Last night we made our first trip with the Andersen weight distribution/anti sway hitch.
The trip was 65 miles of most single lane highway. I would guess the weight of the trailer was around 9,200- 9,400 lbs. This is based on having a CAT scale weight of 9,800 on one of our longer trips last year. This year we just threw a few thing in and off we went. TV was a 2003 Excursion with the V10. TT was a Palimino Sabre 30dsbh. Dry weight is 8,226lbs.
We were never passes by a semi so I was unable to observe handling in that situation. We did have a couple semi's and motor coaches drive by us going the opposite direction. We didn't notice any change. At one point on the trip we noticed the rear seemed to be bouncing quite a bit. We were trying to recall if we bounced this much last year with our Equalizer. We didn't remember bouncing as much. I wondered if the road was in worse shape as road restrictions are still on. When we arrived a the campsite, the friend we met commented on how bad the road was. They had a fifth wheel and complained of how bumpy it was. While on the 2 mile stretch of freeway, we I did notice a very small push (both truck and TT) when passes by a truck with a large enclosed car hauler. I would also noticed this last year with my equalizer.
The hitch really shined when it was time to take it off. So much easier ( and lighter) than the equalizer.
After taking some before and after measurements of my wheel wells, I am planning on tightening the chains another thread on the way home tomorrow. I kinda wish I would have brought the equalizer also so I could hook it up on the way home to compare the two. Overall, I would say it performed very close, if not as well as the equalizer, and, I am fairly certain I do not have it dialed in yet. It will be much easier to adjust than the equalizer, especially if the ball needs to be raised or lowered. I may take a different route home which would allow me to stay on the freeway for 25 miles in hopes of having some semi's pass me. So far I am pleasantly surprised. I was a little leery when looking at the simplicity of the hitch, that it could work as well as it did on this short trip.
On my return trip home today I took to freeway for about 25-30 miles. I only had one semi pass me and two class A motor homes. Neither was felt more that when the truck is dirving with no TT. Unfortunatley the weather conditions were almost perfect. Wind was probably less than 5 miles per hour. I commented to my wife that I hardly noticed the trailer was behind us.
I will have to do a bit more adjusting. The wheel well drops from about 40" unloaded to 37 3/4" while the front wheel wel is going from 38 1/8" to just under 38 3/8". I will need a deeper socket as I was at almost 8 threads and an almost out of socket. I will call Andersen tomorrow for added suggestions.
The trailer brackets did slip a little on the top and were no longer perpendicular. I will have to re-adjust them and give them a bit more torque when tightening.
With no more trips planned over the next 2+ weeks, I may have to wait for a windy day and go for a drive on the 4 lane highway.
mrad, good to see your post. We too have a 30' trailer and excursion with andersen hitch. We just ran a trip to the coast on a single lane winding mountain road.
Going out. I find that this hitch or TV/TT is finicky when it comes to weight displacement. IE, I put my trailer on what I thought was flat ground. Measured the wheel wells and was,
No trailer 39.75" rear and 37.25 front.
With trailer 38 and 1/8 Rear and 38.25 front
NOTE: I have "helper" springs only on rear. They only have about a 1500lb rating in that regard.
My kodiak is 7760 empty and was weighed at 7900 loaded. All weight was in the nose compartment.
Towing to the coast I felt a lot of pull "back" from the trailer. Meaning in the dips the truck felt like it was being pulled backards on the rise. Once we arrived we noticed that the trailer looked like it had too much tongue weight. We have the 4" hitch system and had to flip it over. Meaning make it taller, then set the ball at that lowest setting. Re-connected the trailer and tensioned the chains to 6 threads.
It tows better, but not great, the pulling back feeling is gone. I am curious about going a little tighter to 7-8 threads. One major thing was on the way back we had a slight side wind, about 2-5mph. Nothing major, barely enough to move grass on the side of the road. But I was getting pushed around a bit, enough I had to slow to 50mph. It's obvious the set up isn't correct and needs more tuning.
Here is my problem with this set up. It's too new, and the excursion is known for being difficult to set up a trailer for.
While on our way back from the coast we hit a scale and as we were re-setting the hitch it just so happened a local RV dealer rolled up to the scale to get some weight measurements. He asked if I needed any help and came to check things out.
He just scratched his head and said, because they were so un-familure with the hitch they decided not to carry the andersen system. What he feared is what I was having issues with, which for them, would be a huge labor cost factor.
Right now, I'm giving the system the bennefit of the doubt as I have made good strides in dialing in the system.
However, my concerns.
1. It was only Amy and I on this trip, so no other passengers, how finicky is this setup that I'm going to have to make adjustments and sweat bullets everytime I tow?
2. I have yet to find a dealer that knows anything about the hitch or how to set it up. They also won't touch it.
Here is some things you Must Know.
