Hensley Arrow Hitch

[Stormalong]

Recently purchased a used Hensley arrow, installed on 25' AS, love it beyond belief. I have read about these hitches for a long time, found a used one at reasonable price. Did the cut and paste to weld modify the drop, painted the hitch Airstream platinum to match the tongue.
Looks great, tows great, can not believe the difference from a std WD hitch. Easy to hook up, I have the Hensley brackets, not jacks. Once stinger is connected I raise the tongue 3", then snap up the chains. Easy, best medicine for care free towing.

[Retail6]

Totally happy with my Hensley. The support guys were right there with me via phone when I installed it. Sent them the pictures of the setup, they had me change a couple of things and the trailer pulls like a dream. No more worry about being passed or much of anything. Sure I paid more, don't care. With that type of support and ease of use, its well worth the investment. I did sense a bit of attitude with PP, not sure if it was in the videos or posts here in the forums.

[PKI]

Please provide the physical weight of the Hensley and the Protrude hitch, jacks., bars, and stinger assembly? I have the impression that it is about 200 pounds, but can't find any data. Your info or direction to where it can be found is appreciated.

[J. Morgan]

Shipping weight for a Hensley is about 200 pounds complete.

That is as close as I can get to answering your question.

Sorry!


Brevi tempore!

[PKI]

Originally Posted by J. Morgan

Shipping weight for a Hensley is about 200 pounds complete.

That is as close as I can get to answering your question.

Sorry!


Brevi tempore!

Thanks for the response. Was hoping for less, but light weight unobtainium is likely in short supply. Pat

[J. Morgan]

On the bright side, once the main part of the hitch is on the trailer it stays on the trailer. The heaviest thing that needs to handled routinely is the the stinger.


Brevi tempore!

[dkottum]

The weight of our Propride as 180 lbs including the stinger. Our other hitch was 80 lbs, so our ProPride is 100 lbs more than the conventional hitch. To take it a little further, our ProPride adds 25 lbs to each axle of our 12,000 lb Airstream/truck combo after weight distribution. Hardly worth thinking about.

The only significance of the ProPride weight to me is that I never lift the hitch head, only the stinger. Which for practical purposes makes it lighter than our former conventional hitch where I had to lift the whole thing to hook and unhook it.

[PKI]

Understand your point. Thanks for the information.

[RinconVTR]

Hensley weight...precise;

Head unit = 99lbs (boxed)
Hitch bar = 71lbs (boxed, and can vary by drop distance)
WDH bars = 54lbs (boxed)

[PKI]

Originally Posted by RinconVTR

Hensley weight...precise;

Head unit = 99lbs (boxed)
Hitch bar = 71lbs (boxed, and can vary by drop distance)
WDH bars = 54lbs (boxed)

So that would be 224lbs total. Thank you very much.

[dznf0g]

I have a sheet somewhere, but I remember installed weight of hensley at 195#

[BoscoMN]

Thanks everyone for all of the great info in this thread! I've never towed anything larger than a 16' boat so this information is invaluable. I've seen forum threads and friends advice go from "you are worried about nothing, you won't even know the trailer is back there" to "with this setup you will not need anything more than friction sway control". I will be picking up the Airstream in April for the first time (in storage for the winter). I'd like sway control to be a non-issue. So do I go with a Hensley Cub, Blue Ox SwayPro or a bare hitch?

[rmkrum]

IMHO if you want sway to be a non-issue seriously consider a Hensley design hitch. I chose ProPride and have been totally satisfied. I have never had an issue hitching up at odd angles either. Just have to line it up by hand first. Easy once you understand how it works.


Sent from my pocket Internet using Airstream Forums

[Norrie46]

Glad to see your response to your Hensley Hitch.. I just had a new one installed in April in Ontario. Drove across Canada and on to Vancouver Island have about 4600 miles on and it has failed. The connecting links bent. Sent it back to Hensley and they have voided my warranty because Can Am in London Ontario, the people who installed the hitch,modified it by welding a support bar around the back of the bottom section to reinforce the Spring bar area. I appealed to Hensley as I did not know about the mod but that fell on deaf ears.
I had to pay for the repair and the shipping to Michigan and back, around $US 740 so far and I may need to pay brokerage fees when it is delivered next week Don't want to burst anybodies Hensley bubble but be aware these guys are not so perfect.
If you send it back for warranty repair you pay the shipping both ways so figure that into your decision to buy.

Norrie

[J. Morgan]

Maybe I am misunderstanding "connecting links", but if these, I think the only way to bend them is by turning way too short.




Brevi tempore!

[Norrie46]

The connecting links join the top(orange) section to the bottom( black) section. They swivel on self aligning roller bearings which are in the top and bottom sections. The links are 5?8 steel plates about 6" long.

Norrie

[Norrie46]

Sorry typo. That was 5/8" steel plates.

Norrie

[Norrie46]

Here are the photos I took showing the bent connecting links.

Norrie

[BigAl]

Seems to me you can't blame Hensley for the warranty issue. The hitch was modified.
I don't undeerstand how that could have anything to do with what is bent though.
I also don't know how those metal pieces could have been bent unless you went through an extreme dip or bump in the road.
Al

[J. Morgan]

I will agree that the modification had squat to do with the failure.

Imho, Hensley should have repaired it.


Brevi tempore!