New Andersen WD hitch

[JBarca]

A fellow camper bud showed me this. It's new and different.

Anyone using one?

Andersen WD hitches

A U-tube video with the factory guy explaining it. You have to get past MR Truck doing his intro. Interesting 5th wheel hitch too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvM7mCnqmwo&feature=related

It looks like this



I'll hold my comments for a short while to not cloud your thoughts. Ideally we can find someone here using one to quiz them on it.

John

[CHD_Dad]

Once they rotate and bottom out they shouldnt move anymore with the setscrew in the hole. That is the way they appear to be designed. If they rotated so much that they are way out of alignment and you feel you may have issues then you would have to resort to welding them on.

[renojack]

The brackets appear to have rotated on the set screw. The bracket bolts were torqued to the recommended 100 ft lbs. Suprized me.

[CHD_Dad]

Even with the holes drilled for the setscrew the brackets moved? How is that even possible? Did the screw break or did the hole oval out? I would think the setscrew would just act as a pivot point if it was in a hole and once the bracket bolts bottom out on the frame rail from rotation I cant see it moving.

[PHS79]

Disconnect the battery, just to be on the safe side. The odd are that nothing will happen with the battery hooked up, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

[renojack]

I received my Anderson Hitch package from RadAuto.com on Monday afternoon (ordered Wednesday noon}. Installed it today twice. The first time the sets screws did not hold. I drilled holes on the outside of the frame to seat the set screws on the frame rail and reasembled. The second time a short test drive found that the frame brackets have moved. I plan to have the welding option in the instructions completed tomorrow. The test drive was good though The ride seemed firmer with less bounce and noise. There were 35-50- mile andn hour winds, but I was in town and uder 40 MPH. Howerever I noticed NO SWAY.

My BIG question is when I have this arcwelding done on the bracket to the frame tommorrow, is there any precaution that I must take like taking the negative ground cable off the battery to protect electronics on board?

I would appreciate your thoughts as soon as possible before the welding of the brackets tomorrow.

Thanks

[Lady_Fitzgerald]

Bruce H. wrote:
There is no locking mechanism, but in my 1,200 miles with this hitch, there has been no backing off of the nut.

If there ever is a problem with them backing off, just get another pair of nuts from Anderson (standard nuts won't fit the Acme thread Anderson used) and use them for jam nuts.

[Bruce_H_]

There is no locking mechanism, but in my 1,200 miles with this hitch, there has been no backing off of the nut.

[BenK]

Is there a locking mechanism on the nut and/or threaded stud ?

Or has anyone found that the nut backs off ?

[Bruce_H_]

There has some recent discussion about how to achieve consistency in compressing the urethane springs. How I do it is to first count threads, then use a General Tools 300/1 ruler which I have marked with a permanent marker. Works great! The ruler is less than $3.00 and I found it at the local Orchard Supply Hardware store.

[PHS79]

We just got back from our first weekend using the new camper and the Andersen hitch. Since this was our first actual trip with this whole new setup I was fooling around with the compression of the bushings.

On the way to the camp ground we had 20-25mph winds with gusts to 35, I had 6 threads showing which was just a hair under 3/16" of compression. There was no bounce at all and but a little bit of sway with the higher winds.

On the way home winds were only 10-20 mph with gusts to 25, I had 9 threads showing which is 1/4" of compression. The camper pulled very well, no bounce or noticeable sway.

CHD Dad wrote:

3) The hookup was fine as long as you were always in exact alignment with disconnect. If your angle was off when you went to hookup again they were unable to rotate the ball easily to line things back up. There was just too much pressure from it being set down in the tapered shank and lining. They even put a small bar into the pin hole to try and rotate the ball. That worked, but it took some serious tugging.

When I hooked up to leave the campground the 2 holes, one on the plate and one on the ball, were not in alignment. I just put the pin into the bottom of the ball and gave it 2 hits with a hammer, and it rotated enough to get everything in place. And didn't take but an extra 30 seconds to walk to the storage compartment and grab the hammer and walk back.

[BenK]

I think the lack of bounce is both that the plastic springs do NOT respond as
quickly as a steel spring does. Meaning that there is a delay or dampening of
the pothole/etc does to the WD Setup (compresses the spring further and then
releases it quickly)

Other is that the amount of compression is less than with the traditional WD
springs

[CHD_Dad]

mrad wrote:

CHD Dad wrote:




3) The hookup was fine as long as you were always in exact alignment with disconnect. If your angle was off when you went to hookup again they were unable to rotate the ball easily to line things back up. There was just too much pressure from it being set down in the tapered shank and lining. They even put a small bar into the pin hole to try and rotate the ball. That worked, but it took some serious tugging.