1. You have to have some tongue weight but not too much
2. You can't be tail heavy on your trailer or the sway won't work.
3. A set up that work on one vehicle type won't work on another even with the same trailer and weights.
2012 Kodiak 300BHSL Ultimate with Fall Edition Package
2003 Ford Excursion V10
tim and amy wrote: snip...
Towing to the coast I felt a lot of pull "back" from the trailer. Meaning in the dips the truck felt like it was being pulled backards on the rise.
Suspect that 'pulling back' is something most all users of this system
will encounter
As that is the way it works...you are pulling the trailer via the chain
and bushings.
The coupler 'front' does NOT contact the ball. So when you accelerate
the system compresses the bushing to have the ball leave contact of
the coupler latch (behind).
When the trailer 'catches up', the ball will be pulled 'back' into the
latch
Suggest you folks keep anything to do with this Anderson system on
the original thread. Otherwise, there will be many, many separate
threads to have it disassociated with the original. Okay if it has
been on the market a loooooooong time, but since fairly new, think
it would benefit all if consolidated on one thread.
Here is the original thread and the diagram that might help you understand
that 'back' feeling...if you haven't already read that thread. Will
also post this thread over there trying to keep the continuity
BenK wrote: This is a quick and dirty vector diagram of how I see it working
Even if there is NOT slop (tolerance) in the coupler to ball...there will be over
time.
Then the wear of the friction material will allow the tapered shank to tilt
back and forth over time.
So in pulling the chain, it pushes the tongue against the ball via
where I say the pawl is. That then creates the same lever arm most
all other WD systems look like.
Then the TV pulls and the ball wants to go towards the coupler front
(away from the pawl). Then does the ball bang back and forth inside
the coupler?
{edit}...ops...put the bushing on the wrong side of the tongue bracket, but
think you guys know what I meant.
It is really difficult to see how it truly works without detailed
cross section diagrams or exploded assembly diagram
Go Brady !!!...home town kid just up the street from me
-Ben Picture of my rig
1996 GMC SLT Suburban 3/4 ton K3500/7.4L/4:1/+150Kmiles orig owner...
1980 Chevy Silverado C10/long bed/"BUILT" 5.7L/3:73/1 ton helper springs/+329Kmiles, bought it from dad...
1998 Mazda B2500 (1/2 ton) pickup, 2nd owner...
Praise Dyno Brake equiped and all have "nose bleed" braking!
Previous trucks/offroaders: 40's Jeep restored in mid 60's / 69 DuneBuggy (approx +1K lb: VW pan/200hpCorvair: eng, cam, dual carb'w velocity stacks'n 18" runners, 4spd transaxle) made myself from ground up / 1970 Toyota FJ40 / 1973 K5 Blazer (2dr Tahoe, 1 ton axles front/rear, +255K miles when sold it)...
Sold the boat (looking for another): Trophy with twin 150's...
51 cylinders in household, what's yours?...
Here is the deal Ben. These posting are for two people whom have the same exact setup to discuss what we are finding with this hitch. More so Mrad has a standard hitch as well and I too am going to purchase one to perform comparisions.
Why this is important:
Because we both tow a 30ft plus trailer with a Ford Excursion. There is a large concensus and know fact that the excursion has issues towing trailers. We are attempting to test if the andersen system not only works, but will also assist the ford excursion when towing large trailers.
Many people whom bumper pull tow 28' trailers. Because we are towing nearly 37' tongue to tail, I feel it is OK to create a different post.
Furthermore, because of the armchair computer theoreticle engineering going on in the other post, any actual findings or information would be lost on the reader in the 25+ pages of back and fourth arguing about a system they have not used. Added to that, because it works on a toyota tundra with a 23' trailer doen't mean it will work on an excursion with a 30' trailer.
This is what our discussion is about and I thank mrad for starting this discussion so I can give my feed back to him/her.
mrad,
by next weekend I'll start a spreadsheet with my exact set up. I'll take the trailer out on a route and make adjustments to the hitch setup and see how close I can get to your set up.
FYI,
I have on the rear.
Load Helper springs. 1500lb rating
F350 1.25" Sway bar
Ford Factory Shocks
Urathane spring snubbers on antiwrap spring.
How is the rear of your rig setup?
Towing i'm getting 7.5 to 8.5 mpg in the hills and as much as 9 on the flats.
* This post was
edited 04/25/12 03:51pm by tim and amy *
BenK wrote: ...Suspect that 'pulling back' is something most all users of this system
will encounter
As that is the way it works...you are pulling the trailer via the chain
and bushings.
The coupler 'front' does NOT contact the ball. So when you accelerate
the system compresses the bushing to have the ball leave contact of
the coupler latch (behind).
When the trailer 'catches up', the ball will be pulled 'back' into the
latch...
Are you basing your comments from actual use or the actual use of others?
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