bobbyg123 wrote: This sounds like a fantastic product. The W/D concept makes sense to me, but I'm still not clear about how the anti-sway works. If this product works as advertised, I'm going to give it a shot.
How the anti-sway works: take one hand and grip your other wrist. Try to turn your wrist. Now slide your hand a little ways up your arm, but keep the hand's diameter the same, and try again to turn your arm. It's harder.
That's how the Andersen works. The hitch ball and shaft are a solid piece of metal. The shaft has a bit of a taper to it, so it gets larger toward the ball end. It fits into a socket lined with grippy brake material. As the weight of the tongue pushes down on the ball, it wedges that tapered shaft down into the brake material in the socket, which makes the shaft hard to turn. The chains force the shaft to turn right along with the trailer; the trailer does not pivot on the ball, rather the trailer, ball and shaft move as one.
I'm not following you; what do you mean by "shaft"? It looks like the tongue sits on a conventional ball and there are 2 chains that have plastic springs at the end. Sorry, but I'm trying to understand this new hitch.
I'm not following you; what do you mean by "shaft"? It looks like the tongue sits on a conventional ball and there are 2 chains that have plastic springs at the end. Sorry, but I'm trying to understand this new hitch.
Honestly. You should look at the andersen website and watch the video. It shows it pretty well.
bobbyg123 wrote: This sounds like a fantastic product. The W/D concept makes sense to me, but I'm still not clear about how the anti-sway works. If this product works as advertised, I'm going to give it a shot.
How the anti-sway works: take one hand and grip your other wrist. Try to turn your wrist. Now slide your hand a little ways up your arm, but keep the hand's diameter the same, and try again to turn your arm. It's harder.
That's how the Andersen works. The hitch ball and shaft are a solid piece of metal. The shaft has a bit of a taper to it, so it gets larger toward the ball end. It fits into a socket lined with grippy brake material. As the weight of the tongue pushes down on the ball, it wedges that tapered shaft down into the brake material in the socket, which makes the shaft hard to turn. The chains force the shaft to turn right along with the trailer; the trailer does not pivot on the ball, rather the trailer, ball and shaft move as one.
I'm not following you; what do you mean by "shaft"? It looks like the tongue sits on a conventional ball and there are 2 chains that have plastic springs at the end. Sorry, but I'm trying to understand this new hitch.
See this link to the pics of the shank (aka shaft)on the tow ball and the friction material lining. The tow ball shank is machined on a taper that wedges down into the tapered brake material liner held by the tapered socket of the hitch shank in the truck receiver. The weight of the trailer tongue applies a force down on the tow ball shank wedging it into the brake pad material.
The tow ball shank is pinned to the bottom chain plate which is held from rotating by the chains and urethane springs. The chain plate can only move a small amount by the spring compression at the ends of the chain however the truck as it turns moves the hitch shank a lot if needed. The hitch shank slips around the tow ball shank. Since the to ball shank/shaft are held by the chains and springs there is still a lot of resistance from the brake material between the truck and the camper. Sway forces agasint the side of the TT are resisted from making the TV and TT connection pivot at the tow ball by the amount of grip (friction) from the tow ball shank in the brake pad material.
Does this help?
John & Cindy
2005 Ford F350 Super Duty, 4x4; 6.8L V10 with 4.10
CC, SB, Lariat & FX4 package
21,000 GCWR, 11,000 GVWR
Ford Tow Command
1,700# Reese HP hitch & HP Dual Cam
2 1/2" Towbeast Receiver
2004 Sunline Solaris T310SR
(I wish we were camping!)
I got the Andersen hitch all setup, it would have only taken 30-40 mins to assemble everything. But my hitch was missing 1 of the big washers that goes between the nut and bushing also I had to put 1 link extension in the chains because the brackets were too close to the propane tank for my taste. Luckily my dad owned an excavating company until he retired 4 years ago, he had everything in his shop that I needed. Everything went together very well, the directions were good also.
