drop my tongue jack, because the jack-post itself
would have hit the highly angled WD bars from the top in that twisted configuration. But the reason likely was that the entire hitch-head was significantly tilted, which swung the entire Hensley assembly under the TT ball to one side, including the bars. It was too much to maintain clearance. Had I driven the rig with the jack-post not fully retracted, the bars would have hit right in my driveway. So, especially in my case, I am better off with the jack-post fully retracted. This type interference will not be a problem except at extreme angles, off-road perhaps.
I also think I misunderstood what you said earlier. Your "wide" jack
foot was accidently height-aligned with the WD bars and did not clear their swing. I mistook your statement to mean the jack-post and bars collided.
I took my jack foot off some time ago, so that I can use
this Hitch Helper:
.
.
.
Using the Helper, it is easiest to set the Helper under the post and just let the post loosely bed itself in the Helper cup as it extends. The Hitch Helper allows the truck to be up to a couple/three inches to either side of center and still align the Stinger parallel in the Y-axis by turning the screwshaft. It can be handy, but I only need it on occasion. Without a permanently mounted foot, my post always retracts fully above the bars.
On a different tack, I did take a closer look at the struts again, and the front pins do theoretically loosen slightly when the hitch-head is tilted up or down (X-axis) away from level (such as a dip). The reasoning for the slack is that the front strut pins aren't quite dead center on the pivoting of the ball centerline, but slightly behind it. However, this will not cause any instability at speed, unless the rig is speeding around like a motocross bike continuously looping inside a circus ball (permanent dip). On level, straight highway, the struts stay tight, yet allow the rig to traverse a "dip" without binding.
The slightest slack causes a rendition of the "Hensley Bump", but carefully watching of the struts and good, tight brackets doesn't allow slack. I suspect that a slightly loose fitting, or loosely-bolted, receiver may occasionally allow some minute stinger play, and that is where some folks experience "bump".
Wes
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