I have not found this to be an issue. Last week I unhooked at an almost a 120 degrees. I used a piece of blocking to pry the hitch back. I have had other times where I parked at 150 degree angle and was able to hookup easily.

I am just relaying what I was told. They said it was not easy, but it was possible. It was something to take into account when hooking or unhooking. I really like the design and lightweight aspects. I like the lack of bounce. I dont like all the mystery surrounding using the coupler and latch in a way that it wasnt designed. I guess we just need to wait and see how things turn out with users of the hitch.

[mrad]

CHD Dad wrote:




3) The hookup was fine as long as you were always in exact alignment with disconnect. If your angle was off when you went to hookup again they were unable to rotate the ball easily to line things back up. There was just too much pressure from it being set down in the tapered shank and lining. They even put a small bar into the pin hole to try and rotate the ball. That worked, but it took some serious tugging.

I have not found this to be an issue. Last week I unhooked at an almost a 120 degrees. I used a piece of blocking to pry the hitch back. I have had other times where I parked at 150 degree angle and was able to hookup easily.

[CHD_Dad]

Did the couple latch loading by using this hitch ever get addressed? I know there has been lots of discussion about it. I just found out after calling Andersen that a local dealer got one in for review to see if they wanted to carry it. I called the dealer and they are not sure they want to use them. This is what they told me over the phone (they normally carry Reese Dual Cams for the higher end and the basic EZ Lift/Curt for the low end).

Pros:
1) The hitch DOES reduce bounce by a significant amount. They tested this with a F150 and a 32ft camper with a weight of 5500#. The TT and TV were already setup with the basic EZ Lift round bar hitch with a friction bar. There are railroad tracks close to the dealer and they drove back and forth over them with the Andersen vs. the EZ Lift. With the Andersen the truck only bounced 1, maybe 2 times at worse. With the EZ setup they counted up to 5-6 times.

2) The setup was pretty quick. Install was fast (about 45 minutes taking their time). The single pin hookup and disconnect was nice (but see notes below).

3) Nice and lightweight. Also seemed to be built well.

Cons:
1) The coupler latch: The first thing they noticed was how the whole dynamic of towing the TT was changed. You are no longer using the coupler for its intended purpose. You are now towing it with the chains and brackets attached to the frame rails. The coupler is just a rotating point now with no pulling pressure on it. Instead all the pressure is from the opposite direction of design.

2) They were unsure of long term effect of towing the TT this way. Its never been done before obviously. The frame rails should be fine, the angle of pull is the same with the chains vs. the coupler. The pulling is being concentrated on the brackets and bolts using the small set screw as a fulcrum for the bracket. The screw never moved (they followed the three turn after contact install) but it did crush in the rail.

3) The hookup was fine as long as you were always in exact alignment with disconnect. If your angle was off when you went to hookup again they were unable to rotate the ball easily to line things back up. There was just too much pressure from it being set down in the tapered shank and lining. They even put a small bar into the pin hole to try and rotate the ball. That worked, but it took some serious tugging.

So while there were definitely some pluses, there were also some negatives. The head guys biggest worry was how the TT was being towed now, using those chains and brackets vs. the ball and coupler. He also had doubts on the longevity of the latch. He didnt think it would be an instant failure, and it could be just fine for the occasional camper. If you tow a lot he thought there would be premature failure of the coupler vs. standard usage.

On both hitches, sway seemed to be well controlled. Normally they would recommend running dual friction bars on the 32ft camper but they wanted to leave things setup as they were for the test.

If they do carry it, they were going to try and limit the sales to occasional use campers and also lighter campers (to keep the chain tension down) until more long term durability is known.

[renojack]

Clonefan wrote:
How are the bracket sizes fitted? I'm trying to figure out which brackets to get when I place my order. I see there are three different sizes, 3"-4", 4 3/8", and 5"-6".

My trailer rails are 4 1/2" as best I as I can tell, but the edges are rounded, so it could be close. Are the brackets the sizes noted above or are they sized for the trailer width?

Thanks in advance!

I spoke with Jason at Anderson today and he was very helpful with my questions. One question was regarding the rail clamps. He assured me that my measurement of 6" on the frame rail would be accommodated by the 5-6; brackets (i.e there was six inches between the shanks of the attachment bolts, not a bracket 6"long). Measure very closely and call him. and mybe you have just slightly misread the tape(only 1/8") I would guess? that 43/8 is a standard frame rail.