Anderson Weight Distribution Anti-Sway Hitch

[Larry1492]

Originally Posted by HowieE

I am kind of supersized at your comments. Having used WD hitches for close to 50 years and well over 300,000 miles I think I have some capacity to base my comments on.


I would be interested in what you feel is a source of noise from the Andersen. The only part that sees any movement is the tapered ball shaft in the plastic sleeve. Metal on plastic is not known for noise. As for a need to frequently adjust an Andersen that can only be because one has not learned how to use the hitch. Once the chains are adjusted there is no need to ever touch them again. Placing and locking the coupler on the ball. Then using the jack to raise the combination enough to put the triangular plate on eliminates any need for adjustments.


As for the need to be concerned about the coupler that is not a shortcoming of the hitch but rather a limitation of the coupler. Yes the introduction of some new design require alterations to existing system. Not too many missed the clutch pedal when automatic transmission were introduced.



If you have followed my original tread on the Andersen you will know that when I first saw the hitch I lost a whole nights sleep trying to figure out how it could work. That completed I bought one the next day. And yes after a year of so I did replace the coupler with a Quick Bite. Unfortunately Cequent bought Quick Byte to put them out of business. Had Andersen got there first they couls have put the rest of the WD hitch makers out of business by now.

Not sure what your connection to Anderson is or why you are shilling for them but this product is a poor execution of a bad idea. The source of the noise was the rotating ball assembly and it was setup as per the instructions. The Anderson hitch loads the TT coupler in a way it was not designed to be loaded. It is noisy and gets progressively worse in a relatively low mileage. The friction material in the ball assembly wares. The ride with the product is jarring and it provides no equalization.

There are much better hitches at the same price.!

[BayouBiker]

The Andersen product is not a poor design. Please support that with technical evidence on specific deficiencies and I will respond. As to noise, it is true that the plastics used in the hitch have a tendency to produce modest squeaks, but on the whole I challenge you to provide objective evidence that on the whole it produces noise greater than the mean of all hitches.

Would also be interested in the technical support for your conclusion that there are better hitches for the price. By what objective criteria do you reach that conclusion?

[ROBERT CROSS]

^
?

Show me the "Cat's". 🤔 How much can it move?
Will it handle a 1200lb TW without having a hernia, and for how long.
I've got 15 Seasons without anything waring out, brain fart damage....yes. 🥴 That's it.

Bob
🇺🇸

[BayouBiker]

Bob, I agree it will have great difficulty developing enough tension for a 30+ footer, but it can go up to 1500 lb of tension without too too much trouble. Enough for a 27-29. I have 1200 on my 25'. The Andersen, like all hitches have a sweet spot. Andersen's excel with light trailers. They are particularly nice for 19-22'.

As bob implied, if you have a large trailer, Andersen is not your best choice.

[PB_NB]

Originally Posted by BayouBiker

Bob, I agree it will have great difficulty developing enough tension for a 30+ footer, but it can go up to 1500 lb of tension without too too much trouble. Enough for a 27-29. I have 1200 on my 25'. The Andersen, like all hitches have a sweet spot. Andersen's excel with light trailers. They are particularly nice for 19-22'.

As bob implied, if you have a large trailer, Andersen is not your best choice.

Hi Brian, I am still having a difficult time with the the tensioning applied to the ball and coupler. If I understand this, to achieve WD, I need to tighten up the chains which are running parallel with the A-frame. This puts a load on the ball/coupler which appears to be a significant side load to this connection. I would need to crank up the nuts on the chain ends and pull the bottom of the hitch head towards the trailer creating a tilt in the assembly which in turn pushes the TV receiver upwards.

I am not sure if I have this correct but this seems to be the only way to get some upward movement in the hitch head. The short lever arm at the head has to do the majority of this work.

So if we have a big load applied to the pawls of the coupler and add to that the manufacturers instruction not to lube the hitch or ball, does this lead to early wearing of parts namely the coupler pawls. It seems to me that the end result is failure of the coupler pawls or even the hitch head? Please correct me if I am way off base so I can better understand how this hitch is a good choice for my 22 footer over a load bar type of WD system.

