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?? . . . :hI 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.

There were reports of some of the aluminum versions failing while towing FWs near their limit and with emergency stops. There was one member who posted pics of his that deformed, but stayed whole. Andersen stepped up and replaced it with a re-engineered hitch. They were also swapping out others that requested to do so, IIRC. Personally, I still love my B&W Companion. :-)Lyle

On the Grand Design FB page, a member reported and posted pictures of his damaged Aluminum ultimate. The welds had cracked. Also the top of the adaptor was starting to separate. He was towing a larger/heavier fifth wheel. He stated Andersen did replace the hitch. I saw the posted pictures.

one should expect failure of this product...just like one should expect failure of any man-made device. There will always be the chance that a weld was done improperly or a material defect exists beyond the manufactuer's control. But The overall number of failed UH's is minuscule. I can count only one time where pictures have been posted of this, plus 3 or 4 other written claims. All things considered, that's not even enough to raise an eyebrow at.This entire forum seems to be a dedicated place for RV owners to come vent or rant about one problem or another with their rig. Blowouts, water damage, delam, reefer issues, water heater issues, etc. etc. etc. The Andersen UH doesn't even rank on the list of common complaints from actual users.

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 Never heard of anyone wanting a trailer (any trailer) to come loose in a wreck. Having logged over 1.2 million miles pulling trailers (non rv) I sure wouldn't want one coming loose....any time. Thats all your going to get is bad mouth with no actual facts about a product that someone doesn't like especially this product on this website . Same old saw it posted somewhere and even out and out fabrication stories about the product. However even one event doesn't tell us anything about a products overall performance. IMO the dead horse is gettin' it again.

WTP-GC wrote:one should expect failure of this product...just like one should expect failure of any man-made device. There will always be the chance that a weld was done improperly or a material defect exists beyond the manufactuer's control. But The overall number of failed UH's is minuscule. I can count only one time where pictures have been posted of this, plus 3 or 4 other written claims. All things considered, that's not even enough to raise an eyebrow at.This entire forum seems to be a dedicated place for RV owners to come vent or rant about one problem or another with their rig. Blowouts, water damage, delam, reefer issues, water heater issues, etc. etc. etc. The Andersen UH doesn't even rank on the list of common complaints from actual users.I agree 100%. The B&W Companion, for example, is a highly regarded hitch on these forums and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if it met my needs. But here is a LINK to a report showing a catastrophic failure of the hitch when the trailer overturned. Would this single example be a reason not to buy the hitch? Not for me - stuff happens.

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

BarneyS
Explorer III
Jun 26, 2017
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
Explorer
Jun 26, 2017
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
Explorer III
Jun 26, 2017
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
Explorer
Jun 26, 2017
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
Nomad
Jun 26, 2017
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
Explorer III
Jun 26, 2017
You mean people don't just throw out their hitches and buy new ones? Geeze, it was a hypothetical statement.
ralphnjoann
Explorer
Jun 26, 2017
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
Explorer
Jun 26, 2017
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
Explorer III
Jun 26, 2017
"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
Explorer
Jun 26, 2017
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.