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Cally · 07-30-2012, 10:26 PM

I think they were round originally. Those miles are since 9/06 and I wish I could spend more time in it.

crispyboy · 07-31-2012, 04:54 AM

The bushings are originally round and are considered a wear item. I replaced them in my hitch during refurbishment. A simple but dirty, greasy job.

dznf0g · 07-31-2012, 06:18 AM

May I ask a couple of questions from those who have seen the cracking?

1) At what mark on the jacks do you keep the bars cranked up to?
2) Are these 1000# bars?
3) Do you recall ever going through a rather deep "hoop-de-doo" or a steep driveway entrance?

To me the area of the crack (and the broken bushing) indicate a large stress due to an upward pressure at the bar ends, opening the bottom of the bushing bore. I'd really like to try and prevent this from happening to mine.

Yes, the bushings are a wear item and are replaceable, unlike some other hitches where you replace the whole head when the bar sockets get worn. I carry a bushing set in my spare parts bag.

RangerJay · 07-31-2012, 06:31 AM

Further to the questions above.

Others have had their bushings break similar to the pictures you are showing here. I'm wondering if the bushing had broken first and be undetected could that place additional stress on the weld of the head?

Also wondering if you have excessive wear showing elsewhere - the holes in the jack extensions come to mind - I think it is typical for them to wear slightly oval - but if you had some single event that contributed to this break then could they also show some excessive stretching?

Jay

boondockdad · 07-31-2012, 07:24 AM

Good points.

The last time I was at the Romeo warehouse, I showed Dennis the holes in the black head (where the bushings go) had ever so slightly elongated, along the axis of weight distribution. He was adamant that was not an issue... I would submit, Cahalan's failure says otherwise.

SteveH · 08-01-2012, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cahalan1526

Here are a couple pics. You can see the light coming through. There is no load on it at this point. I don't know if it would separate further under load.

You Hensley owners probably don't want to hear this, but this thread got me to thinking, so I went out and checked the same areas on my ProPride, and it has substantially more metal and strength there. I feel better now.

RangerJay · 08-01-2012, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveH

You Hensley owners probably don't want to hear this, but this thread got me to thinking, so I went out and checked the same areas on my ProPride, and it has substantially more metal and strength there. I feel better now.

Regardless of any comparison with ProPride I would find it tough to believe that this failure is a design issue. There have been a ton of folks to ponder the merits (or not) of my own Hensley and I've never heard anyone comment that it looked like it was under engineered. Having said that - the design and construction are not simple - and it would be good to bring the cause of this failure to ground - design is certainly one factor not to be ignored - but more logical factors that come to my mind might be: a bad weld, wear, something missed in the set-up or some kind of event that stressed the joint way beyond the norm.

It would be great to have the folks from Hensley jump in here ..... if they've never seen this kind of failure before that would be good to know ..... if they have and they know the typical circumstances of the failure that would be also good to know.

Jay

boondockdad · 08-01-2012, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveH

You Hensley owners probably don't want to hear this, but this thread got me to thinking, so I went out and checked the same areas on my ProPride, and it has substantially more metal and strength there. I feel better now.

SteveH, if convenient, put a pic up. Tnx

AirHeadsRus · 08-01-2012, 04:29 PM

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464...ml#post1158509

Here is a post I made on another thread. It is pics of my Hensley failure. Understand, the hitch was old. Good one but they do fail with age.
I bought another hitch and am very happy with it.
Joe

SteveH · 08-01-2012, 04:40 PM

Here is a picture of the same plate under the bar tubes that failed on cahalan1526's Hensley, but on my ProPride, and I think if you look back and compare, the ProPride has lots more metal in that area that failed on the Hensley.

RangerJay · 08-01-2012, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveH

Here is a picture of the same plate under the bar tubes that failed on cahalan1526's Hensley, but on my ProPride, and I think if you look back and compare, the ProPride has lots more metal in that area that failed on the Hensley.

Thanks Steve - that stud and nut on the bottom plate - is it holding in place the same type of internal sleeve that the Hensley has?

Thanks,

Jay

SteveH · 08-01-2012, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RangerJay

Thanks Steve - that stud and nut on the bottom plate - is it holding in place the same type of internal sleeve that the Hensley has?

Thanks,

Jay

I've not actually worked on a Hensley, but from the pictures I've seen on here, yes I believe it is the same type of setup.

RangerJay · 08-01-2012, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveH

I've not actually worked on a Hensley, but from the pictures I've seen on here, yes I believe it is the same type of setup.

Thanks again Steve - the ProPride does seem to look beefier in this area.

Given all the discussions around hitches (on this and other forums) - the level of interest - the critical importance of safe towing - and the level of emotion around brand loyalty - it would be really great to have an organization like Consumer Reports do an objective, in-depth comparison of hitch types and hitch brands.

Jay

slowmover · 08-01-2012, 05:24 PM

Great thread, Pat! Sorry for the trouble, obviously, but a valuable addition to information on this hitch (which I also own).

In line with some other questions above, I am also wondering about the loads on the hitch. What weight of TT & TV, and how well did the hitch transfer TW across all axles . . any scale tickets available? Miles is not enough of a statement by which to consider wear to be excessive (there are other owners with greater miles), nor does the approximate rig combination (TV & TT size/weight) by itself seem much more "informative" (again, "big rigs" with more miles).

On the other hand I tried in vain to transfer TW on my rig. Quit, in fact (though not because I wanted to). The PRO PRIDE advantage is also in available head tilt which an H/A doesn't have. A long wheelbase truck with a deep drop stinger isn't going to move much (if any) I've learned. Doesn't affect anti-sway properties as we know, but isn't the best set-up either.

