Hensley Arrow Question

[toddnich]

I have the world-famous haha, and i have a question re: alignment. let me try to explain myself....

when i installed the hitch, i painstakingly eyeballed and measured the hitch box, attempting to square it perfectly with the trailer. i know the haha manual says not to sweat it, but i wanted it perfect. i thought i had it pretty darn close.

after recently installing a backup camera to my license plate (makes hooking up a breeze!), i looked at the haha in the camera while i was driving down the road. the hitch bar was shifted toward the passenger's side, with the cam from that side showing on that side.

i would have thought that, with the trailer and hitch box square, the hitch bar would also be centered when driving straight down the road. in fact, when i park the TV after driving straight i notice the same thing.

i could (and have) adjust the struts so that the hitch is centered, but this results in having the box "cocked" to one side.

so which is more important, having the box square to the trailer, or having the hitch centered (this would mean that neither cam is showing from above) when driving?

i hope i've explained this situation clearly. it's driving me nuts.

[rtaylor537]

I would recommend a call to the HA factory/sales office. I am sure they have an answer to your question. I have the hitch on my 31ft AS and had one of the staff at Jackson Center align the hitch while I drove slowly down their parking lot. It took several runs but it did make a difference compared to my original installation.
RTaylor

[Tim A.]

It is possible that your receiver is not quite parallel with the long axis of your towing vehicle. Just a thought since you will be checking everything out.

[ROBERT CROSS]

2air-r-you, he can help for sure.

I'm no expert but the way I understand the workings of the haha, the cams ARE the sway control. I also use a camera while underway and have noticed somewhat the same condition. I just assumed that was the correct operation. When parked in a dead straight line all is lined up correctly.

It's working great, and we couldn't be happier.

[Andrew T]

Hi Todnich

It is virtually impossible to measure the alignment of a Hensley.

The way I do is drive straight ahead on a flat level surface and stop.

Get out of the tow vehicle and get down on your hands and Knees by in front of the tow vehicle. Site down the outside edge of the tow vehicle tires and see the view of the trailer tires. Usually you will see a couple of inches of daylight inside the trailer tires. Then site down the tires on the other side of the tow vehicle the view should be the same but it rarely is. If you see a larger gap on the pull ahead and turn slightly to straighten it. It usually takes 3 or 4 adjustments to get the view down each side the same.

Once you have both sides the same adjust the struts so that the orange part of the hitch is centred over the shank.

During winds or when driving on crowned roads it will run off centre.

Andrew

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by toddnich

... but i wanted it perfect. i thought i had it pretty darn close...it's driving me nuts.

well i'll tell ya what drives me NUTS...

misc. new threads, when this is covered IN the user guide!

and NO PICTURES of the issue to boot!

it doesn't need to be perfect...

and close to center when stopped is close enough (25.914536 mm +/-)

to add 2 what andrew suggested when stopping in a level straight area,

use the manual brake controller for last few feet to pull BACK on the hitch and trailer.

loosen both struts and tighten boths sides (without ANY spring bar tension)

then run through the alignment/setup process ONCE...

but looking for it to STAY centered while driving, ALL bets are off.

wind, road crown, trailer loading, and continuous minor steering input...

will keep the head actively moving side2side.

and demo videos with an overhead camera show this continuous action at the head.

as long as it's reasonably close to midline AND the struts are tightened to JUST FIRM, it is correctly centered.

users often stop and inspect and make regular adjustments of the strut bars hoping for dead center alignment.

i think that's why the company manual suggests REMOVING the little tabs of reflective/centering tape AFTER set up.

because 'perfect' won't happen but what WILL happen is...

1. the bar tension will be inadvertently INCREASED on each side way too much...

and this will tilt the head and over stress the holes, pins and other hardware...

an oddly tilted orange head is OFTEN the result of multiple adjustments while in route, without controlling all variables.

2. or the strut bar tension will be relaxed too much and again stress the holes...

while killing OFF the sway control immediately!

richL posted pics of what can happen IF you play with the struts too much...

those pics are in the users guide too!

cheers
2air'

and now i leave this thread forever, with a chinese proverb...

"perfect is the enemy of good"

[toddnich]

[quote=2airishuman;601855]well i'll tell ya what drives me NUTS...

misc. new threads, when this is covered IN the user guide!


no offense, but the "user guide" thread is a monster, and i can't seem to search it. when i do a keyword search on these forums, i get more hits for the more words i put in. it's not supposed to be that way.

