Andersen Ultimate 5th Wheel Connection -- Wreck ????

[TenOC]

I have read a lot of posting that bad mouth this hitch as been too weak since it is make of aluminum and the design is different from all other hitches.

Does anyone know of a Anderson hitch that has failed?? . . . :h

I am sure that all hitches MAY fail in a wreck. If I have a wreck I may want my 5er to come lose from my TV. I do not know which would be best, I think it would depend on the wreck.

[BarneyS]

This one has gotten out of hand and I have already spent a ton of time cleaning up posts and flames. Time to shut it down and go on to new and better discussions.
Barney

[WTP-GC]

fj12ryder wrote:

I mentioned Yugos to show that people will buy anything, and continue to buy it even though it is a horrible product, cheap or not. My point, I hate to have to explain it, is that numbers of sold units are not an indication of quality.

apples and oranges...
actually, more like baseballs and coconuts

[fj12ryder]

Let me explain this clearly: you said

"...they have sold over 40,000 UH units (presumably this includes all models). This does not sound like a product riddled with issues...".

I mentioned Yugos to show that people will buy anything, and continue to buy it even though it is a horrible product, cheap or not. My point, I hate to have to explain it, is that numbers of sold units are not an indication of quality.

And so I bid all "Adieu".

[WTP-GC]

fj12ryder wrote:

How many Yugos were sold? How many Pocket Fisherman did Ron Popeil sell? Numbers sold really mean very little since people can be convinced to buy almost anything...

What would be really telling is repeat purchases.

Those are the 2 best examples you could come up with???? LOL!!!
Yugo's were the most inexpensive automobile in their time. They were in the bottom of the class, but still produced for over 40 years. The Yugo served a worldwide market. Well, you can easily find a 5er hitch for much less than the UH, has only been around a few years and it serves only a portion of the RV market in the USA. And the pocket fisherman actually gets great reviews on Amazon, so not sure how that's even relevant.

Why would anyone be a "repeat buyer"??? If it works, it works. No reason to buy another one unless they made a significant improvement. I wasn't aware that hitches were apparently a "throw-away" product...LOL

[laknox]

fj12ryder wrote:

laknox wrote:
...
Also, from personal experience, very early on, I "high-hitched" my entire Companion in the base and didn't realize it was not firmly down against the bed, by about 1". Hell, I even torqued the entire thing! I hitched up my FW and towed it from storage to my house, about 12 miles. Felt a little different, but it handled just fine, and without any damage, whatsoever. Scared the bejesus out of me when I realized what I'd done, though! :E

Lyle

Thanks for posting that, now I don't feel so foolish, or not quite anyway. I did the same thing by pinning the turnover ball in the wrong hole. I noticed some clunking noises and checked everything out and discovered my error. Like you, no damage, not even any dents in the bed from the base rocking. Just the SMH moment.

Heh. Mine was high enough that the base never =touched= the bed. Entire thing was resting solely on the vertical hold-down tube. Draw-down bolt was torqued to 40 lb ft, u-bolts to 80. 🙂

Lyle

[fj12ryder]

You mean people don't just throw out their hitches and buy new ones? Geeze, it was a hypothetical statement.

[ralphnjoann]

fj12ryder wrote:
"Andersen recently commented on their Facebook page that they have sold over 40,000 UH units (presumably this includes all models). This does not sound like a product riddled with issues as some would suggest. Nor should we believe that the only users are those with 3/4 ton trucks pulling light campers."

How many Yugos were sold? How many Pocket Fisherman did Ron Popeil sell? Numbers sold really mean very little since people can be convinced to buy almost anything. Like George Carlin said: "Nail two things together that have never been nailed together before and some schmuck will buy it."

What would be really telling is repeat purchases.

Repeat purchases??? If I buy a Yugo and find it to be complete junk, I never buy another one. If I buy an Andersen that meets my needs, I never buy another one. In neither case has a repeat purchase been made, but for completely opposite reasons.

[spud1957]

What would be really telling is repeat purchases.

Probably not. How many people replace their hitch, just for the sake of buying a new hitch.

Same can be said for any manufacturer.

[fj12ryder]

"Andersen recently commented on their Facebook page that they have sold over 40,000 UH units (presumably this includes all models). This does not sound like a product riddled with issues as some would suggest. Nor should we believe that the only users are those with 3/4 ton trucks pulling light campers."

How many Yugos were sold? How many Pocket Fisherman did Ron Popeil sell? Numbers sold really mean very little since people can be convinced to buy almost anything. Like George Carlin said: "Nail two things together that have never been nailed together before and some schmuck will buy it."

What would be really telling is repeat purchases.

