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Old 10-18-2014, 11:57 AM   #21
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Interstateflyer, the stinger and the head box have to be in alignment. There is angle adjustment on the ProPride by raising or lowering the back of the head with the w.d. screw jacks. So it depends on the angle of the truck in relation to the trailer at your driveway. If you can back it into the driveway, unhitch and pull away from the hitch head smoothly it should hitch up smoothy.

Maybe someone here on the forums uses a Hensley/ProPride on a driveway with a steeper angle to the street?
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Old 10-18-2014, 12:31 PM   #22
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I hitch up on the drive in my Avitar....it's quite a bit of an angle with truck on apron.

OOPs, changed my Avitar....go to my profile page.
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Old 10-18-2014, 01:16 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dkottum View Post
Interstateflyer, the stinger and the head box have to be in alignment. There is angle adjustment on the ProPride by raising or lowering the back of the head with the w.d. screw jacks. So it depends on the angle of the truck in relation to the trailer at your driveway. If you can back it into the driveway, unhitch and pull away from the hitch head smoothly it should hitch up smoothy.

Maybe someone here on the forums uses a Hensley/ProPride on a driveway with a steeper angle to the street?
Yes I think we may be able to deal with the vertical difference in the driveway.

What about hooking up in curved and banked or off-camber campsites?
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Old 10-18-2014, 01:30 PM   #24
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As long as your are parallel between the stinger and the box, it doesn't matter.

Hints:

1) adjust height of trailer tongue so that the stinger enters the box at the very top edge of the box opening. The box is free to tilt upward, if the jacks are relaxed all the way down.

2) Camber can be matched by raising one or the other (only) jack to match the tilt of the truck side to side.

3) any curve works as long as the other two hints are done correctly

4) If the truck is backing uphill to the trailer (significantly), raise both jacks to match box parallelism to stinger; enter at LOWER edge of box; stop when just entering box and raise trailer slightly; rematch parallelism. Since truck is continuing uphill, you may have to do this twice (uncommon, but I have had to a couple times on severe sites.)
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Old 10-18-2014, 01:34 PM   #25
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I have been towing with an Andersen hitch and a quick-bite coupler for tow years now and love it. There are three reasons why I love it, 1. the weight of the hitch is only about 65 lbs., 2. the good sway control and improved ride. 3. hooking up with the quick-bite is a snap.
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Old 10-18-2014, 01:39 PM   #26
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wind mitigation system : hensley hitch/pro-pride

wolf, the 5-hour fiasco is something she got into and you should read all the thread. She still likes her hitch and is learning something about it. The "secret" to hitching is alignment, it won't go in if it's not aligned and that's not hard to do. Your friend the camper is passing worthless information.

Doug, I read many of the threads and this is the first time that I ran across the issue that Paula had. ( I like her style, she has a great way of putting things on "paper".) I was very surprised because I would never have thought of a having a problem like that in hitching

I like to read these forums because I get good ideas from them. I thought it was worthwhile sharing the info with the individual who is debating about what to get. Now he has more info and can check about the guarantee etc. I'll never see that camper again so I can't "double check" about the validity of his statement. Wolf
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Old 10-18-2014, 02:05 PM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dznf0g View Post
As long as your are parallel between the stinger and the box, it doesn't matter.

Hints:

1) adjust height of trailer tongue so that the stinger enters the box at the very top edge of the box opening. The box is free to tilt upward, if the jacks are relaxed all the way down.

2) Camber can be matched by raising one or the other (only) jack to match the tilt of the truck side to side.

3) any curve works as long as the other two hints are done correctly

4) If the truck is backing uphill to the trailer (significantly), raise both jacks to match box parallelism to stinger; enter at LOWER edge of box; stop when just entering box and raise trailer slightly; rematch parallelism. Since truck is continuing uphill, you may have to do this twice (uncommon, but I have had to a couple times on severe sites.)
Rich,

Are there two jacks built into the hitch(s)?
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Old 10-18-2014, 02:12 PM   #28
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Rich,

Are there two jacks built into the hitch(s)?
Yes, I am talking about the spring bar (WD bars) jacks. When you aren't hitched up, raising them causes the head box to tilt down toward the ground at front. Raising one or the other will tilt the box side to side.

I'm not talking about the tongue jack......use that to only match height of entry by the stinger into the box.
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Old 10-21-2014, 05:33 AM   #29
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At one point we were pushed 3 feet into the shoulder by the effects of a big box rental RV traveling at high speed.

Yes, the bow wave from a box truck is absolutely the worst. A combined rig -- standard tractor-trailer -- has that gap which ameliorates the wave. An expediter truck (rarely) is the bigger version of the same problem.

FedEx Custom Critical Freightliner Cascadia Expediter - a photo on Flickriver

OP, you'll find that there are those here who are insensitive to what is happening. Or, have the habit of moving to the right of their lane on the Interstate (not in any way always a good idea) or who've not ever had the conditions of winds or gusts and had them complicated by the box truck scenario you outlined.

To keep it short I bought a HENSLEY just a few weeks before the ProPride came out. I'd rather have had the latter. This type of hitch as no peer. Best practice is setting it up usng scale weights. Full pressure on TT tires. TV tire pressure according to scale weights. Set the numerical baseline and then work from that point. Keep speed at or lower than 65. Etc.

