Anderson Hitch

[FBGTexas]

Looks good. Anyone use one of these?

[ttavasc]

I do not own one at this point. I am researching wdh/sway control for an upcoming TT purchase. I have a medium sized utility trailer that I use fairly regularly and my experience with it is that it pulls much better when tongue heavy. I have not used wdh or sway control with the utility trailer but will throw extra weight on the tongue if I have to pull it empty at freeway speeds. I realize this is a different experience than the TT will be which is why I'm spending some time researching the wdh/sway items.

[SlowBro]

ttavasc wrote:

cdevidal wrote:

handye9 wrote:
"For sway control to work well, you will need at least 100 lbs minimum tongue weight."

Care to try that, see if it sways? If so let us know your trailer weight too.

For clarity - handye9 didn't post the quote from Andersen stating 100lbs minimum tongue weight. That was in my post.

My bad, I goofed with the quotes. This is not my first time using forums so there's no excuse, I just goofed it 😉

ttavasc wrote:
Looking at the available documentation on the Andersen web site this was the only thing I could find that referred to specific tongue weights outside of their stated max. of 1400lbs. Just offering that as a possible reason for why somebody would have been told there was no "minimum tongue weight percentage". I mostly tow lower profile utility trailers and tend to load them tongue heavy because they pull better that way. So I'll pass on the 100lb tongue weight test.... 🙂

So if I understand you, you have an Andersen and you found that too light = bad towing?

[ttavasc]

cdevidal wrote:

handye9 wrote:
"For sway control to work well, you will need at least 100 lbs minimum tongue weight."

Care to try that, see if it sways? If so let us know your trailer weight too.

For clarity - handye9 didn't post the quote from Andersen stating 100lbs minimum tongue weight. That was in my post. Looking at the available documentation on the Andersen web site this was the only thing I could find that referred to specific tongue weights outside of their stated max. of 1400lbs. Just offering that as a possible reason for why somebody would have been told there was no "minimum tongue weight percentage". I mostly tow lower profile utility trailers and tend to load them tongue heavy because they pull better that way. So I'll pass on the 100lb tongue weight test.... 🙂

[SlowBro]

handye9 wrote:
"For sway control to work well, you will need at least 100 lbs minimum tongue weight."

Care to try that, see if it sways? If so let us know your trailer weight too.

[SlowBro]

Earl E wrote:
Sounds like a great theoretical discussion but I can't figure out why anybody would even care in the real world. In the real world our trailers all have at least 10% tongue weight, unless you purposely loaded up the back of the trailer. But why would you do that?

Less tongue weight = less likely to go over GVWR of the TV. We're right at capacity with ours. If I can eke out a few more pounds in the TV I can carry more stuff in the trailer.

[ttavasc]

handye9 wrote:

On an Andersen WD hitch, the ball shaft fits into a tapered cylinder. The outer surface of the shaft and the inside of that cylinder are covered with automotive brake material. It's the friction between the shaft and cylinder (brake material) that controls sway. Tongue weight causes that friction. More tongue weight means, stronger sway control. Less tongue, means weaker sway control. If tongue weight percentage got down to zero, there would be no sway control.

I have an Andersen WD hitch. With no weight on the ball, I can turn it (simulating sway) by hand.

It doesn't make sense that someone from Andersen would say something like "no minimum tongue weight percentage".

I've been considering the Andersen for a lighter weight TT we are looking to pick up in March or April. I found this statement in the "Which weight distribution kit do I need?" documentation on the Andersen web site:

"For sway control to work well, you will need at least 100 lbs minimum tongue weight."

I skimmed through their installation manual as well and don't recall seeing any recommendations in it regarding minimum tongue weights, etc. It seems to me there is an assumption that the end user would already have the necessary knowledge regarding appropriate tongue weights from other sources.

I've come across a number of rather lengthy threads on several different forums on the Andersen. There seem to be a lot of folks who like it as well as some who don't - pretty much par for the course of any forum discussion best I can tell. It does look like it works better for tongue weights less then 800lb's or so. As I expect my needs to be in the 400-500lb range this looks like a good, light-weight and easy to use option. Still looking though....

