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Old 10-22-2018, 11:28 AM   #1
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Another Buckled Andersen

There was a Facebook post from just a little bit ago for the Andersen Ultimate. They were a few vehicles behind an accident and had a hard stop.

Quote:
For those who have the Anderson Hitch...please reconsider changing to a different hitch. The hitch completely failed.

This is what happened to us yesterday after our vacation...we were about 35 minutes from home. There were 2 cars ahead of us that hit each other. The person in front of us (pulling an enclosed car hauler) slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting the 2 cars. We hit our brakes and would have stopped if not for the failure of the hitch. The hitch collapsed, the ball sheared off and one of the safety chains failed.

The brakes were set at 7.5 and they were working because the tires on the truck and camper were sliding (skid marks on the road). The momentum pushed us forward into the guy in front of us. Both him and us slid into the median. The electrical box got smashed so I don’t know yet if the brake wires got damaged to cause brake failure. Everyone involved in these wrecks are all ok.
They later commented that pin weight was about 2,700 lbs. and it was their first time out with the hitch.

It pains me to post this because 1, I like the hitch. And 2, because this will devolve into an argument about the hitch which will ultimately get the thread closed by the moderators. So play nice, folks.
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Old 10-22-2018, 11:41 AM   #2
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I asked she was sure it was installed correctly:
Quote:
I understand completely. I an getting some criticism from another group I’m in. We know all safety aspects. I built cars for 20 years. My husband the same amount of years and before that, he built military planes and helicopters ever since he got out of the military in 1984. So the answer to your questions are yes he installed it properly according to instructions per the manufacturer. And it was torqued according to what the instructions said.
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Old 10-22-2018, 11:49 AM   #3
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Thanks for the post. I hope we'll be able to hear what the final conclusion is as to what caused the failure and how Andersen responds.
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Old 10-22-2018, 11:54 AM   #4
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To be fair, it was involved in an accident. It's not like it sheared just driving down the road.

That said, 'accident worthiness' wasn't something I had originally considered when looking into hitches. This has me thinking.
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Old 10-22-2018, 11:56 AM   #5
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My opinion... no one asked.... If they had stayed with steel they would have avoided the issues(though small) we have seen. I also think the design that uses rails or pucks is superior to the "ball mount" version.

Shearing the ball... no excuse for that. Defective material.
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Old 10-22-2018, 11:58 AM   #6
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You know that is a good point! I’m wondering how a standard pin hitch would have held up?
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Old 10-22-2018, 11:59 AM   #7
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When asked if they were following too closely, she replied:
Quote:
We were about 3 car lengths behind him going about 55mph due to traffic getting heavy. We were almost stopped. We felt something behind us and thought someone hit us from behind and that caused us to go forward. When we got stopped, my husband got out to check on whoever hit our camper. There was no one!!! When he got back to the truck, that is when he noticed the camper sitting on the bed. That bump we felt was when the hitch collapsed which caused us to go forward.
I'm sure I want way more than 3 car lengths in front of my while towing.
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Old 10-22-2018, 12:03 PM   #8
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Ouch, I'm just glad everybody walked away without injury. I recommended the Andersen Ultimate hitch for years without hesitation but this incident may be an eye opener that when forward momentum enters the equation the hitch may have a weakness???

Edit: I agree Doug, 3 car lengths at 55mph is to close, way to close!
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Old 10-22-2018, 12:07 PM   #9
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I call BS.

There is NO WAY that trailer brakes are gonna shear a ball off like that. That is an impact fracture. My guess is... tailgating too close. Couldn't stop in time. Hit vehicle in front of them. THEN the ball and hitch failed.

Tim
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Old 10-22-2018, 12:08 PM   #10
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Well...

Throwing my .02 in here as well.

1) That hitch should not have failed if it collapsed BEFORE rear-ending the other vehicle. If that's what happened... that's crazy.

2) IF that's is what happened, it's odd that the trailer brakes allowed it to do that. Just an observation about trailer brake adjustment.

3) I don't care if the hitch broke or not. Momentum is momentum. They were going to rear-end that vehicle in front of them if the hitch broke, or if it stayed intact. The momentum of the system is the same. You can't change momentum.

"We were about 3 car lengths behind him going about 55mph due to traffic getting heavy. We were almost stopped. We felt something behind us and thought someone hit us from behind and that caused us to go forward."

This tells me that their truck may have been almost stopped... but the trailer wasn't. Even if their hitch stayed intact, that momentum would still have carried them into the vehicle in front of them.
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Old 10-22-2018, 12:22 PM   #11
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Until we know the whole story, perhaps the initial lesson to be learned is about safety factors...safety factor in terms of loading on the Andersen Ultimate Hitch and safety factor in terms of following distance.
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Old 10-22-2018, 12:36 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowracer View Post
I call BS.

There is NO WAY that trailer brakes are gonna shear a ball off like that. That is an impact fracture. My guess is... tailgating too close. Couldn't stop in time. Hit vehicle in front of them. THEN the ball and hitch failed.

Tim
I have to agree.
I just can't see from the forward movement damage, that trailer brakes (or the lack thereof) caused this incident. Once they hit the other vehicle in front of them (stopping the travel of the truck) the momentum/weight of the trailer simply pushed it and the hitch forward.

Also, just an observation about some conflicting info about the truck/trailer brakes...
Quote:
The brakes were set at 7.5 and they were working because the tires on the truck and camper were sliding (skid marks on the road). The momentum pushed us forward into the guy in front of us. Both him and us slid into the median. The electrical box got smashed so I don’t know yet if the brake wires got damaged to cause brake failure.
Were the trailer brakes working? (skid marks) or were they not? (brake failure) And what about the trucks anti-lock system? (skid marks)
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Old 10-22-2018, 12:46 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by itat View Post
...safety factor in terms of loading on the Andersen Ultimate Hitch...
I asked the camper and weight:
Quote:
It is a 2018 Keystone Montana 3931fb. Dry weight is over 13,000 but under 14,000 pounds.
Well under the 25k the Andersen is rated for!
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Old 10-22-2018, 01:48 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowracer View Post
I call BS.

