Andersen Hitches

[Kaytee1206]

We bought the Andersen hitch tonight. Our camper won't be in for a month or so though, but we will report back once we use it.

[PHS79]

Two weeks ago we bought our first TT that "may" require a WD hitch. After searching forums since buying our Grey Wolf 26BH, I decided to buy the Andersen WD hitch. Bought it from Radauto for $379 shipped. It should be here early next week. I plan getting it all set-up sometime in the next couple weeks, but I won't be able to report on how it works until sometime in May when campgrounds around here start to open up.

Here is a pic of our new TT

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by PHS79

Two weeks ago we bought our first TT that "may" require a WD hitch. After searching forums since buying our Grey Wolf 26BH, I decided to buy the Andersen WD hitch. Bought it from Radauto for $379 shipped. It should be here early next week. I plan getting it all set-up sometime in the next couple weeks, but I won't be able to report on how it works until sometime in May when campgrounds around here start to open up.

Nice looking combo.

Let us know how the setup goes, and how well it distributes the weight from your fender measurements. Inquiring minds want to know.

[PHS79]

Originally Posted by mtnguy

Nice looking combo.

Let us know how the setup goes, and how well it distributes the weight from your fender measurements. Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks!! I will take alot of measurements, here is what I was thinking:

unloaded truck-front/rear
truck hooked to camper with no WD-f/r
truck hooked to camper with WD-f/r

level camper unhooked
also how close to level I can get the camper with the WD hooked up.

Any other measurements that you would like me to take?

The hitch is supposed to come in next week, next Friday we are going out of town for a few days. So it won't be until the following week or weekend until I can play around with the hitch.

[Triguy]

Do you intend to weigh the trailer on a scale or measure the wheel wells (quick and dirty method)?

I think with the Andersen hitch what we are all interested in really seeing is how much weight you are distributing with your WDH to the front TV axles and to the TT’s axles. This would be numbers 1 and 2 below.

The full shebang for your trailer would be the following.


1) With trailer hitched to truck (and WDH hooked up) you want to get front TV axle (Front gross axle weight - FGAW) and rear TV axle (Rear gross axle weight - RGAW) and total combined weight of TV and TT (Gross combined weight (GCW)). This is easy with a three-part CAT scale. Just put an axle on each platform. The printout separates the three and also includes the total. These numbers are important to compare to their respective ratings to make sure you are not overweight the limits of your truck.

2) With trailer hitched to truck (and WDH NOT hooked up). Weigh again with the trailer hitched to truck but unhook the spring bars of your WDH. If you compare the numbers with the first set of weights above, you can see how much weight you are distributing with your WDH to the front TV axles and to the TT’s axles.

3) Loaded truck weight (and, subsequently, trailer weight and trailer tongue weight). Weigh the loaded truck without the trailer but with family still aboard truck. Get front TV axle and rear TV axle. Add both to get the loaded gross vehicle weight (GVW loaded).

A) This will also give you the trailer weight with the following calculation using the combined weight from weight set #1:

Trailer weight = Total combined weight of TV and TT (GCW) – loaded truck weight (GVW loaded)

B) This will also give you the trailer tongue weight (TW) with the following calculation using the FGAW and RGAW from weight set #2:

Tongue weight = (set 2 FGAW + set 2 RGAW) - Loaded truck weight

You need to use the front and rear axle weights as measured without the spring bars so that you are not measuring the effect of the WDH.

You can also weigh the tongue by using a Sherline scale if you have one or a bathroom scale can be used, too.

4) Unloaded Truck weight (and, subsequently, payload weight). Last (and you might want to come back for this after dropping off your family and trailer) weigh the unloaded truck (no family or other cargo) to get the truck weight.

A) Your payload can be calculated by subtracting the two truck weights:

Payload = Loaded Truck Weight – Truck Weight

This is good to compare to the payload capacity of your TV as many vehicle's run up against this number.

