alexleblanc wrote:
how dare you bring up actual long term user experience in this thread!
We bought our HA in 2002 and have been using it since.
I was so excited when it was delivered, I installed it right away and took the family for a trial run to a local county park about 40 mins away. At the time I had an el-cheapo brake controller that I bought when we had the small 26' TT. The first traffic light that I came to *WHAM*, it felt like I got rear-ended. Pulled over after the light changed and got out and looked, I thought for sure I forgot to tighten something. Everything looked good so kept going. Happened a few more times and I figured something must be wrong, so I called Hensley and they explained that I had my brake controller adjusted incorrectly. Purchased a Prodigy shortly thereafter and have not had any issues since.
Here is probably the worst thing that's happened to me from a Hensley Bump:
Waiting in the left turn lane at the last traffic light before home, about 2 miles to go. The arrow turns green and as I accelerate into the intersection to make my left, here comes a car from the opposite direction blowing through the red light. I stomp on the brakes and the Burb stops on a dime. Now, I was only going maybe 5 -7 mph, so I was slow enough that the TT brakes didn't have enough speed to activate, yet the 9000 lb TT had a enough momentum at that low speed to come forward and bump the truck. Note that the bump is offset based on how the cams work, so since the truck was turned to the left, the TT went to the right, and the receiver tube couldn't handle that lateral load.
(SIDE NOTE: There has been much discussion about the poor quality of GM OEM receivers in the 2000-2007 series trucks, and many more pictures of this one show poor welds that had been rusting for years. Therefore we know that this receiver tube was already compromised before the bump twisted it.)
Nonetheless, the interesting part about this whole event was that I towed the TT home the remaining 2 miles and never knew anything was wrong! Only when I started to back the TT into its space, I noticed it wouldn't track right in reverse, so got out and discovered the receiver damage.
So....your glass is either half empty:
"The design of this hitch is so inherently flawed that the "bump" can literally tear the receiver off of the truck."
OR, half full"
" The design of this hitch is so superior that even with the receiver twisted at a 45* angle, the HA still prevented sway to the point I never knew anything was wrong with the receiver."
You decide.