The tail wags the dog.

Good luck

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Old 10-21-2014, 06:25 AM   #30
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snip...
Best practice is setting it up usng scale weights. Full pressure on TT tires. TV tire pressure according to scale weights.

.
(Bit of a tangent here but since you mention it)

I posted something similar to this a few months back, keeping my TT tires maxed and adjusting my TV tires (with plenty of headroom) based on scale weights loaded for camping. CapriRacer thought that was a bad idea and that I should keep my TV tires at the pressures on the door jamb. I am not qualified to disagree with him, but those door jamb pressures seem (according to the inflation tables) to be set for max axle load and not the actual load the truck sees when towing the Airstream.

I could even lower the pressure further when not towing as the truck sees nothing close to max axle weights when empty but I don't do that.

Just an FYI....
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Old 10-21-2014, 10:05 AM   #31
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The load table may show higher than the door placard. I see no discrepancy


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Old 10-21-2014, 10:26 AM   #32
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Has anyone here used the Hensley SWIFTArrow? It is apparently Hensley's newest product.
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Old 10-21-2014, 11:57 AM   #33
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My parking pad for the AS sits a bit higher than where my truck sits on lawn where I hitch up - there is a small "rut" I need to fix still near the beginning of the concrete pad - as a result - as I make my approach with the PPP - usually it changes the angle a bit as I move up to approach the stinger inserting

Even with that annoyance - my wife and I easily hitch it up regularly despite this funky off level entrance

We had one 20 min "fiasco" hitching up on a spot where the trailer was at a certain level and truck was quite severely off level side to side compared to the AS -

The worst was that where it was at I had little room ahead of me to pull forward and make adjustments

Anyway - the trick to that ended up fiddling with the WD jacks to match the angles - it eventually then slid right in

Also I have found that liberally greasing the stinger has greatly helped but not totally necessary

That fiasco seemed for me as bad as it could be for the PP but I suppose there could be worse

We are 1 year in and have done so far maybe 10 or so trips and have not felt spooked with this hitch - I towed through a small line of storms that caught is by surprise - slowed down to 45-50 and big crosswinds did not put us in mal control

I have zero idea if other hitches could do the same - maybe so - I simply am not an expert

I would like to one day try another hitch just for comparison - the PP has some annoyances to it making hitching and such at times a challenge - if you buy into all the hype then the challenges are worth it


What "swayed" us was more anecdote of our neighbors and their experience with previous hitches and now the PPP - coupled with the explanatory model of why the PPP does it's thang....but now in this thread I see an anecdote of someone past pP user now happy with a different hitch....go figure - it's confusing as heck to me

Anecdotes abound - take your pick and good luck


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Old 10-21-2014, 06:20 PM   #34
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Pharm - it seems the design of the Airstream itself has a lot to do with stability. I too would love to sample another hitch (specifically the Andersen - not kidding) on my setup just to compare but I have no interest in removing the PP and drilling holes for the Andersen.

If anyone has a 27FB Flying Cloud with an Andersen and Chevy 3/4 ton diesel - I'd love to drive it and offer a drive in my setup for a comparo :-)

Glad your driveway doesn't present a hitching problem. My worst was about 45 minutes at a campground in MA - and the worst part was, if I had just taken a look before unhitching, I would have noticed that backing up 5' would have prevented the entire problem in the first place! I trusted the camp guide's eyes - not my own - big lesson....

When things get "stuck", 99 times out of 100, loosening the WD jacks eventually slides the head right on to the (formerly stuck) stinger. I've gotten used to it and rarely does it take more than a couple minutes.

God I miss camping already :-(
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Old 10-21-2014, 10:54 PM   #35
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Did I read that they were pulling over 70MPH and in high winds...? That is kinda fast... and the pressures will be pretty high, even on a ProPride.

I have been in high wind situations, and only towing 65 when I felt some 'movement'... but no where near the 3 feet or more stated..

Wow... better check your seat for holes!!
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Old 10-21-2014, 11:04 PM   #36
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Did I read that they were pulling over 70MPH and in high winds...? That is kinda fast... and the pressures will be pretty high, even on a ProPride.

I have been in high wind situations, and only towing 65 when I felt some 'movement'... but no where near the 3 feet or more stated..

Wow... better check your seat for holes!!
We were pulling at 55. Trucks in Arizona can drive 75. They go faster.
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Old 10-22-2014, 06:54 AM   #37
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We were pulling at 55. Trucks in Arizona can drive 75. They go faster.
Ah... the written word is such fun! :roll eyes:

Thanks for clearing that up!

I've been running the PP over a year.. and the 'challenge' of connecting the TV to the PP is really just a learning curve.. with new 'opportunities' at each experience.

Seriously, if you can see one in action, the mystery really clears quickly.

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Old 10-22-2014, 10:40 AM   #38
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Did I read that they were pulling over 70MPH and in high winds...? That is kinda fast... and the pressures will be pretty high, even on a ProPride.

I have been in high wind situations, and only towing 65 when I felt some 'movement'... but no where near the 3 feet or more stated..

Wow... better check your seat for holes!!

I've been pushed very hard by box trucks when driving a semi.



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