[fireman41]

Earl E wrote:
Sounds like a great theoretical discussion but I can't figure out why anybody would even care in the real world. In the real world our trailers all have at least 10% tongue weight, unless you purposely loaded up the back of the trailer. But why would you do that? I have an Andersen and I'm comforted by knowing that I don't have to worry about tongue weight. Beyond that I can't imagine why I'd mess with it. Fun discussion, though,

I would try it but some one need to buy me one of those nice scales and shovel out my tt.

[Earl_E]

Sounds like a great theoretical discussion but I can't figure out why anybody would even care in the real world. In the real world our trailers all have at least 10% tongue weight, unless you purposely loaded up the back of the trailer. But why would you do that? I have an Andersen and I'm comforted by knowing that I don't have to worry about tongue weight. Beyond that I can't imagine why I'd mess with it. Fun discussion, though,

[SlowBro]

Thanks Ron, I'll try to grok that later.

Meanwhile, I'd emailed the Andersen company re-asking the same question, for confirmation:
-------------
What is the minimum percentage of tongue weight to total trailer recommended? I called the factory and asked that question. The helpful woman on the phone told me there is no minimum percentage, even 5-4-3% is fine. I discussed this with some seasoned RVers and they didn't think that sounded right, especially since the Andersen hitch relies upon weight on the cone brake to minimize sway.
-------------
It takes a minimal amount of tongue weight to engage the anti-sway and bounce control due to when the hitch head is built we press the ball into the cone and aluminum housing causing the friction that is needed. The only time it could become an issue and not control the way it should is if you had a negative tongue weight by loading a trailer extremely heavy behind the trailer rear axle.
-------------
:h

Does someone with an Andersen wish to try it, for the sake of the community? Like, first try it with a percentage point less than you're comfortable, then shift more weight back, etc.

[Ron_Gratz]

cdevidal wrote:
Sorry I still don't get it. Maybe I'm dense? 5% is less weight than 10%. Less weight means potentially more sway, but this is corrected with the hitch.

I attempted to explain the importance of tongue weight percentage a few years ago in this post.

The post gives a procedure for estimating the minimum tongue weight percentage for good yaw stability.
Read through the post and find the equation, "TW% = 100/(1 + [{c + L/2}*{c + L/2}]/[L*L/12])".

The parameter "c" represents the tongue length which typically is around 4'.
The Hensley Arrow hitch effectively increases the tongue length to about 8'.
That increase in effective tongue length decreases the "optimum" TW%, but it does not decrease it to zero. And, it does not decrease it to 5%.

For the example scenario of uniformly distributed mass and a TT body length of 20', the theoretical optimum TW% is reduced from 14.5% to 9.0%.

Post back if you have questions.

Ron

[BenK]

Another is the pointing of the tongue

Level at its highest pointing...I like pointing slightly down

[SlowBro]

BarneyS wrote:

cdevidal wrote:

BarneyS wrote:
So Yes, the Hensley will work with 5% or perhaps even less tongue weight however, even though it will not allow the trailer to sway, I would not ever try to tow a trailer with that little amount.

Interesting. Why not?

Because I am a firm believer in doing things the right way and the right way to tow a trailer is to have the correct tongue weight percentage no matter what kind/type of hitch you have. It is not unheard of for a hitch to break and if that happens and you are towing with 5% hitch weight, with the travel trailers we have here in the U.S., you are in serious trouble unless you want to go really slow to your destination.
Barney

Sorry I still don't get it. Maybe I'm dense? 5% is less weight than 10%. Less weight means potentially more sway, but this is corrected with the hitch.

[BarneyS]

cdevidal wrote:

BarneyS wrote:
So Yes, the Hensley will work with 5% or perhaps even less tongue weight however, even though it will not allow the trailer to sway, I would not ever try to tow a trailer with that little amount.

Interesting. Why not?

Because I am a firm believer in doing things the right way and the right way to tow a trailer is to have the correct tongue weight percentage no matter what kind/type of hitch you have. It is not unheard of for a hitch to break and if that happens and you are towing with 5% hitch weight, with the travel trailers we have here in the U.S., you are in serious trouble unless you want to go really slow to your destination.
Barney

[SlowBro]

BarneyS wrote:
So Yes, the Hensley will work with 5% or perhaps even less tongue weight however, even though it will not allow the trailer to sway, I would not ever try to tow a trailer with that little amount.

Interesting. Why not?