The Andersen WD Hitch User Thread

[HowieE]

Unless the front axle is a fixed point, an anchor point, and weight is applied to the hitch the rear axle is the fulcrum. When force is applied to at one end of a leaver an equal and opposite force has to be applied to the other end to reach equilibrium. The fact that the front axle did not rise above the original height indicates while the rear dropped indicates that something has compensated for this expected reaction. That is WD.

Now that said one might argue that the WD was not enough when compared with other hitches.
What is enough?
The steering geometry has not been adversely effected so what is the problem? A 150 Ford can drop 2 in. With an acceptable load in the bed.

[msmcv51]

If it is not accetable for the front end to stay the same while the rear goes down 2" than please answer this. How does Peterbuilt, Kenworth, Freightline, Volvo, and Sterling and all pickup trucks towing with a king pin and fifth wheel wether a camper or or a 53' trailer with 40,000 lbs of cargo get a proper weight distribution.

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by msmcv51

If it is not accetable for the front end to stay the same while the rear goes down 2" than please answer this. How does Peterbuilt, Kenworth, Freightline, Volvo, and Sterling and all pickup trucks towing with a king pin and fifth wheel wether a camper or or a 53' trailer with 40,000 lbs of cargo get a proper weight distribution.

The simple answer to your question is, they do get an acceptable weight distribution. And it has been shown several times on here, even quoted from the pickup truck's operator's manuel, that restoring the original ride height with a WD hitch is what the truck's manufacturers recommend.

There are some folks in this community that just do whatever they can to get a rise out of others, and start an argument. Stay here long enough, and you will learn who to put on your "ignore" list. It makes for a much simpler life.

[Beaubill]

What is the part number for the hitch for a Airstream 25 and a Dodge 2500 ?

[newroswell]

Originally Posted by msmcv51

If it is not accetable for the front end to stay the same while the rear goes down 2" than please answer this. How does Peterbuilt, Kenworth, Freightline, Volvo, and Sterling and all pickup trucks towing with a king pin and fifth wheel wether a camper or or a 53' trailer with 40,000 lbs of cargo get a proper weight distribution.

The king pin on a fifth wheel is going to be slightly forward of the rear axle so no front axle weight is ever lost. That is what eliminates sway also. With the better 5'er hitches, you can actually move the hitch forward/backward a lot and control how much of the weight is put on the front axle. Fifth wheel towing is brought up all the times in these threads and it is completely different than towing from behind the rear axle.

[msmcv51]

Originally Posted by SteveH

The simple answer to your question is, they do get an acceptable weight distribution. And it has been shown several times on here, even quoted from the pickup truck's operator's manuel, that restoring the original ride height with a WD hitch is what the truck's manufacturers recommend.

There are some folks in this community that just do whatever they can to get a rise out of others, and start an argument. Stay here long enough, and you will learn who to put on your "ignore" list. It makes for a much simpler life.

But just how do fifth wheels get that WD? What lifts the rear to push down on the front? There no spring bars or chains.

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by msmcv51

But just how do fifth wheels get that WD? What lifts the rear to push down on the front? There no spring bars or chains.

You're absolutely right, they don't have springs bars or chains, because they don't need them. With a fifth wheel hitch, the weight of the trailer is placed directly over the rear axle, or as you have stated above, slightly in front of the axle.

Which by the way, is effectively what a WD hitch does...it moves the tongue weight off of the ball forward to the rear axle, and farther if you want, as well as a small amount back onto the TT axles.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by msmcv51

But just how do fifth wheels get that WD? What lifts the rear to push down on the front? There no spring bars or chains.

Two different sets of Physic laws.

5th wheels, have the pivot point forward of the rear axle of the tow vehicle.

You cannot do that with an Airstream coupler, or any other standard travel trailer.

The purpose of a load equalizing hitch is to place additional weight on the front axle of the tow vehicle.

Using just a "ball" removes that weight, from the front axle, causing instability, BIG TIME.

