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Old 09-28-2014, 07:32 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Airrogant View Post
I seriously considered the Hensley/ProPride systems. I believe that there are several good reasons to consider other options.

The Hensley/ProPride systems have had at least some documented failures. These systems are also extrememely heavy compared to their much less expensive counterparts. They may "steal" close to 100 lbs. from your available payload. For many folks who care about staying safe, that's just not weight that they have available. Finally hitching up can be very difficult with these systems. It can take lots of fancy maneuvering to mate the TV to the TT. How much time do you really want to spend at the campground trying to hitch up? I've found that much more than a few minutes can start to bring out the highly-opinionated crowds...
I know of one ProPride failure, a broken stinger weld that is very unlikely to occur at highway speed, rather when entering/leaving a steep driveway approach dip which is true of any hitch weld failure. Do you have other documented cases?

Hensley hitches have been around 20 years, some with extensive use and little maintenance. They can wear out like any mechanical device, that's not a failure.

It might weigh 100# more than a conventional hitch, not much spread over all truck/trailer axles with weight distribution. The straw that broke the camel's back, I don't think so. The beauty is the hitch head stays on the trailer, you never have to lift it.

We use a ProPride, our third hitch brand. It's incredibly easy to hook up. Line it up, back into it, snap on the over center locks and pin, set the weight distribution. Like any hitch, you learn your own method to make it easy for you.
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Old 09-28-2014, 09:34 AM   #22
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Started with a Hensley for our 25FB and towed it home behind Mercedes ML320 CDI. Since I did not exceed 55 mph from Los Angeles to Phoenix, I had most vehicles passing me. The bow wave of the semi trucks passing 25 to 30 mph faster than I was going in Arizona did not cause any issues. I was impressed.

Due to weight issues at the scales when the trailer was loaded, we migrated to a Dodge 2500HD and still used the Hensley, but with a new stinger as the CanAm customized one did not work for the truck as I needed a 2" drop.

When we ordered, the 31' Classic, I also went with the second Jim Hensley design which is called the ProPride. There are many detail improvements in the new design and, for me, it is much more user friendly. Still no issues in cross winds and being passed by semi trucks despite the much longer trailer.

I planned to install the ProPride myself, so I had to tow the trailer to the storage unit from the dealership using just a ball. Driving at 45 in town and a short time at 55 to get to the storage unit, I learned why the Hensley design works so well. I was truly glad this was only 19 miles.
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Old 09-28-2014, 09:54 AM   #23
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Originally Posted by Magic Carpet View Post
I am picking up a new 25 flying cloudFB next month. My TV is a Chevy 2500 HD Diesel. The Airstream dealer is recommending an Equalizer E4 hitch 12000. I had previously planned on purchasing a ProPride. I realize that there are many, many opinions on which hitch is best. I am trying to determine if the Equalizer will do the job and provide safe towing. Silverbp can you elaborate on your experience with the Equalizer. Interested in others on the forum opinion on effectiveness of the Equalizer E4. Also on whether the size of the Equalizer needed for my setup.


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I am pulling a 31' Classic with a Chevy crew cab, 6 1/2' box, Heavy Half using an Equalizer hitch with 1000 lb bars. Works great.

I think the 12000 lb bars will be way too stiff for you with a 25' AS. (Just my humble, un educated opinion.)
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Old 09-28-2014, 12:06 PM   #24
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I, too, use an Equal-i-zer with 1,000# bars.
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Old 09-28-2014, 07:33 PM   #25
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Same here Equalizer hitch with 1000 lbs bars. Perfect with my TV and 25 FC


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Old 09-28-2014, 07:39 PM   #26
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Fred.

The selection of a hitch rating depends on 2 things.

One, the size and weight of the trailer.

Two, the tow vehicle rigidity.

If you purchase a Reese, changing to a higher tounge weight later, means all you would have to do is change the torsion bars, nothing else.

Presently you should limit yourself to a 600 pound full sway control Reese.

Anything over that will cause damages to the trailer, especially if you also have a heavy duty tow vehicle.

Andy
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Old 09-29-2014, 04:25 AM   #27
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If I read you correctly, Andy, with my Serenity, I should be using a lower rating trunnion bar. I am using the Reese dual cam, sway control, weight distribution hitch like this:
http://www.hitchpro.net/application/...ons/n26102.pdf

I have towed the trailer 3200 miles, and made one adjustment about half way through and now run the connection chains with three loose links, instead of four as originally set up. With the three loose links, the weights are as follows:

Truck front axle: 4380 lbs
Truck rear axle: 4300 lbs
Trailer 7140 lbs

Truck has 150 lbs of generator in the bed, plus 100 lbs miscellaneous.
Trailer with full water load.