[PHS79]

Just going to do measurements for now. I am going to talk to a local big cash crop farmer that has his own scale to see if I can use it for a bit. The closest Cat scale is over 60 miles away, we will be camping about 2 miles away from it at the end of July. If all else fails I will just do the weights then.

[Triguy]

Good idea. I think the three wheel well measurements you listed will be enough to sufficiently set it up:

unloaded truck-front/rear
truck hooked to camper with no WD-f/r
truck hooked to camper with WD-f/r

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by PHS79

I am going to talk to a local big cash crop farmer that has his own scale to see if I can use it for a bit.

That would be ideal if he will let you do that, or even offer him a couple of dollars for the privilege. The local quarry lets me go across their scales when they are not busy.

In going across a single section scale, you need to weigh the front TV axle only, both truck axles on the scale, the total combo with all axles on the scale, and then just the trailer axles. If the scale is not long enough for everything, then you can calculate the combo weight with just the truck and trailer axle weights. These weight-ins need to be done with the truck solo, and the truck and trialer with and without tension on the WDH.

You can do the fender measurements in your driveway 1st to get the setup close before heading to the scales.

Originally Posted by PHS79

also how close to level I can get the camper with the WD hooked up.

Getting the camper level is not the purpose of the WDH. The WDH should get the lost weight back onto the front axle of the tow vehicle. When using a WDH, it does tend to raise the front of the trailer, but the main way of leveling the trailer is the adjustment of the head assembly on the hitch shank.

In your photo, the trailer looks to be riding level. You may want to start with the top of the ball mount an inch or 2 lower than what you currently have, since once you put tension on the Anderson chains, that should bring the front of the trailer up.

Either that trailer has a fairly low tongue weight, or the back of your truck is really beefy, as the truck seems to be riding fairly level. Regardless, a WDH with integrated sway control is an excellent idea for that rig.....you should see a big difference in the towing.

[PHS79]

I know that a WD hitch isn't meant to level the trailer, but with the adjustable head/shank I would like to have the trailer as close to level as possible.

We have a 1000lb scale in my dads shop, we used it to find the tongue weight this morning. Loaded with everything that we took out of our old camper, no water/food/clothes, it had a tongue weight of 648lbs. I had a shank with 2" rise in when the pic was taken.

I have the front of my truck lifted 3" and Firestone ride-rite bags under the rear. My truck sits level with no air in the bags. In the pic I had around 25 psi in the bags to bring the rear back to level.

[PHS79]

I got the Andersen hitch all setup, it would have only taken 30-40 mins to assemble everything. But my hitch was missing 1 of the big washers that goes between the nut and bushing also I had to put 1 link extension in the chains because the brackets were too close to the propane tank for my taste. Luckily my dad owned an excavating company until he retired 4 years ago, he had everything in his shop that I needed. Everything went together very well, the directions were good also.

I don't know what the actual weight transfer is but here are the measurements that I had. We did weigh the tongue of the trailer the other day with a 1000lb scale we had in the shop, tongue weight was 648lbs.

Also all these were with 1/4" compression of the bushing.

truck empty-- front 40 1/4", rear 40 1/4"
camper hooked no WD-- front 40 3/8", rear 39 1/4"
camper hooked with WD front 40 1/8", rear 40"

Hopefully we will be going camping in about a month, so I will report back with more then.

[acadianbob]

Originally Posted by PHS79

.

truck empty-- front 40 1/4", rear 40 1/4"
camper hooked no WD-- front 40 3/8", rear 39 1/4"
camper hooked with WD front 40 1/8", rear 40"

So your front end only went up 1/8"? And your back went down only 1"?

It makes me wonder about how your trailer is loaded and whether you have sufficient tongue weight.

And the front of your truck with WD hooked up should never be lower than an empty truck. Your measurements indicate 1/8" lower than empty for the front end.

If your tongue weight is OK (10 to 15% of total trailer weight), then I think you need to back off the WD just a tad.

