Andersen Ultimate not working for me
I went from a Reese 16K slider to the Andersen ultimate. My trailer was very stable with the Reese, with the Andersen the trailer is constantly moveing around. It is bad enough that can feel it and it...
Forum Discussion
Bobandshawn wrote:Cdash wrote:
The other thing could be your truck. Conventional fifth hitches put the center of pin just in front of the axle. The Anderson, especially in the rear position, is going to increase load on the trucks rear axle and decrease load on the trucks front axle. This is because more load is going towards the back legs of the Anderson. That could cause some change in handling too.
You sure that there isn't any movement in the block that attaches to the pin?
I spoke with the Anderson folks and any weight you put on the hitch will be the same as putting the weight on a fifth wheel hitch. The weight goes on the frame of the hitch which is stationary. The frame fits the truck in the same location as does a rail system. The Anderson hitch frame has no front or rear position. You can swap the pin box adapter end for end to move the trailer 4" further forward, but it still mounts to the ball on the hitch in the same location.
First, let me say that I don't doubt what they told you.
Second, I'll say I'm not sure they are 100 percent correct. Yes, the mounting points are the same, but if the center of load affects how the load is distributed to those mounting points.
From what I've seen of the Anderson, the ball is NOT centered between the front mounting rail and back mounting rail. If I'm wrong about that, ignore the rest of this. In the hitch, the majority of the weight will go to the closer support. So if the BASE is rotated to push the pin further back, that puts more than half the weight on the rear rail. If the ball is closer to the front rail, it would push more load to the forward rail. If someone can measure distance center of rail to center of rail, and distance from center of pin to center of rail, I can tell you how much more is pushed either forward or back.
Personally, I'm guessing that the tail wagging incident has the base rotated to maximize clearance, and the pull to the rear on the hitch amplifies the problem (pulling back on the ball will put even more load on the rear rail and take more away from the front rail).
My 2 pennies.