I don't know what the actual weight transfer is but here are the measurements that I had. We did weigh the tongue of the trailer the other day with a 1000lb scale we had in the shop, tongue weight was 648lbs.
Also all these were with 1/4" compression of the bushing.
truck empty-- front 40 1/4", rear 40 1/4"
camper hooked no WD-- front 40 3/8", rear 39 1/4"
camper hooked with WD front 40 1/8", rear 40"
Hopefully we will be going camping in about a month, so I will report back with more then.
2004 F150 FX4, with lots of mods and way too much money dumped into the truck for said mods
2012 Grey Wolf 26BH
bobbyg123 wrote: This sounds like a fantastic product. The W/D concept makes sense to me, but I'm still not clear about how the anti-sway works. If this product works as advertised, I'm going to give it a shot.
How the anti-sway works: take one hand and grip your other wrist. Try to turn your wrist. Now slide your hand a little ways up your arm, but keep the hand's diameter the same, and try again to turn your arm. It's harder.
That's how the Andersen works. The hitch ball and shaft are a solid piece of metal. The shaft has a bit of a taper to it, so it gets larger toward the ball end. It fits into a socket lined with grippy brake material. As the weight of the tongue pushes down on the ball, it wedges that tapered shaft down into the brake material in the socket, which makes the shaft hard to turn. The chains force the shaft to turn right along with the trailer; the trailer does not pivot on the ball, rather the trailer, ball and shaft move as one.
I'm not following you; what do you mean by "shaft"? It looks like the tongue sits on a conventional ball and there are 2 chains that have plastic springs at the end. Sorry, but I'm trying to understand this new hitch.
See this link to the pics of the shank (aka shaft)on the tow ball and the friction material lining. The tow ball shank is machined on a taper that wedges down into the tapered brake material liner held by the tapered socket of the hitch shank in the truck receiver. The weight of the trailer tongue applies a force down on the tow ball shank wedging it into the brake pad material.
The tow ball shank is pinned to the bottom chain plate which is held from rotating by the chains and urethane springs. The chain plate can only move a small amount by the spring compression at the ends of the chain however the truck as it turns moves the hitch shank a lot if needed. The hitch shank slips around the tow ball shank. Since the to ball shank/shaft are held by the chains and springs there is still a lot of resistance from the brake material between the truck and the camper. Sway forces agasint the side of the TT are resisted from making the TV and TT connection pivot at the tow ball by the amount of grip (friction) from the tow ball shank in the brake pad material.
Does this help?
Thanks John, now I see what's happening. The few photos I saw of the hitch assembled didn't show the shank and friction material but it makes sense now seeing it broken down.
Have you read, or has Andersen indicated how long the brake material around the shank will last?
Will purchasers of the Andersen hitch be forced to buy a new Hitch X number of years from now, or will the hitch last for years and years?
That is a question I have aswell but have not asked.
While I was in search of a new hitch, I asked the president of Andersen hitch company "How often would I need to replace that brake material?". His answer to me was "never".
If you look back a few pages, you will see that I bought the model 3380.
I haven't used the hitch because I'm waiting for a new TT that won't be delivered until May. Only want do install and set up once.
Have you read, or has Andersen indicated how long the brake material around the shank will last?
Will purchasers of the Andersen hitch be forced to buy a new Hitch X number of years from now, or will the hitch last for years and years?
That is a question I have aswell but have not asked.
While I was in search of a new hitch, I asked the president of Andersen hitch company "How often would I need to replace that brake material?". His answer to me was "never".
If you look back a few pages, you will see that I bought the model 3380.
I haven't used the hitch because I'm waiting for a new TT that won't be delivered until May. Only want do install and set up once.
Thank you
Yes I had read that it was said to never wear out and I can kind of see that considering the actual amount the hitch is used.
Well I hope it is well worth the wait for your new trailer! It would be tough to wait that long knowing what I had coming in may lol
Offline
Online