I think you should check your tongue weight. If less than 12%, can you shift weight around in the trailer? And then do your measurements again?

[acadianbob]

OK, I just looked at the specs for your trailer and things make a little more sense. Your DRY tongue weight is only 402 out of a total 4550 so your tongue weight is less than 9%!! There's probably not much you can do about that. And that is probably why your truck measurements didn't move much. Not a lot of weight on that hitch. So, I would back off the WD a bit because your front end is too low IMO. It may give you "squirrely" handling and puts undo pressure on the front suspension of your truck. I would dial it back until your "hooked WD on" measurement is the same as empty.

That tongue weight really surprises me.

And here is another thought. The Anderson hitch uses tongue weight to control the anti-sway. The more tongue weight, the stronger the anti-sway as the ball is pushed into the sleeve. Your light tongue weight is going to give you less sway control I believe.

[PHS79]

According to our old 1000lb scale in dads shop, the tongue weight right now is 648 lbs. Still not that much though...

[OldCoot]

I was always under the impression that a WD hitch is supposed to put some wt on the front end, otherwise what good is it? I would say his measurements were pretty good.
IF, you put 1000# on the hitch and you adjust the wd to raise the rear, you are putting some wt on the front and it will have to make the front lower than it was in the "no load" condition.

[acadianbob]

What you say is true but you can shift too much weight to the front. This is indicated by the front being lower than empty. But at one time this was how it was done. More recently that notion seems to have changed somewhat. I suppose it could vary by truck manufacturer. But this is what the ford manual says. It would be interesting to hear what other brand instructions are!

[acadianbob]

The front should go up without WD. Then the WD should bring it back down. Question is "how far". I would say not below empty based on the Ford instructions.

[OldCoot]

1/8" would indicate he is not putting very much wt on the front. Leaning on it will do that.

[MtnGuy]

Originally Posted by PHS79

truck empty-- front 40 1/4", rear 40 1/4"
camper hooked no WD-- front 40 3/8", rear 39 1/4"
camper hooked with WD front 40 1/8", rear 40"

Good report !!! I have been wondering how well the Anderson can distribute the weight, and you have the fender measurements to prove it. Several trips across the scales should be even more proof.

Do you have something other than a stock suspension ??

With a 700 lb. tongue weight (compared to your 648 lbs.) , my trailer raises the front almost 1/2" (compared to your 1/8"), and lowers the rear axle 2" (compared to your 1") without the spring bars attached.

[saskrick]

I think acadianbob has some good advice. The wd hitch needs to spread the load just enough, not too much. If the there is not enough weight on the back axle, you won't have "sway control", you'll have "out of control". It will be more dangerous than with no wd hitch. Your measurements show that you are puuting some weight on both axles. Try backing it off a little to see what happens maybe so the front is the same height as with no load. The nice thing is you have virtually unlimited adjustibilty. I think you'll be able to dial it in just right.

[Len & Cheri]

Originally Posted by PHS79

I got the Andersen hitch all setup, it would have only taken 30-40 mins to assemble everything. But my hitch was missing 1 of the big washers that goes between the nut and bushing also I had to put 1 link extension in the chains because the brackets were too close to the propane tank for my taste. Luckily my dad owned an excavating company until he retired 4 years ago, he had everything in his shop that I needed. Everything went together very well, the directions were good also.

I don't know what the actual weight transfer is but here are the measurements that I had. We did weigh the tongue of the trailer the other day with a 1000lb scale we had in the shop, tongue weight was 648lbs.

Also all these were with 1/4" compression of the bushing.

truck empty-- front 40 1/4", rear 40 1/4"
camper hooked no WD-- front 40 3/8", rear 39 1/4"
camper hooked with WD front 40 1/8", rear 40"

Hopefully we will be going camping in about a month, so I will report back with more then.

So do you adjust how much weight it transfers by the amount of links? Or can you adust it by how tight the nut holding the chain is?