We have the second Andersen hitch that Escape installed. It does not have a snap ring, but it did come with a steel collar that mounts below the hitch, just like the yoke does. They told us that if we tow something other than our Escape (without the yoke attached), the collar will prevent the ball from coming up out of the aluminum housing. I guess this is a reasonable concern with a lightly loaded tongue, rough road, etc. Shortly thereafter, they switched to the groove and snap ring. We have also had an instance of the red sleeve migrating down into the aluminum housing. Andersen sent us a new one, and there have been no further problems. I'm still happy with the Andersen, but I won't try to convince anyone that it's vastly superior to a conventional WDH. Just different, lighter, and maybe easier to work with.
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