There is NO WAY that trailer brakes are gonna shear a ball off like that. That is an impact fracture. My guess is... tailgating too close. Couldn't stop in time. Hit vehicle in front of them. THEN the ball and hitch failed.

Tim
I agree. this looks and sounds like they were traveling too close and the impact caused the damage. although it is not unheard of for a ball to shear off if defective. hard braking could have caused it to fail (it was their first trip with it). it should be pretty obvious if the brakes were working or not as indicated by skid marks as they stated. it would be interesting to see if the skid marks followed all the way into the ditch. the truck for sure skidded into the ditch, that much is obvious. you can see the skid mark in the dirt in their picture. you can also see the foot pad of the landing gear covered in dirt, it dug in going into the ditch. thats a DEEP ditch/median. you can see again from the picture and it looks like they made it to the bottom. "almost stopped" does not take you from your lane, across a full shoulder and down the ditch.

there is too much information missing for us to conduct our own internet accident investigation accurately. we have a few pictures showing just one persons point of view. the main thing is that everyone is unhurt and was able to walk away.
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Old 10-22-2018, 02:15 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IsleDog View Post
I agree. this looks and sounds like they were traveling too close and the impact caused the damage. although it is not unheard of for a ball to shear off if defective. hard braking could have caused it to fail (it was their first trip with it). it should be pretty obvious if the brakes were working or not as indicated by skid marks as they stated. it would be interesting to see if the skid marks followed all the way into the ditch. the truck for sure skidded into the ditch, that much is obvious. you can see the skid mark in the dirt in their picture. you can also see the foot pad of the landing gear covered in dirt, it dug in going into the ditch. thats a DEEP ditch/median. you can see again from the picture and it looks like they made it to the bottom. "almost stopped" does not take you from your lane, across a full shoulder and down the ditch.

there is too much information missing for us to conduct our own internet accident investigation accurately. we have a few pictures showing just one persons point of view. the main thing is that everyone is unhurt and was able to walk away.


Where did you see these pictures?
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Old 10-22-2018, 02:27 PM   #16
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I just have to point out a couple of things:


1. According to many on the forums, only 1/2 tons have brakes insufficient to stop a trailer that is still within it's tow rating. That DRW 3500 clearly would have been able to stop.



2. To what Ep said, I try to stay farther back than 3 car lengths as well, but the issue with that is that people are constantly coming around and pulling into that space. Very hard to maintain a lot of distance in high traffic areas.


3. If trailer brakes were working and both truck and trailer were braking hard, there would have been little force applied to that hitch- only the difference in the amount of stopping force. I concur that it makes much more sense that the impact is what caused the failure.
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Old 10-22-2018, 02:45 PM   #17
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Quote:
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Where did you see these pictures?
third picture shows a clear tire track in the ditch. I could be (and probably am) wrong about the depth. the side of the truck makes it look deep. There is clearly dirt on the foot pad.

4th picture shows a 4 lane divided highway, with full shoulder.
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Old 10-22-2018, 03:18 PM   #18
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To me... the final straw is the last picture. You can see marks on the bed where the hitch frame rotated. Some of the bed 'beads' are even flattened due to that.

No way you're gonna get that from just trailer brakes. Anderson hitches may or may not be junk, but I think someone with an axe to grind is trying to portray them in a bad light.

Tim
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Old 10-22-2018, 03:21 PM   #19
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Quote:
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Where did you see these pictures?
First post in the thread- I had 4 attached pictures.
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Old 10-22-2018, 04:21 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ependydad View Post
There was a Facebook post from just a little bit ago for the Andersen Ultimate. They were a few vehicles behind an accident and had a hard stop.



They later commented that pin weight was about 2,700 lbs. and it was their first time out with the hitch.

It pains me to post this because 1, I like the hitch. And 2, because this will devolve into an argument about the hitch which will ultimately get the thread closed by the moderators. So play nice, folks.
In that last pic where you have the circle, that isn't where the ball would/should be. Look at the first pic of the hitch, you'll see where the base of the ball still is. It isn't directly above the gooseneck ball and is partially hidden in the pic where you have the circle (or where someone put the circle).

There's clearly no debate that SOMETHING bad happened, but it's very easy for people to be fuzzy on the specifics when so much is happening so fast and panic starts to set in.

To those that say working trailer brakes would have meant no increased or excessive load on the hitch are forgetting one thing; What happens when a front-heavy object suddenly experiences a heavy stopping force from the bottom rear (axles in this case)? That causes a sudden weight transfer DOWN on the hitch. Ever notice when you brake suddenly how the front of the vehicle dives? The front of the trailer wants to dive, too, and this can place a sudden, excessive weight on the hitch. I don't have any idea how much more, but there is a definite increase even if both the truck and trailer slow at the same rate. It's just physics.

So it's plausible that the Andersen hitch did collapse due to the weight transfer under heavy braking and the ball sheared off either upon impact or due to leverage as the hitch collapsed. I don't see any reason to doubt what they said happened did in fact happen.

I'm actually surprised there isn't more bracing/triangulation in the Anderson frame given how wide the triangle is at the front and rear of the base and how low the angle of the arms is coming from the sides. I'm no engineer, but I'm sure Andersen could have made the hitch stronger but didn't do so in an attempt to save weight.
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