Andy

[AWCHIEF]

Originally Posted by beaubill57

What is the part number for the hitch for a Airstream 25 and a Dodge 2500 ?

As an actual Andersen WD system owner and user I would suggest that you contact Andersen directly. If you give them your tow combination they will set you up with the best system compoments for your specific use.

[Rich of SCal]

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

As an actual Andersen WD system owner and user I would suggest that you contact Andersen directly. If you give them your tow combination they will set you up with the best system compoments for your specific use.

Andersen is great about some things and not so about about others. I am Airstreaming in PS using my new Andersen for the first time. I am with friends who bought one I did but couldn't use it on this trip because Andersen has had his brackets since November and won't send him the new angled ones they promised. At their instruction he shipped the original ones to them. They keep promising to send them, but never follow through. So he had to come out here with no WD whatsoever. Yes, this is second hand info, but he is sitting right next me as I type this. In fact he let me check his Andersen for sizing, which led to my purchase. Very poor customer service IMHO.

[dkottum]

Rich, when I bought the wrong size drop bar for my Andersen and called them, they immediately shipped the new replacement one day delivery as an even exchange, did not charge me for the shipping cost even though it was my error. I returned the old one in that shipping box.

Kindly keep us posted on the problem your friend is having.

doug k

[AWCHIEF]

doug, ditto. Same customer service experience from Andersen with me. They have always been very quick getting back to me on any issue or question that I have had with them. My new brackets were delivered quickly and at no cost to me.

Rich, sorry to hear you friend has not had the same type experience. His not receiving the replacement brackets is out of charactor of Andersen in my opinion. A number of people here, including myself and on other sites have recieved their new angled brackets recently. I can only speculate that he may be having a communication problem with them.

[Rich of SCal]

I know there have been stories about the great service. That's why this is so frustrating. He keeps contacting them. Last response was "what a mystery! I'll do some investigating" and then...nothing. He's a good guy so I posted this here hoping it might generate some action on Andersens part. He can't use the hitch until they send him some brackets. They shouldn't have agreed to swap them if they weren't going to follow through. If I didn't already have mine I would not order them now based on his experience.

[dkottum]

Rich, I trust your friend and also trust Andersen. It will be interesting to know how this works out.

Perhaps you, as a Andersen customer, could give them a call on his behalf to see what's cookin' here.

doug k

[AWCHIEF]

Rich, if you can PM me his name I would be happy to also give Andersen a call on his behalf. Not sure it would help but it could not hurt.

[Sean Woodruff]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Two different sets of Physic laws.

5th wheels, have the pivot point forward of the rear axle of the tow vehicle.

You cannot do that with an Airstream coupler, or any other standard travel trailer.

Andy

Yes, Andy, you can do that with an Airstream or any other standard travel trailer. We do it every day.


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[CanoeStream]

Originally Posted by Sean Woodruff

Yes, Andy, you can do that with an Airstream or any other standard travel trailer. We do it every day.

True -- ProPride & HAHA accomplish this by geometry. And PullRite actually puts the pivot in the vicinity of the rear axle.

Anderson (and so many other WD-antisway setups) don't do this -- the advantages are discussed in other threads on ProPride or HAHA. Have I ever even seen a PullRite?

I could observe that the Anderson owners 'pull together'. No brickbats please...

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by CanoeStream

I could observe that the Anderson owners 'pull together'. No brickbats please...

That's probably a true statement, but I am both an Andersen and a ProPride owner. The trailer I use the Andersen on is a small 17" Casita, and the hitch is absolutely leaps and bounds better than the single bar WD hitch with the friction sway control bar that I had on it.

I'm staying with the ProPride on my 31' Airstream, however.

[Wazbro]

Originally Posted by Sean Woodruff

Yes, Andy, you can do that with an Airstream or any other standard travel trailer. We do it every day.


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I'm not sure that I agree with that since he was only talking about weight distribution at the time.

If he was talking about sway control I would agree.

[CanoeStream]

Yes, steady readers would agree that the discussion was about pivot location in terms of weight distribution. Returning you to the discussion already in progress.

Om...