[Sean Woodruff]

Due to the independent nature of the each strut you will never be able to get it perfectly aligned. It doesn't really have to be but I understand about it driving you nuts.

[ROBERT CROSS]

[quote=toddnich;601949]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

well i'll tell ya what drives me NUTS...

misc. new threads, when this is covered IN the user guide!


no offense, but the "user guide" thread is a monster, and i can't seem to search it. when i do a keyword search on these forums, i get more hits for the more words i put in. it's not supposed to be that way.

I line it up with this...

as you can see I'm slightly off vertical, but DW has been telling me that for years

[Sean Woodruff]

Robert, this may have already been covered in another thread but your jacks are on the wrong side of the frame bracket pin in the picture above.

[Ron Gratz]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

---2. or the strut bar tension will be relaxed too much and again stress the holes...

while killing OFF the sway control immediately!

strut bar tension???

I thought the HA's struts could only be loaded in compression.

Ron

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Sean Woodruff

Robert, this may have already been covered in another thread but your jacks are on the wrong side of the frame bracket pin in the picture above.

Sean,

That was as a result of the the using the HB method of HAHA alignment.

[nilesrob]

[quote=ROBERT CROSS;602194]

Originally Posted by toddnich

I line it up with this...

as you can see I'm slightly off vertical, but DW has been telling me that for years

You are my hero.

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by Ron Gratz

...I thought the HA's struts could only be loaded in compression.

while tension is derived from the french and latin, tensio and tendere' "to stretch"....

tension (tense or more correctly tense-ness) is also used to describe a...

"state of rigidity or tightness" that comes from stretching (under contraction) and is the opposite of 'lax' or laxity (looseness)...

as in loose bowels...

ron, you've surely suffering from loose bowels at least once in life right ?

with loose bowels OR 'oh sh!t' moments,

the lower internal rectal sphincter muscles will contract and become TENSE...

this tension will thereby compress the OUTLET to reducing LEAKING...

so would that be a state of "compression" or "tension" under load?

now back to the context of my wording....

TENSION is used in contrast to RELAXED relating to the strut bars and THAT's the important notion....

besides, when the strut bars are 'screwed longer'....

-there is compression in the threading, and outer pin shafts..

-BUT there is also tension (stretching) of the pin holes and lengthening of the strut arms...

so whlie compression and tension are in play the result is reduced trailer yaw force transmitted forward into the tv.

and undershorts WITHOUT a brown stain...

cheers
2air'

[Ron Gratz]

Isn't English a marvelous language? So many ways to use words and so many ways to misuse words. So many opportunities to inform and so many opportunities to misinform.

A strut of a HA is a structural component of a mechanical system. In structural terminology, a strut is an element used to brace or strengthen a framework by resisting longitudinal compression. In structural terminology, "tension" and "compression" have distinctly different meanings.

I assume there are some readers who actually are curious about how the tongue of the HA is prevented from pivoting on the ball. If so, it is misleading to say that the struts are in tension.

A strut cannot pull rearward on the pin which attaches it to the HA's upper unit, as is implied by saying a strut is in tension. A strut can only push forward against its pin because the strut is in compression.

Since a HA strut can only be in compression and never in tension, only one strut is working at any given time to resist rotation of the coupler on the ball.

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

---now back to the context of my wording....

TENSION is used in contrast to RELAXED relating to the strut bars and THAT's the important notion....

For anyone who really wants to understand how the HA works, the important notion should be the direction of the force exerted on the upper unit by the struts. If you imply the strut is in tension, you imply the wrong direction for the force.

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

besides, when the strut bars are 'screwed longer'....

-there is compression in the threading, and outer pin shafts..

-BUT there is also tension (stretching) of the pin holes and lengthening of the strut arms...

Yes, there is "lengthening of the strut arms". But, the lengthening places the strut in compression and not in tension.

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

---so whlie compression and tension are in play the result is reduced trailer yaw force transmitted forward into the tv.

Since a strut cannot transmit a tensile load between the TT and the HA, strut tension is not in play.

I don't know what you mean by "trailer yaw force". A TT can exert a lateral force on the HA; and the HA's linkage causes this force to be "projected" forward closer to the TV's rear axle; thereby producing less "steering torque" on the TV.

The HA's linkage does not reduce the magnitude of the force. It simply changes the point of application of that force.

Ron