Thanks again for your feedback!
Peter

[BayouBiker]

The design is intended to have the ball and coupler act as a fused unit with no relative movement that is why they advise no lubrication. If the ball and coupler move as if they are fused then there is no wear and the high tension promotes lack of movement between them. Higher tension means higher resistance. Higher tension also compresses the ball shaft into the friction bushing increasing sway control. Effective WD tension gets a bit tricky. The chain tension the trailer experiences is fairly close to the trigonometry between the ball center, the trailer frame center and the chain tension nut. This is balanced with the rotational moment between the ball to coupler force and the chain to shank force. Thus the combined downward tension the trailer experiences from this hitch for the same WD transfer is reduced. But on the downside, as Bob so deftly implied, though never outright stated (how does he do that so elegantly?), this design simply cannot develop the high tension required for large trailers.

[Prettygood]

Installed the Andersen yesterday evening and took it for a test drive today. The reduction of bounce was obvious, can’t comment on sway too much, but did swerve a bit on a straight away for a small test and it felt balanced.

One question... do you cross the safety chains above or below the triangle that the sway chains are on, or do you not cross them at all? Didn’t seem right to have the safety chains above the triangle. Thanks

[BayouBiker]

From a practical perspective it really doesn't matter. With the hitch setup, the ball could sheer off and the safety chains would still get no use because the WD chains would hold the trailer in position. So dangle them below and they have a better chance of staying out of the way while backing and not binding something up.

[HowieE]

Originally Posted by BayouBiker

From a practical perspective it really doesn't matter. With the hitch setup, the ball could sheer off and the safety chains would still get no use because the WD chains would hold the trailer in position. So dangle them below and they have a better chance of staying out of the way while backing and not binding something up.

Not really sure how he got to 2 sets of chains but the rule is Alway set the safety chains Crossed below the hitch. That includes the triangle plate. The cross acts as a sling that will support the hitch should the hitch fail. In a failure the tongue would drop and come to rest on the cross chains. Now that said the chains should be shortened so that sling will catch the tongue before it hits the ground. Something almost no one ever does. The cross also prevents any possibility of strain on the chains while turning.

Another thing to consider. The umbilical cable should be routed across the top of the hitch and secured at the pivot point. I use a D clip through one of the holes at the top of the drop bar. If you do not have a hole there consider making a means of holding the cable at the pivot point. This insures it can't get caught on anything or pulled out of the tow vehicle.

[BayouBiker]

Howie, I guess you're not familiar with the Andersen WD hitch design which uses chains for its tensioners. My comments were predicated on the Andersen hitch.

edit: I remember now you own one so.... hmm. Not sure what to make if this.

[HowieE]

Originally Posted by BayouBiker

Howie, I guess you're not familiar with the Andersen WD hitch design which uses chains for its tensioners. My comments were predicated on the Andersen hitch.

edit: I remember now you own one so.... hmm. Not sure what to make if this.

His question was about the safety not the Andersen itself.

Yes I do own an Andersen and might suggest you take a look at this tread.

www.airforums.com/forums/f464/the-andersen-wd-hitch-user-thread-92131.html

So far I have made 2 design changes in the Andersen both of which are incorporated in the current model. I have made a third change but have never suggested it to Andersen. It relates to the means of securing the parallel bars to the tongue to prevent slippage. So I think have a basic knowledge of the hitch.

With respect to my comment on routing of the umbilical you can see what I mean on page 71 post 1415 of the above tread.

[Prettygood]

Originally Posted by HowieE

His question was about the safety not the Andersen itself.

Yes I do own an Andersen and might suggest you take a look at this tread.

www.airforums.com/forums/f464/the-andersen-wd-hitch-user-thread-92131.html

So far I have made 2 design changes in the Andersen both of which are incorporated in the current model. I have made a third change but have never suggested it to Andersen. It relates to the means of securing the parallel bars to the tongue to prevent slippage. So I think have a basic knowledge of the hitch.

