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I just recently did the opposite of the OP.
I removed my Hensley and I'm going to install my ordinary, economical Eaz-Lift for most of my towing.
The reason is that most of my towing is local and the Hensley is, on occasion, certainly a nuisance to align for re-hitch. It works best if hitching/unhitching on level ground, such as a level campsite. Unfortunately I have a habit of reversing my camper in order to face my buddies campsites or avoid the sun, so that I must park my truck off the nefarious steep end of the pad to unhitch/hitch.
In spite of having used the Hensley for a couple of years, I have oft fought with it up to half an hour, trying to keep up with my buddies in hitching their 5vrs and arriving together at the sewer dump in order that we may depart together (having 5vrs, they are not impressed by the Hensley). Other times I've struggled with it in my own off-canter driveway, as I need to park the tow vehicle at an extreme odd, twisted angle in order to clear my driveway apron for other vehicles.
So when re-hitching in my driveway, the Hensley hitch-head must be therefore tilted which causes it to fall (pivot) to one side when trying to line it up solo. Argghhh! (Of course, then there are those times when it accidentally goes right together the first time without fuss). Other disadvantages are the Hensley WD bars have less clearance when leaving my driveway. Another, the Hensley hitch is about a foot longer than ordinary hitches which means the rig does not fit between driveways on my street.
I don't lube the Hensley stinger because I decline to suffer handling such a greasy, heavy part, and I suppose I'm partially paying a price for that, as it does tend to stick. But I believe most of the problem lies elsewhere in alignment issues.
The way I see it, the adjustable jacks make it worse to align. When unhitching, the stinger has to not only point perfectly parallel with the receiver both vertically and horizotally, but it must be ideally done when there is no longer any load tension on the truck springs. There are a variety of tricks to accomplish this, such as measuring receiver free-height before hitching and writing it down (must be repeated when unhitching to within about 1/8 inch).
But to further complicate things, the stinger must
not be twisted in the receiver either, which means the jacks may need to be
carefully adjusted unequally in length to a nearly perfect matching xyz axis to smoothly decouple/recouple. So instead of jacks, I'm going to go back to chains to tension the WD bars because I think it will simplify the process. I'm not sure why Hensley used the @#$%^&! jacks to start with.
For now, I was unable to relocate the exact accessory on their cluttered website, but Hensley once offered a low-clearance chain modification to their hitch for folks who may have a clearance problem with the tall jacks. A picture of such a TT is the quickest way to demonstrate this. Below is a picture of their Hensley Cub which comes standard from the factory with chains instead of jacks:
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Shown for contrast, below, is a standard jack-equipped Hensley:
One can readily see that if the TT has a V-nose, such as in the first top picture, or if an extended front cap covers the propane tanks, that there may not be room for the normal Hensley jacks. Incidentally, Propride does the same jack-thing for theirs, although I don't believe they offer an alternate chain solution:
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My solution was to buy another 1000# Eaz-Lift. The entire WD hitch only
cost about $200, including the ball (and one friction sway control bar, which I don't plan to use).
First of all, if I wish, I believe I can use the Eaz-Lift chain tensioners in place of my Hensley jacks (just as the Hensley Cub uses chains). This will accomplish one major thing... the WD bars, and therefore the hitch-head, will finally automatically swing freely to whatever darn way they please when re-hitching. The jacks
do have a limited sloppy range when they are loosened, but still jam against the internal screw setting if not set very close to the exact needed tilt and twist. Chains will just move on their own...
inches if need be. At $200 and knowing Hensley, that is probably close to what they charge for
just their low-clearance "accessory modification chains".
The other advantage is that I probably won't use the Hensley at all when traveling to local campgrounds. For $200... I will again enjoy the quick simplicity, clearance and compactness of an ordinary ball hitch.
FWIW, I owned an Eaz-Lift in the past and it worked
nearly perfectly. But yes, the Hensley gives an amazing marked improvement under adverse, windy towing conditions. Besides the Propride, there is no substitute. It's still available if I want to use it on longer trips.
Wes
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