Curious: difference between a WD hitch and Hensley Arrow

[ACZL]

Not owning a TT, but curious to know what the differences are (if any) between a WD hitch and a Hensley Arrow? Are they same thing? Have always read where a HA is super in keeping TT sway down, but I always was under the impression a WD does the same thing. If different, how so? Will a HA make a diff on a long TT ? Forgive me for asking a lot of questions, but as the old saying goes, curious minds want to know? LOL

TIA.

[PhilipB]

I once owned a Hensley Arrow. I started with traditional WD and friction sway control. The HA was a game changer. If they cost $500 instead of $2500 I think many more TT owners would have one. I never had any wear or maintenance issues.

[bgum]

HA is a very good hitch and controls sway very well. Unfortunately there are several parts considered wear parts. Those parts wear quickly and can cause other problems. For some reason I had lots of problems connecting the hitch to my TV. It was so frustrating that I sold the hitch with the trailer. I know I don't want any more and other hitches can do the job in a perfectly acceptable manner with much less care and feeding.

[Gdub2]

About $2,200

[Lwiddis]

No TT should have much sway. Is the tongue weight adequate?

[dedmiston]

Moved from Roads and Routes.

[mleekamp]

If I'm not mistaken, the ProPride is an improvement over the Hensley Arrow. Jim Hensley, the designer and holder of the patents on the design, licensed them to HA. He continued to make improvements and patents, and ProPride now licenses his improvements, creating a near similar hitch but with improvements. Does that mean it's better? I can't say, but we have used a ProPride and loved it.

I'd take either one -- but when we bought the PP, it was a matter of cost...less $$$ to buy new than HA.

[BurbMan]

Dick it's the ProPride 3P, they came to market with the same 4-bar design after Hensley's patent expired.

[Dick_B]

Our Equal-i-zer `reduces' the sway but the HA `elimates' the sway. It's an engineering marvel. There is one other product that uses the same principle as the HA but I can't think of the name now.
Senior moment...again.

[BurbMan]

The Hensley Arrow IS a WD hitch. Weight distributing simply means that spring bars are used to eliminate the sag at the hitch point by "distributing" weight from the tongue to the front and rear of the rig.

The primary difference is that the Hensley design uses a 4-bar linkage to eliminate sway. Rather than allowing the trailer to pivot on the hitch ball like a regular WD hitch, the 4-bar linkage locks the movement of the trailer on the ball and uses geometry to create a "virtual pivot point" that is forward of the rear axle of the tow vehicle, making a TT tow like a 5er.

There is a STICKY HERE on the TT forum titled Hensley Arrow- How It Really Works. It's many many pages and has some fantastic posts by Ron Gratz. Ron full times in a Class A and is a brilliant (retired) engineer who shed a lot of light into the mechanics of what makes the Hensley such a good hitch. Ron hasn't posted here in a while, not sure if he is still RVing.