Andersen Hitch

[Rossue]

You dont want 1000# bars for trailers with max 600# tongue weight as they are too stiff. ETI sells the Pro Series RB2 and so does etrailer.

[Sandra L]

Thanks to all of you for your help. Your input is appreciated.

[arniesea]

Originally Posted by Sandra L

How terrible! He should have known better to begin with and I wonder if he skated.

He was really remorseful and made amends.


https://www.eastidahonews.com/2018/0...tremely-sorry/

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

wow, I just looked at your last picture... you should grease the bars where they fit into the hitch...

The entire head was recently replaced. I was spraying with white lithium grease ( from time to time ).

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Sandra L

How terrible! He should have known better to begin with and I wonder if he skated.

he apparently didn't, but as the article suggests, after being called on it, he apologized profusely. it was a stupid thing to do. I own some andersen products purchased before this stupidity, and there was probably a year I would have boycotted them and found an alternative, but I think he's learned his lesson, so time to move on. if they continue to make the good stuff I'd buy again.

[gbaglo]

All I have to say is, he wasn't ten years old at the time.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

All I have to say is, he wasn't ten years old at the time.

physically, mentally, or emotionally?

[cpaharley2008]

IMHO, defacing public property is not as abhorable as those trophy hunting pictures taken and then posted!

[Bobbito]

We love our Andersen hitch and would get it again. Friends of ours bought one for their Lance before we met them and feel the same. We both had experience with Reece WDHs and would not go back. Yes, lining up the hitch orientation can be a bit finicky on rare occasions, but the towing experience is much better and the hardware weighs so much less. Clearly there was a period where this hitch had issues with the cone collar material. Before or after this period (2016?) I think the problem wasn’t common.
And though I think the company owner’s defacing nature was disgusting, I would not let that stop me getting what for me is a better towing experience.
Bob K

[Chotch]

Originally Posted by Sandra L

How terrible! He should have known better to begin with and I wonder if he skated.

Yes he should have known better, but he did try to make it right as best he could. Someone posted the other side of the story. It’s good to try and get the whole picture not just 1 view.😎

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Chotch

Someone posted the other side of the story. It’s good to try and get the whole picture not just 1 view.😎

What on earth was the other side of the story?

[Chotch]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

What on earth was the other side of the story?

🤔 I guess the rest of the story, sorry ....
Where he admitted he did wrong and tried to make it right. There is no good reason for what he initially did.

[Farther]

This is just my opinion, so take it for what its worth. I get a gut feeling that he is sorry he got caught and called out on it, not that he did it.

[Brian B-P]

By coincidence, there was a question about the Andersen No-Sway in another thread. I first responded there, but in hindsight I think it really belongs here (because this is the thread specific to this WD hitch), so I'll copy the question to here, and move my reply...

Originally Posted by jeromed

I know the Andersen No-Sway will not work with surge brakes. What issues are there with it if you have electric brakes? All the reviews seem to be quite glowing.

All designs of WD do their job by apply a torque (twisting force) between the trailer and the tow vehicle, to force connection point up, and as a result to force the tow vehicle's front that the trailer's axles down. They all do this by applying a large force with a stiff spring at the end of a lever arm from the ball. Almost all WD designs use long steel bars as both the springs and the levers, using them to pull downward on the trailer; traditionally they use chains but some have the spring bars riding directly on brackets, so they have to slide. Since the bars are pulling down on the trailer, they add downward force on the ball through the coupler and head.

The Andersen No-Sway uses polyurethane cylinders for springs (which is fine), and transmits the force through chains. The chains pull forward on the trailer brackets and rearward on the bottom of the hitch head assembly, so that head is the lever... but from ball to chain bracket it is much shorter than typical spring arms, so for the same weight-distributing action (torque) the force must be much higher. Since the chains are pulling forward on the trailer, they add force forward on the ball through the coupler.

So, how is any of this an issue?

