Hensley - don't abuse your fans!

[Tin Diesel]

Preparing for some preventive maintenance on my Hensley Arrow hitch, I decided to order some replacement grease fittings.

Imagine my surprise to see the price - $16.50 for one! OK, well, they get a little cheaper if you order more - $25 for two ($12.50 each)

However, I was shocked at the shipping charge for these tiny parts (about 1.5" long).

SEVENTEEN dollars for SHIPPING! I decided maybe I would order four. HOLY COW! Now its THIRTY FOUR dollars for shipping. What, are you going to double the size of the box? Have twice as many people pulling these off the shelf?

See screen-prints below for proof!

I hate the "shipping & handling" abuse internet companies heap on us. I would expect better from a company like Hensley. I'm a huge fan of the product, but this is going to far.

I don't rant often, but this one got under my skin.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Tin Diesel

Preparing for some preventive maintenance on my Hensley Arrow hitch, I decided to order some replacement grease fittings.

Imagine my surprise to see the price - $16.50 for one! OK, well, they get a little cheaper if you order more - $25 for two ($12.50 each)

However, I was shocked at the shipping charge for these tiny parts (about 1.5" long).

SEVENTEEN dollars for SHIPPING! I decided maybe I would order four. HOLY COW! Now its THIRTY FOUR dollars for shipping. What, are you going to double the size of the box? Have twice as many people pulling these off the shelf?

See screen-prints below for proof!

I hate the "shipping & handling" abuse internet companies heap on us. I would expect better from a company like Hensley. I'm a huge fan of the product, but this is going to far.

I don't rant often, but this one got under my skin.

Grease fittings are grease fittings.

I bet your local NAPA store could beat that deal, and, no shipping.

Andy

[Guido]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Grease fittings are grease fittings.


Andy

They aren't. The $12.50 grease fitting also is a pin to keep the weight bars in place. It is in the middle of the picture of the parts.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Guido

They aren't. The $12.50 grease fitting also is a pin to keep the weight bars in place. It is in the middle of the picture of the parts.

All the other parts are standard things.

It appears to me that that grease fitting is installed in a bolt.

But I bow to my self appointed mentor.

Andy

[memgrove2000]

I am with Tin!!
The shipping charges are outrageous. They should have combined shipping charges for that order. Would a phone call to a person help? Some times a person can do things that a computer cant.

I also think I would grab the old parts and head to the auto parts store, or Tractor supply, Farm and fleet, or John Deere dealer. Just to see if you could avoid the "orange paint"

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by memgrove2000

I am with Tin!!
The shipping charges are outrageous. They should have combined shipping charges for that order. Would a phone call to a person help? Some times a person can do things that a computer cant.

I've run into that before. The shopping cart program charges the same, whether it is a grease fitting or a WD bar, and a live person has to tell it differently.

[Wayne&Sam]

You may be able to replace just the actual grease fitting in the bolt. That should be standard.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Wayne&Sam

You may be able to replace just the actual grease fitting in the bolt. That should be standard.

The pin is what wears out, not the Zerk fitting.

[richinny]

snow plows use a similar system to grease the pivot bolts.

why are you replacing them? are the fittings not taking grease or are the bolts worn?

[Tin Diesel]

Originally Posted by overlander63

The pin is what wears out, not the Zerk fitting.

Overlander is right. Its the pin that wears out. Mine hasn't yet, but if it does, the bar falls out, so P/M is my intent.

I went to two auto parts stores. The zerk fitting is easy to get. The threaded bolt is threaded inside and out, and the pin is not available anywhere.

I don't object to Hensley making a strong profit after-market on these things. After all, if the H/A hitch is as good as they say, I'll never need to buy another.

But they're leaving a very bad taste in my mouth.
I will call on Tuesday and see if a live person is more amenable.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Tin Diesel

Overlander is right. Its the pin that wears out. Mine hasn't yet, but if it does, the bar falls out, so P/M is my intent.

I went to two auto parts stores. The zerk fitting is easy to get. The threaded bolt is threaded inside and out, and the pin is not available anywhere.

I don't object to Hensley making a strong profit after-market on these things. After all, if the H/A hitch is as good as they say, I'll never need to buy another.

But they're leaving a very bad taste in my mouth.
I will call on Tuesday and see if a live person is more amenable.

I think the photo above is of their spare parts kit. It may be a good idea to get that, along with a grease fitting, instead of just the two grease fittings themselves. I can see being stuck somewhere, needing one of those parts and not having it.

[RangerJay]

.... and when the order comes across the border add:

- international UPS rates
- brokerage fees
- currency exchange
- credit card foreign currency exchange fee
- federal goods/services tax
- provincial sales tax

This gets ludicrous real fast .... I just received 2 of the grease fittings and 2 U brackets for the spring bars - those 4 little pieces that I can hold in the palm of my hand cost over $100 to get them here.


Jay

[Tim A.]

Originally Posted by RangerJay

.... and when the order comes across the border add:

- international UPS rates
- brokerage fees
- currency exchange
- credit card foreign currency exchange fee
- federal goods/services tax
- provincial sales tax

This gets ludicrous real fast .... I just received 2 of the grease fittings and 2 U brackets for the spring bars - those 4 little pieces that I can hold in the palm of my hand cost over $100 to get them here.


Jay

Not that it will help Ranger Jay, but shipping to Canada with UPS can get very expensive because of things like the brokerage fees. Our experience with shipping other items to Canada is that sending via the US Postal Service is much less expensive for the recipient. Hensley may not know that.

Tim

[Sean Woodruff]

Look at the round nose spring plungers...

McMaster-Carr

Put a grease zerk in the end of one.

[Sean Woodruff]

I would bet they won't charge you that when they run the actual invoice. It looks to me like they have the cart set up to charge $8.50 per piece. They can mail ALL of them to you for about $5.00.

[SRW]

the shipping rate do seem very high, but I am wondering how the parts were shipped - USPS, UPS or FedEx?

Were the shipping expedited like say "next day", or three days?

SRW

[Tin Diesel]

Originally Posted by SRW

the shipping rate do seem very high, but I am wondering how the parts were shipped - USPS, UPS or FedEx?

Were the shipping expedited like say "next day", or three days?

SRW

There is no choice given in the shipping function. I looked for that - snail mail would be OK.

Also, I already have the spare parts kit from Hensley. They only provide one grease fitting in the kit (as shown in the photo).

[Mike44665]

If you look at my few posts you’ll see I felt the HAHA needed a few changes and I made them. I haven’t got word from the people at Hensley if my comments aren’t welcome, but if I was doing it, I would make the changes that I have made. My posts are in the ultimate HAHA users guide forum. So here is another.


Path of least resistance. Everything follows it. I, in my own simple way, have no faith in the operation that, when you pump grease into the zerk fitting it will go where needed on the weight bars. The fit between the weight bar and the pocket they fit into is way to loose to expect the grease to flow 100% around the weight bar then pass out the bottom when the pocket the weight bar is in becomes full of grease. If you have the bars loaded then you have at least two contact areas on the bars, two bearing surfaces. Nothing will force grease between these bearing surfaces unless you have a grease grove and lube line running to it, and you don’t. So I get a few fingers of grease, cover the end of the weight bar that fits into the pocket and push it up into the hole, knowing it is now covered 100% with grease. Those of you that can’t stand grease, rubber gloves.

Mike