Andersen Ultimate Coupler

[davisenvy]

NO FIGHTING PLEASE!

I have so many questions about using this hitch and the threads always get closed due to personal opinions. I care about your opinion, just not right now.

I currently have the coupler mounted so the pin is behind the ball. This puts the kingpin about 8 in behind the axles. Assuming I had enough cab/nose cone clearance, if I flipped the coupler around so the pin was in the front would this affect towing/ride or even how my truck sits with the FW hooked up?

[SkiSmuggs]

Don't worry about the towing as it will be fine either way. With my short bed and long pin box, I had clearance issues before getting the Andersen Ultimate. With the coupler reversed so the ball is behind the pin, I have no issues with bed side clearance and a recent U-turn showed I had no clearance with the cab either.

[Searching_Ut]

I've towed a couple different 5ers with my Andersen now with the hitch both ways and didn't notice any difference in ride really. The smoothest and best towing was triple axle presidential suites that I had with the ball in front of kingpin which puts the trailer fairly far back on the truck and it towed great through 40 plus mph winds and lots of snow and ice. My own fiver is much lighter, max weight 15.5k and I tow it with the adapter such that the kingpin ends up in front of the ball when hooked up. If I don't do it this way the back of the kingpin box hits the rails for my backflip bed cover in tight turns. I would much prefer it turned around the other way if I had the clearance. I did raise the ball once and tow it the other way and even though the trailer was nose high it felt stable back there.

[WTP-GC]

I reversed mine and noticed a little difference. Really, though, unless you travel the same roads before and after, it may be hard to determine if there's any change. My rig rides a little nose high, which affects the ride, and I flipped mine in an effort to remedy this without lifting the rig. It didn't accomplish what I was looking for, so now I'll be looking at trailer suspension mods.

[csamayfield55x]

gkainz wrote:
I've run my coupler with the ball both ahead and behind the kingpin. I decided to run it with the ball behind, as it gives me a little better clearance around the tailgate and rear bed corners. Did not notice any difference in ride either way.

We did the same with my fil's and decided behind the kingpin was better for clearance but had no difference towing. He made contact with the bed sides when it was in front.

[sayoung]

gkainz wrote:
I've run my coupler with the ball both ahead and behind the kingpin. I decided to run it with the ball behind, as it gives me a little better clearance around the tailgate and rear bed corners. Did not notice any difference in ride either way.

Same,have ran both directions but because my rig sits high & extended pin box I leave the king pin forward of the ball so I have clearance to the pin box to the bed sides.With a traditional hitch I have scraped the truck bed turning on sloping ground.
I didn't notice any difference except backing and might be my imagination but it just turned a little different.

[gkainz]

I've run my coupler with the ball both ahead and behind the kingpin. I decided to run it with the ball behind, as it gives me a little better clearance around the tailgate and rear bed corners. Did not notice any difference in ride either way.

[N-Trouble]

SabreCanuck wrote:
I think you will get a much bigger difference in load displacement by turning the hitch around in the truck instead of the coupler. By turning the hitch, you will be distributing the weight further forward or backward and therefore affecting the ride.

but only IF you have the clearance as noted above.

True, however Andersen only advises that the rail version hitch can be flipped around in either direction. The GN attach version is advised to run in the rearward position only.

[SabreCanuck]

I think you will get a much bigger difference in load displacement by turning the hitch around in the truck instead of the coupler. By turning the hitch, you will be distributing the weight further forward or backward and therefore affecting the ride.

but only IF you have the clearance as noted above.

[davisenvy]

No problem, just curious. The gooseneck ball is over the axles, but the kingpin is back a few inches. I was thinking maybe moving the weight closer to the axle would give an even better ride. I think I'll take timfloods advice and just try it for my self as far as clearances go.

[timflood]

It did not make a big difference on my TV. I have a short bed so I did reverse the coupler. I tried both ways just to see the clearance for myself. A lot of people will tell you this or that, check it out for yourself, do it both ways and get a measurement to see your clearance. Good Luck

[N-Trouble]

davisenvy wrote:

N-Trouble wrote:
I wouldn't flip the coupler around unless you have a long bed truck. If you have a short bed leave the kingpin behind the ball

So would flipping the coupler affect the way the trailer towed or the handling characteristics of my truck?

Doubt it. Is there a problem you are trying to fix or just being curious?

[davisenvy]

N-Trouble wrote:
I wouldn't flip the coupler around unless you have a long bed truck. If you have a short bed leave the kingpin behind the ball

So would flipping the coupler affect the way the trailer towed or the handling characteristics of my truck?

[N-Trouble]

I wouldn't flip the coupler around unless you have a long bed truck. If you have a short bed leave the kingpin behind the ball

[IdaD]

I think the impact will be minimal. Either way the coupler is flipped the point where the trailer actually mounts to the truck is going to be at the gooseneck ball, not the kingpin. That's going to be slightly in front of or behind the axle depending on which way the hitch itself is flipped. I use the rail mount version flipped back and it works great. I have a longer pinbox so my kingpin needs to sit in front of the gooseneck ball.