1. A coupler is not normally pushed against the back of the ball with much force (compared to vertical weight) or for very long (just briefly for braking), and in some coupler designs the latch at the back is damaged by wear due to the high sustained force applied by the Andersen system.
2. The brackets on the frame of the trailer are continually being pulled by large forces, so they tend to shift and twist position on the frame.

The horizontal pull of chains and force on the ball is why this design does not work with surge brakes.

The whole point of the Andersen design is to have friction resisting trailer sway. They do this by mounting the ball on a point-down cone, setting that cone into a socket in the head lined with material like a brake pad, and using a pair of chains to force the cone to turn with the trailer; this way, the tongue weight forces the cone into the socket and turning the trailer moves the cone in socket against a lot of friction. This is the clever part of the design, because a heavier trailer with more tongue weight gets more sway-reducing friction, and you get this friction even with minimal weight-distribution effect if desired; however...

• They had problems with the friction material working its way out of the head, which may now be solved.
• The cone jams in the socket so that when unhitched the plate to which the chains attach can't be turned by hand, making alignment of the trailer and tow vehicle important while hooking up, or requiring a multi-step hitching process to get the cone and plate turned to allow completion of chain hook-up.

Unrelated to the basic design, but resulting from some detail design deficiencies, the chains can rub against the square tubing guides that they go through on the trailer frame brackets, causing wear.

In addition, Andersen only makes one version (capacity rating) of the No-Sway hitch system, so for a light trailer the chains are unnecessarily heavy and the springs are stiffer than appropriate... but most people don't have a big issue with the chains and don't realize that the springs are too stiff.

Then there's the minor annoyance that some people don't understand how the Andersen No-Sway works, so they insist that your WD must not work and therefore you must have been an idiot to buy it. That was actually a big online discussion when this system was new.

[Gori]

Originally Posted by Farther

This is just my opinion, so take it for what its worth. I get a gut feeling that he is sorry he got caught and called out on it, not that he did it.

YEP! You said it.

[Mike G]

Brian had a good rundown on the system. I'll add that I have owned and used both the Andersen and the Equal-i-zer (big brother to the E2). Both worked well for me; the jiggling was greatly reduced from the ride and the trailer felt very stable (versus no sway control). I had to drill a dimple for the set screw to keep it from walking forward on the trailer frame, but otherwise no issues. My preference was for the Andersen due to its light weight chains which are easier to store and get back out than the big bars.



As far as hooking back up, 90% of the time I found myself backing up at almost exactly the same angle to the trailer as when I'd left it. The other 10%, hooking up meant tightening one of the chains to sort of 'winch around' the bottom piece to the proper angle; it just meant a little extra work with a socket wrench.


The consensus on another big RV forum a few years back was that the Andersen doesn't have enough leverage to truly level out a rig if the tongue weight exceeds about 700 lbs or so. This doesn't affect Escape owners, though.



YMMV. I think whether you like it better than what you have will depend on how much you want to be rid of the heavy, long bars. Everything has its tradeoffs.

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by Mike G

... I think whether you like it better than what you have will depend on how much you want to be rid of the heavy, long bars. Everything has its tradeoffs.

I like to use those heavy long bars as part of my strength training routine!

[Defenestrator]

In terms of the friction material working its way out, they seem to have added a retaining ring that should take care of that.

[yardsale]

Originally Posted by Defenestrator

In terms of the friction material working its way out, they seem to have added a retaining ring that should take care of that.

Yep, we have a third generation Anderson that features a cap on top of the friction material which purports to keep debris out of the area which caused the racket the older units sometimes made. It seems to work well but we have never used anything else to compare it with.

[etuna]

We ordered the Andersen hitch with our 2015 Escape 19. After 4 years and 44,000 km of towing with both a Ford Ranger and F150, we are still very happy with the Andersen. It’s weight distribution and sway control functions perform flawlessly. Hitching and unhitching are easy and storage when not in use in the Escape cargo box is a snap. Would not hesitate to buy again.