So, weight wise I think the setup has it figured out. This towing setup feels like there is no trailer behind the truck. I will be adding a 55 gallon diesel tank in the bed which will be from about 50 - 440 lbs near the front of the bed, or balanced between front and rear.

So, should I change the 1200 lb trunnion bars to 800 lb rating?

Thanks
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Old 09-29-2014, 06:11 AM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Msmoto View Post
If I read you correctly, Andy, with my Serenity, I should be using a lower rating trunnion bar. I am using the Reese dual cam, sway control, weight distribution hitch like this:
http://www.hitchpro.net/application/...ons/n26102.pdf

I have towed the trailer 3200 miles, and made one adjustment about half way through and now run the connection chains with three loose links, instead of four as originally set up. With the three loose links, the weights are as follows:

Truck front axle: 4380 lbs
Truck rear axle: 4300 lbs
Trailer 7140 lbs

Truck has 150 lbs of generator in the bed, plus 100 lbs miscellaneous.
Trailer with full water load.

So, weight wise I think the setup has it figured out. This towing setup feels like there is no trailer behind the truck. I will be adding a 55 gallon diesel tank in the bed which will be from about 50 - 440 lbs near the front of the bed, or balanced between front and rear.

So, should I change the 1200 lb trunnion bars to 800 lb rating?

Thanks
To ne, your present rated hitch bars, are a killer, because of the rigidity of your tow vehicle.

With or without the extra fuel tank, I would suggest you goe with a 600 rated hitch bar.

Andy
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Old 09-29-2014, 07:58 AM   #29
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When we bought our SOB nine years ago we bought a Reese with 1200 weight distribution and more importantly a sway bar. When we changed to the following two AS's we used that set up with our 1500 Silverado. No issues or problems. When we bought our 2012 31' Classic the PO had a Hensley. If the Hensley hadn't come with the trailer I would have used the Reese. I now have a HD truck but would have stayed with the Reese since it worked well for us. I drive at the speed limit except in Texas so semi's usually don't pass at high speeds.
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Old 09-29-2014, 12:09 PM   #30
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Thanks, Andy, I will investigate this from the right end of our country..LOL
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Old 09-29-2014, 01:07 PM   #31
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I am only a 1 year in still "newbie" airstreamer and RV'er in general. Ive hitched my bass boat for years before this...very easy.

Hitching my propride requires a bit more attention to detail and can take a bit more time.

Once when camped and parked on a very uneven spot (tow vehicle was on a different position as the trailer) it proved very difficult to hitch....took about 20 minutes of fiddling....all other times have been easy...especially once you got the swing of it...

I think other hitches would be much much easier to hitch, but even as an RV newb, I really have never found the propride to be all that much of an issue to hitch up...
and my percieved benefits far outweigh this "difficulty" hitching.

In other words, of all the times I have hitched now in the past year, only once would I qualify it as "difficult"....

I have no freakin' clue which hitch is better...my opinion is just one of hundreds or thousands on here on such a subject...we were convinced by testimonials of owners who had owned previous hitches and who then after loved the PP/HA hitch...our experience with it so far has been as expected by all the positive feedback from owners....

I have no meaningful opinion to share about other hitches for comparison.
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Old 09-29-2014, 05:45 PM   #32
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Again, thank you to everyone that has offered advice. Fred


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Old 09-30-2014, 10:18 AM   #33
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Originally Posted by dkottum View Post
I know of one ProPride failure, a broken stinger weld that is very unlikely to occur at highway speed, rather when entering/leaving a steep driveway approach dip which is true of any hitch weld failure. Do you have other documented cases?

It might weigh 100# more than a conventional hitch, not much spread over all truck/trailer axles with weight distribution. The straw that broke the camel's back, I don't think so. The beauty is the hitch head stays on the trailer, you never have to lift it. If you've reached both...

I'm sorry but I can't find the post describing two documented incidents despite Google-foo-ing for almost 30 minutes. I believe it was from one of the two Andys that contribute here often. If you are really interested you might ask Can-Am Andy first.

Many owners inadvertently overload their tongues by overlooking AS's 15% maximum mandate. 100 lbs. of extra tongue weight can make a BIG difference, especially with the little trailers.