With respect to my comment on routing of the umbilical you can see what I mean on page 71 post 1415 of the above tread.

Thanks to you both. I’ll route the safety chains below the triangle and take a look at the umbilical.

[BayouBiker]

Indeed Howie, by the time I realized my error my post was out there and I didn't want to edit it directly. Anyway your advice is sound for all hitches and clearly you understand the Andersen better than I. Still when I go through the math I cant see how the ball and coupler could separate on an Andersen in particular but really for any WD hitch.

I sincerely apologize, I typed first and thought second.

[Pubtym]

Help needed. On a recent trip I lost on of the two Torsion nuts. Anderson parts has my order for a new pair but shipping is 4-5 weeks out. Assistance needed if a member here has old extra nut or direct connection where I can get new pair. Thanks


See photo.

[HowieE]

Did you order directly from Andersen or a Stealer? Call Jason at the factory and question why they can take one off the line and mail it to you.

[PB_NB]

Originally Posted by Pubtym

Help needed. On a recent trip I lost on of the two Torsion nuts. Anderson parts has my order for a new pair but shipping is 4-5 weeks out. Assistance needed if a member here has old extra nut or direct connection where I can get new pair. Thanks


See photo.Attachment 381151

If you can't get one from Anderson and really need one sooner, try going to Fastenal or similar with the other nut and see if they can match it.

Perhaps, you can drill a small hole at the end of the threaded shafts and use a retaining clips to keep the nuts from coming off on their own.

[HowieE]

[QUOTE=Pubtym;2423079]Help needed. On a recent trip I lost on of the two Torsion nuts. Anderson parts has my order for a new pair but shipping is 4-5 weeks out. Assistance needed if a member here has old extra nut or direct connection where I can get new pair. Thanks
/QUOTE]


Why was the nut ever taken off? Once set up there is little reason to ever touch the nuts again. If you approach the trailer at a different angle than when you uncoupled you would have to back off a little to align the plate. But if you recouple at the same alignment you shouldn't have to touch the nuts.


If all else fails check with a machine shop and have them rethread a nut for you.

[Pubtym]

Originally Posted by HowieE

Did you order directly from Andersen or a Stealer? Call Jason at the factory and question why they can take one off the line and mail it to you.

My order direct from Anderson is C13484. How do I reach Jason? What department is he located?


Charlie

[Pubtym]

[QUOTE=HowieE;2423199]

Originally Posted by Pubtym

Help needed. On a recent trip I lost on of the two Torsion nuts. Anderson parts has my order for a new pair but shipping is 4-5 weeks out. Assistance needed if a member here has old extra nut or direct connection where I can get new pair. Thanks
/QUOTE]


Why was the nut ever taken off? Once set up there is little reason to ever touch the nuts again. If you approach the trailer at a different angle than when you uncoupled you would have to back off a little to align the plate. But if you recouple at the same alignment you shouldn't have to touch the nuts.


If all else fails check with a machine shop and have them rethread a nut for you.

Nut was removed while unhitching after a long days travel. Private campground site was rutted, marginally lever, and surfaced with 1 inch gravel stones. While using the tongue jack, the rig rolled back about 18 inches crushing my metal chocks as it fell off the jack pad stool. Had very difficult time re-coupling to tow to another nearby marginal site. During that relocation, nut was lost. Searched area about two hours. However, large gray colored gravel pretty much camouflaged the nut.

[Pubtym]

Originally Posted by PB_NB

If you can't get one from Anderson and really need one sooner, try going to Fastenal or similar with the other nut and see if they can match it.

Perhaps, you can drill a small hole at the end of the threaded shafts and use a retaining clips to keep the nuts from coming off on their own.

I did go to a Fastenal Store while in the Oil City, PA area. Purchased nuts. However, it appears Anderson nut threads are unique and those nuts don't fit. If I do go to machine shop to see if they can be refitted, I'll need the specs for the Anderson nuts. Fastenal might be able to determine those thread specs.