hensley-arrow hitch

[Pahaska]

I had the center gate come open in my unbraked stock trailer, pulled by my '73 Blazer. 1200# bull walked to the rear of the trailer to check the view aft. I used both lanes and both ditches and then some. Yes, I know what sway is.

That same Blazer pulled a 4100# keel sailboat all over the states on a big heavy trailer without any sway equipment of any kind.

I also know what sway is not. The nudge from the bow wave of a a passing 18-wheeler is not sway. A correction for wind gust is not sway. What concerns me is thet the newbie doesn't know that and gets panicked into spending 4 tiimes what a perfectly safe and functional hitch should cost him/her.

I have looked at hundreds of non-Hensley Airstreams that are among the highest mileage units you will find anywhere around. They aren't crumpled balls of metal and the drivers don't emerge shaking with fright after towing them. Hensleys are very rare among them.

Off topic: Actually, given the choice, I would send the cash on 4 wheel steering on my next Silverado. Tests report that they tow like a dream as well as making it easier to back into a site.

[femuse]

I have just learned that the hitch company making us a hitch as we speak, is offering us $50 if we help sell a bumper hitch, and $100 for a 5th-wheel.

Seeing the numbers of HH enthusiasts and the lack of publicity the company has received on this forum, it is too bad Hensley did not think about doing the same thing.

[53flyingcloud]

RoadKingMoe

When first I saw your comment:
I wondered," What did I miss?".



quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I find it highly amusing when someone who's "Never had any sway problem" publicly declares "I know what I am talking about" when it comes to sway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Then, it dawn upon me poor mind~!

ciao

[femuse]

I just noticed I let this slip by me, Maurice,

I did not say "I know what I am talking about" when it comes to sway."

I did say (or tried to say, my english is sometimes muddy):

(never did) "I wish we had a different hitch. So, in the end, Yes, I know what I am talking about." (meaning using a HH when I did not feel it was necessary, and my current hitch did the job well)

I was talking about the need for a better hitch. About the need to upgrade form a Reese Dual Cam to a HH.

Somebody here misquoted me and somebody else jumped, again, on the bandwaggon:

and I quote from past quote here:

" If you're going to quote someone..as you did.

" Plse don't edit their comments to suit your point of view "

I hope this misunderstanding is all behind us now ?

[RoadKingMoe]

As you will note, my post is not marked edited, nor is yours. If you will look closely at the position of my quotation marks, you will see I quoted you exactly as you wrote. In one breath, you declare one quote, and in the next breath, the second.

I did not misquote you.

[mnikisher]

Congrats on your very intelligent decision.

I installed a Hensley on my Safari just last weekend. It was a breeze. I did follow the instructions though. It was necessary to drill out two rivets holding the propane line to the bottom of the A-frame. I used screws and a couple of nuts as spacers to re-install the line. I agonized over spending that much money on a hitch. I had an EZ-Lift WD with a single friction type anti-sway device. As you can see from my profile, I tow with a Toyota Tundra. It's a lightweight but Airstream is selling the Safari on the premise that it was built for us half-tonners.

The reason I started looking at a new hitch is that I experienced one of those white-knuckle moments on our last trip to Arizona. Caught a side wind in a canyon that encouraged me to reach for the manual control on my Prodigy. Everything settled down but everytime a tractor trailer would blow by me I would get that little push. It rained during part of the trip and that affected the sway control to the point where I finally pulled over to check if everything was still bolted up. I don't want to sound dramatic because I never felt like I was going to loose control, I just feel I should be able to relax a bit more when I'm on vacation.

I spent a lot of time on this forum, and others, researching hitches. I watched the free videos from Equalizer and Hensley. The single thing that swayed (no pun intended) me towards the Hensley is that used Hensleys are as rare as hen's teeth and no Hensley owner on any of the RV forums ever expressed a desire to go back to what ever they had before the Hensley. As far as the cost is concerned, if you consider the investment you have in your truck, trailer and trailer contents, $3K is not a significant amount of money. Those of you who are waiting for the patents to expire and the price to drop, you aren't the same folks who are waiting for them to perfect color television before you take the plunge are you? (Just kidding.)

I'm getting out this weekend and really looking forward to seeing if it lives up to all of the claims made for it. I'll let y'all know.

[85MH325]

<soapbox on>

I received the Hensley marketing materials and DVD this weekend. I watched the DVD and read throught the materials. I was insulted by their marketing. While I believe that they have a superior product, their marketing uses the same strategies as 'patent medicines' and other products for which there is no proof, only 'testamonials'. My complaint is that if they have a superior product (and they do, from what I've read elsewhere), then why not show why and how it's superior?

The one useful item in their video was showing a close-up of the hitch from above, working through a slalom course. With a working knowledge of high-school physics, I could tell what the hitch does and how it works, but it is not explained ANYWHERE in their literature. Apparently it's magic, and we, as consumers, are supposed to have a religious belief that it's superior.

As the original skeptic of 'testamonial' proofs, and without the knowledge I've gained from these forums, I'd have dismissed the Hensley out-of-hand as another snake-oil product because of the high cost and their lousy marketing that makes huge claims, gets high dollars for the product, and presents no proof of the claims or why the design works. According to their marketing, maybe the Hensley Arrow cures cancer and the common cold too, but they're just too modest to make those claims?

I wrote a complaint email to Phil Sinewe regarding this issue.

I am looking, and will undoubtedly buy a Hensley Arrow in the next year as I recognize it to be a quality product that lives up to it's claims, but it's certainly not as a result of their flimsy marketing.

I must say that their pricing also appears to be VERY profit-oriented to me. While I recognize that the hitch IS more complex than those of the competition, I don't see enough manufacturing issues to cause it to be over four times more costly to manufacture and market.

I guess their pricing strategy is that when you build a better mousetrap you can price it anywhere you want and those who can afford it, will.

Although I understand that their warranty is excellent, and that they stand behind their product completely, ethics issues continue to nag me as a result of the marketing and pricing.

<soapbox off>

Roger

[Leipper]

The threads on HA hitches get very interesting from a number of viewpoints, both social and technical.

In re <It's the same as the typical "helmet thread" on the motorcycle forums. >

Comparisons to seat belts and motorcycle helmets are, IMHO invalid and inappropriate because these are things that involve after incident damage limitation. Hitch handling characteristics are incident preventive and involve vehicle control and handling - an entirely different regime.

The appropriate comparisons to hitch types would be to shock absorbers (e.g. Belsteins et al), suspension add-ons, tires, and other handling and control accessories.

As with any handling and control issue, the primary considerations weigh the benefits and risks of the handling change versus the costs versus the 'comforts' that the handling and control changes offer the driver.

From what I can see, which is in line with the inventory observations provided in this thread, The change in risk probabilities of catastrophic incident over the hitch types under discussion is rather small. This means that the major benefits will be in driver comforts regarding vehicle control and performance. Other factors that support this conclusion include insurance rates and dealer default installs.

I think it would be really nice to have and SUV that handles like a Porche Boxter, but then I can't rationalize the cost (for me) in terms of the benefits I would get.