I bring this up because I have also tried running the roads with maximum leverage and this tends to wear the hitch parts faster in elongating holes, etc.

As with the above I also wonder if [1] a heavy TV-TT combo [2] over tough roads [3] with high or very high leverage cranked in might be contributory.

Your thoughts appreciated.

.

Cally · 08-01-2012, 08:12 PM

I'll try to answer some of the questions. The guys from Hensley suspect hitting a stump or large rock, neither of which is the case. I have bottomed out on a steep driveway, but it was years ago and I've had the hitch apart several time since then for maintenance. I've replaced the pins and brackets on the spring bars and the holes show minimal wear. My TV is a 3/4 ton Dodge and I do have a stinger with a big drop and raise the spring bars to the middle hashmark. I haven't gone to a scale with it. On this trip I did end up on a road in ND that was very rough (I was at 25MPH or less for 65 miles). I should be home tomorrow and will take the whole thing apart, clean and inspect. Then I can discuss at length with Hensley what I find. They have been very good to work with. If anyone is interested I'll have it at Alumafandango in a few weeks.

slowmover · 08-01-2012, 09:42 PM

My TV is a 3/4 ton Dodge and I do have a stinger with a big drop and raise the spring bars to the middle hashmark. I haven't gone to a scale with it.

I offer this as background:

I also have a 3/4T Dodge, and a vintage kin TT with an 8k GVWR. My attempts at getting proper WD are here, posts 41-55. In the 5,000-miles covered in calendar year '07 I was unable to "restore" FA and transfer adequate weight to the TT axles. While I don't mean to derail your thread, the question of how well the hitch "distributes" weight may come up in your discussions with Hensley, and seeing as how our rigs are similar it was not enough to repeat the comment from elsewhere that, (roughly)

" . . it may be that long-wheelbase 3/4 & 1T pickup trucks will not "restore" the FA weight as easily as shorter wheelbase, less stiffly sprung tow vehicles"

I was, at the time, using the dealer-installed Class IV hitch receiver (bolt on copy of the factory welded-on receiver), and I replaced it (a temporary upgrade) with a CURT Class V (the low cost, probable low quality brand) when I this year found un-repairable damage to that.

The "best" replacement would be the more robust, better designed TITAN
45299 with user reports on several Dodge forums as well as comparisons on design, etc.

While it has also been noted that even with some torsional twist by the hitch receiver that WD should be distributed given proper leverage on/by WD hitch adjustments, I want to take this weak link out of contention (also to pull other trailers the factory piece is too light to withstand).

I have also tried several stinger heights. An adjustable stinger (tilt) would give the leverage needed, I believe, even when the needed drop is five-inches, not six or four (the only ones on offer from H/A).

One can see some home-built pieces on the H/A Users Thread, and Sean Woodruff (Pro Pride) may be able to make one up if requested. This is still a possibility for me, but I am in favor of another hitch without this built-in shortcoming (among others).

Braking & steering are not as effective as when solo/laden when the nearly full TW is still resting on the RA when hitched and adjusted. I find this unacceptable.

Cranking the H/A to full leverage does not work when the stinger height, truck wheelbase/springs, and the need for a level trailer are in conflict at several points for some rigs. A great deal of unnecessary force is present on the RA due to this . . . would it have a contributory effect on the hitch head in question (is, again, the reason for this FYI as offered).

.

Sean Woodruff · 08-03-2012, 11:36 AM

The spring bar bushings on the ProPride are two independent bushings. They each bolt into the main unit separately. The bushing weld breaking on the Arrow bushing is the reason behind the change in the 3P.

As Steve noted we have also extended the bottom plate to beef up that area. There is A LOT of stress in that area when you distribute tongue weight.

Finally, nothing is indestructible. Someone above posted something about these hitches being guaranteed for something like this to not happen. That isn't quite accurate. The hitch has a LiFETIME warranty. If nothing was ever going to break or wear out it wouldn't need a warranty. One thing we can all count on when something has a lifetime warranty is that the company does not expect many things to go wrong that needs to be covered by the warranty. Companies would not stay in business very long covering too many lifetime warranty claims.

dznf0g · 08-04-2012, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean Woodruff

The spring bar bushings on the ProPride are two independent bushings. They each bolt into the main unit separately. The bushing weld breaking on the Arrow bushing is the reason behind the change in the 3P.

As Steve noted we have also extended the bottom plate to beef up that area. There is A LOT of stress in that area when you distribute tongue weight.

Finally, nothing is indestructible. Someone above posted something about these hitches being guaranteed for something like this to not happen. That isn't quite accurate. The hitch has a LiFETIME warranty. If nothing was ever going to break or wear out it wouldn't need a warranty. One thing we can all count on when something has a lifetime warranty is that the company does not expect many things to go wrong that needs to be covered by the warranty. Companies would not stay in business very long covering too many lifetime warranty claims.

Nice, objective experienced opinion, Sean. Thanks for staying "above the fray".

overlander63 · 08-04-2012, 07:52 AM

Something that will help a lot, no matter whether you use a Hensley or Propride, is to lube the area the bars slide up into regularly. By "regularly", I mean about once every 500 or so miles. This means use a grease gun, and pump grease into those fittings.

Silver Otter · 08-06-2012, 08:13 AM

Right, Terry. Aaron at Hensley reinforced that to me during a phone call some time ago. I went through a cheap grease gun and then got a good one. We pump the two fittings each morning on an extended trip, just until the squeeze-out is noticed. Makes a mess of the safety chains over time, but well worth the peace of mind. Thanks for the reminder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by overlander63

Something that will help a lot, no matter whether you use a Hensley or Propride, is to lube the area the bars slide up into regularly. By "regularly", I mean about once every 500 or so miles. This means use a grease gun, and pump grease into those fittings.