[WTP-GC]

I feel like the Andersen UH opinions can be summed up as follows:

A. Those who have it and use it, love it
B. Those who don't have it fit into 2 categories: 1)hate it and everything it stands for and want to make sure you hate it too even though they've never used one -AND- 2)don't have an opinion
C. Those who have used it but switched believe that their reason for switching is universal to all users and its basically a disaster waiting to happen

I travel 40K miles a year, mostly interstate driving in FL where seemingly everyone has a towable camper of some sort. I come across MAYBE 1 accident every 3 months or so involving a camper. In those rare circumstances, I can't even begin to speculate what happened in terms of the hitch. Even if it looks like it came decoupled, outside of physically studying the evidence and knowing all the details leading up to the incident, how does anyone really know what happened? And the only time I've ever seen the UH adapter damage a pinbox was from a picture on this forum, whereby there was never any determination as to whether the pinbox itself was faulty (as Andersen reportedly claimed).

Andersen recently commented on their Facebook page that they have sold over 40,000 UH units (presumably this includes all models). This does not sound like a product riddled with issues as some would suggest. Nor should we believe that the only users are those with 3/4 ton trucks pulling light campers.

[cummins2014]

Searching_Ut wrote:
For those unfamiliar with the Andersen Ultimate hitch, 100 percent of the weight of the trailer is carried by the bed of the truck, and none is carried on the ball in the bed of the truck. The truck bed ball is used as an anchor point with a pin that goes under the ball to anchor the hitch. You then tighten a bolt on on top of the tube that pulls a tub within the tube to pre-load the the base tightly against the bed of the truck. The truck bed ball is used for pulling to pull the hitch down, not to support the weight.

The other thing to keep in mind is that all of the pin weight for the trailer is transferred to the two set screws on the pin adapter between the ball and pin. The pin box not being designed to support the weight in a small area rather than distributed across the pin box base plate is what resulted in damage to my bighorn.

Is this a wide spread problem, damage to the pin box or just yours ? Yours is the only report I have read about with this problem.

I ask because I'm waiting for the puck system Andersen, which IMO will be an unbeatable fifth wheel hitch.

If your issue is in reality a problem for others , it wouldn't take much to beef up a pin box.

[DirtyOil]

IdaD wrote:
He's entitled to his opinion but that's about as much weight as I'd give it too. I dont see myself ever going back to a standard fifth wheel hitch - as far as I'm concerned they don't work as well and they're more of a hassle to deal with. Just my opinion of course.

I agree, until I step up to a newer heavier fiver, I will continue to enjoy the Andersen...

[Searching_Ut]

ralphnjoann wrote:

Searching_Ut wrote:
For those unfamiliar with the Andersen Ultimate hitch, 100 percent of the weight of the trailer is carried by the bed of the truck, and none is carried on the ball in the bed of the truck. The truck bed ball is used as an anchor point with a pin that goes under the ball to anchor the hitch. You then tighten a bolt on on top of the tube that pulls a tub within the tube to pre-load the the base tightly against the bed of the truck. The truck bed ball is used for pulling to pull the hitch down, not to support the weight.

The other thing to keep in mind is that all of the pin weight for the trailer is transferred to the two set screws on the pin adapter between the ball and pin. The pin box not being designed to support the weight in a small area rather than distributed across the pin box base plate is what resulted in damage to my bighorn

Well, for one thing, the Andersen hitch does not cause "100 percent" of the weight of the trailer to be carried by the bed of the truck.

Second, the pin weight is carried by a ball mounted on a cross member secured to the rails of the truck. Snugging down the hitch so it doesn't shift does not place pin weight on the bed. That 40 or so pounds of force is there whether or not a trailer is attached.

Finally, the problems you had with your pin box must not be widespread since yours was the first and only one I have read about on these forums. The OP is asking about failures of Andersen hitches, not pinboxes.

Go back a and look at your hitch again. The square tube that goes over the ball is just a square tub closed at the top with threads for a bolt that comes down from the outer tube. There is nothing in there to rest on top of the ball, it's sole purpose is to help anchor the hitch from horizontal movement and to pull the hitch down firmly on the bed. Again, the ball carries none of the weight of the trailer, it's all carried by the bed of the truck. As for the pin box deformation, it's enough of a problem that Andersen is aware of it, and sends out shims to help prevent it once you contact them. They won't do anything about the damage though, nor do they advise it could happen. As for hearing about it on the forums, I'm not sure why you don't hear about it more as I've been checking others pin boxes when I see this hitch and have seen a half dozen now with noticeable deformation, with not all of them being Lippert pin boxes either.

IdaD, my bad on the hitch weight. Didn't realize the rail version was that much lighter than the steel ball mount version. Mine was 85lbs plus pin adapter. Guess half that weight was the base plate which I should have realized. I'm surprised you haven't experience binding of the ball in the socket when trying to hitch and unhitch with the truck and trailer at widely different angles. It's possible you're leveling your trailer prior to unhitching. I just unhitch, then put blocks under the low side levelers and level it out with hydraulics. Often end up with the wheels on one side as much as six or so inches off the ground. We normally spend about 45 days a year camping in Idaho, mostly boondocking as that is where most of my family is. Just got back from a little over a week up there in Island park. Three day weekend with the family boondocking, then 6 days in the upper coffee pot campground.

[fj12ryder]

Me Again wrote:
You can not pull down and hold up with the same mechanism.

Maybe not at the same time, but a pulley/winch system does that very thing depending on whether it's raising or lowering a load.