For us little guys with our 16' trailers that are being towed by our barely legal minivans, 100 lbs. can easily become the straw that broke the camels back. When your TV's payload and tongue weight are used up, AND your TT's CCC is used up it isn't time to throw a 190 lb. hitch into the situation. It's time for a new tow vehicle. Once that's addressed a Hensley or ProPride should be reconsidered based on each of their own strengths and weaknesses vs. that of the their competition.
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Old 09-30-2014, 12:07 PM   #34
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Air'

Airstream doesn't mandate 15% tongue weight, rather recommends 10-15% tongue weight. They do mandate a maximum tongue weight in your Airstream Owners Manual:

"WARNING: The tongue weight should be approximately 10% of the trailer’s total weight, but MUST NOT EXCEED 1,000 lbs. And, under no condition should it exceed the hitch rating. Your hitch installer should provide your hitch rating information."

Most w.d./sway control hitches are partly supported by the truck's receiver and so is Hensley/ProPride when they are pinned into the truck's receiver. It's arguable whether this represents adding to tongue weight and has been argued here many times. As I recall on the last one Ron Gatz made a reasonable assignment of 50% to truck receiver and 50% to trailer tongue. It is not as simple as taking the weight of the hitch and adding it to the tongue weight.

As for truck payload the only weight that matters is what is added to the truck after hitched up with w.d. applied, only found by weighing the truck with trailer attached (trailer axles off the scale) and then the truck by itself to find the difference.

Nontheless, the o.p. is getting a new 1/2 ton truck and 25' Airstream. That's what we have with a ProPride hitch, the third hitch we tried. Our experience is he will have a most pleasurable towing experience by far with the Hensley/ProPride design in all weather and traffic conditions with his similar setup.
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Old 09-30-2014, 01:43 PM   #35
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I have been towing travel trailers since the 70's, and have towed on just a ball, with an Easilift, three different types of Reese, a Curt, an Andersen, and a ProPride weight distribution hitches.

The ProPride is in a class of it's own, but that's not to say it is without issues.

At the end of the day, all weight distribution hitches work, and basically the same way, all except sway control. It is my opinion that setup of the hitch you have is more important than the brand of hitch you own.

It is also my opinion based on experience if you have 1000 pounds of tongue weight, you need 1000 pound bars to distribute that weight properly no matter if that weight is behind a minivan or a one ton truck. I use hitches, I do not sell them.
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Old 09-30-2014, 03:52 PM   #36
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I also use the Equalizer with 1000 lb bars and an Airsafe.
Pull it with a Duramax.
Works great, and gotta love the Diesel Exhaust Brake going down passes in Colorado.
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Old 10-03-2014, 11:34 AM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PharmGeek View Post
I am only a 1 year in still "newbie" airstreamer and RV'er in general. Ive hitched my bass boat for years before this...very easy.

Hitching my propride requires a bit more attention to detail and can take a bit more time.

Once when camped and parked on a very uneven spot (tow vehicle was on a different position as the trailer) it proved very difficult to hitch....took about 20 minutes of fiddling....all other times have been easy...especially once you got the swing of it...

I think other hitches would be much much easier to hitch, but even as an RV newb, I really have never found the propride to be all that much of an issue to hitch up...
and my percieved benefits far outweigh this "difficulty" hitching.

In other words, of all the times I have hitched now in the past year, only once would I qualify it as "difficult"....

I have no freakin' clue which hitch is better...my opinion is just one of hundreds or thousands on here on such a subject...we were convinced by testimonials of owners who had owned previous hitches and who then after loved the PP/HA hitch...our experience with it so far has been as expected by all the positive feedback from owners....

I have no meaningful opinion to share about other hitches for comparison.
Does your P-P also transfer the load bar forces to the AS that Andy is referring to with other EQ/Reece hitches?
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Old 10-03-2014, 11:38 AM   #38
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If I understand that point - I think the answer would be yes - although I have no visible damage as of yet - no popped rivets etc -


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Old 10-03-2014, 11:53 AM   #39
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I think the Equal-i-zer beats on the trailer harder because of the square weight bars- less flexible. I think in general round weight bars give the trailer a smoother ride- more flexible.
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Old 10-03-2014, 11:55 AM   #40
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Good News : Lot's of good choices for hitches, lots of user experience


My Experience with Equalizer and 25 ft. Safari FB and now with a 30 ft. Flying Cloud towing with Tahoe and Dodge Ram 1500.

Like: Low Cost, No sway, Easy to hook up, parts available everywhere

Annoying Things I put up with: Heavy to put in and take out (I leave the bars on), Constantly checking all the nuts and bolts for tightness, makes a lot of noise, L-bars and retainers wear out.
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