WD hitch design versus TV ride quality

[Timtation]

My wife recently talked to a friend about being uncomfortable while towing due to harsh ride. Her friend mentioned they had recently changed hitches and she felt the ride improved greatly.
Comments, opinions or better yet, experiences.
Thanks

[TomG2]

carringb wrote:
How does a Hensley or ProPride result in a better ride than any other round-bar weight-distribution hitch?

They cost more, so they must work better. Right??

[carringb]

How does a Hensley or ProPride result in a better ride than any other round-bar weight-distribution hitch?

[Zeppe807]

Timtation wrote:
Local CL has a Hensley Arrow for $1K this versus probably $650 for the Andersen. Does the Hensley really separate the loading or dampen the effect of the loading from the TV? I can see how the Andersen dampens via the plastic cylinders but the Hensley just seems to be a series of disconnects. I am thinking mush connection, kindalike 1950 power steering.

I would highly recommend the HA. Look back at my previous post, my first thread. It was a total game changer. Since I have gotten mine, my father has gotten one and has started to use his 1/2 ton to tow his 26ft trailer. Both of us will not go back. The mile the two of us have towed trailers of all sorts is unimaginable, but the HA enhances the ride, control, and trip.

There is not slop, no slushy feelings, it's just smooth.

Joe

[Timtation]

Local CL has a Hensley Arrow for $1K this versus probably $650 for the Andersen. Does the Hensley really separate the loading or dampen the effect of the loading from the TV? I can see how the Andersen dampens via the plastic cylinders but the Hensley just seems to be a series of disconnects. I am thinking mush connection, kindalike 1950 power steering.

[rbpru]

When I picked up my TT, I backed the TV into the garage, the dealer installed the Blue Ox WD hitch and except for adding or subtracting a chain link to keep the TT level, I have never had an issue.

[ttavasc]

Timtation wrote:
Thanks to all for the responses. It seems it is a good idea to either drill a set point into the rail to hold that bracket in place or tack weld the bracket. I have seen several posts here and elsewhere that mention the movement of the bracket.

Actually I did drill for the set screw on my brackets before finally tack welding - in my case it didn't help. I got the "Universal Frame Brackets" which fit several different sizes of frames. On those the set screw is high up near the top of the bracket and is very close to the pivot point. I'm not sure if it's located further down the bracket on the specific-sized brackets, but I think it would work better the further away from the pivot point it gets.

That being said I really do like the hitch now that it's dialed in. We just got back from an almost 400 mile round trip where I found it to be very stable when being passed by semi's and in some good stiff crosswinds as we headed out to the coast. But in my opinion they need to address the slipping in a more reliable way, and ideally without a weld.

[LuckeyUs]

Hensley Arrow, wonderful ride, don't feel the tt at all.

[Timtation]

Thanks to all for the responses. It seems it is a good idea to either drill a set point into the rail to hold that bracket in place or tack weld the bracket. I have seen several posts here and elsewhere that mention the movement of the bracket.
Now I just need to find the billfold with the moths so I can extract some of those misplaced large bills.
Tim

[Zeppe807]

lanerd wrote:
If the friend went to a Hensley or Pro Pride, I can understand the statement. We had the Dual Cam and went to the HA, and the difference was night and day.

Ron

X2

It has been the best thing I've done.

Wife and kiddos are happy.


Joe

[BubbaChris]

Not CAT scales, but this was my weight sheet with my Andersen shortly after getting it.



We could not try to dial in more front weight as my frame mounts had already slipped and limited our adjustments. A few thousand miles later I believe that if I put 5-turns or more into the system I'm more likely to have sway issues that my Ford intervenes with. I also realize I'm possibly too light on the tongue, but test drives with 160lbs of water softener salt in the basement showed no improvement.

[badercubed]

fla-gypsy wrote:
Depends on many factors, just changing hitches will change the ride but not neccessarily make it beter. I find my F-250 actually rides softer with the lod attached.

My F-250 definitely rides "softer" with my TT attached.

[fla-gypsy]

Depends on many factors, just changing hitches will change the ride but not neccessarily make it beter. I find my F-250 actually rides softer with the load attached.

[djsamuel]

Towing with a Ram 1500 and an Andersen hitch. I would HIGHLY recommend the hitch; but as posted above be sure to verify it's suitability based on the amount of weight distribution required. I have a relatively light trailer (Camplite 21BHS) and the truck sits pretty level without any WDH at all. However, the sway control and the control of bouncing over bridges, bumps etc., make the Andersen a great hitch for me and others.

[ttavasc]

Ron Gratz wrote:
If you are towing a "very heavy 2003 25' TT", its tongue weight probably is heavy enough that the Andersen WDH would not be able to achieve 100% Front Axle Load Restoration.

It would be a good idea to know what the loaded tongue weight is before considering an Andersen WDH.

Ron

I would agree with this. I did considerable research before finally picking up the Andersen. There is a lot of noise when it comes to hitch discussions and with the Andersen not a lot of what I would consider reliable or real world details at this point. When I looked at the postings I was able to find by folks who were actually using the Andersen my conclusion was that with tongue weights above 750-800lbs there seemed to be less success in getting 100% FALR. I do recall one user with an 1100lb tongue weight that reported no issues with FALR, but that seemed to be an exception. I think I saw a posting that stated Andersen is making the polyurethane bushings stiffer in an effort to help the higher tongue weights. Also, it was hard to find posted CAT scale results for the Andersen.

For those folks who were getting sufficient FALR the reports were generally favorable in terms of ride and sway control. Since my tongue weights are around 450lbs this seemed like a good choice given the ease of hitching/unhitching plus clean and quiet. I've had to spend some time dialing in the setup as with any new hitch, but now that I've gone through that it's working very well.

One note from my experience in getting it adjusted - be prepared to accept a tack weld on each of the outer brackets in order to avoid having them slip forward once the chains are tightened. I torqued my to 120lbs (100lbs is recommended) and they still slipped a bit. I could tell after pulling for a while that things were loosening up just a bit. Now that I have the tack weld in place things are working just great.