Centerline TS Hitch vs Alternatives

[Keith_Schumaker]

I have had the husky centerline for 2 tow vehicles now. On my Ram 1500 that had a lot of squat when I set my weight on it I had issues hooking and unhooking when on an angle not up and down but left and right as one bar is trying to be lower when turned. If you have a decent power jack all is good though, the original smart jack on the trailer had issues lifting my trucks up enough to get the bars off. The new husky brute is great though, it lifts my f350 quickly and well more than enough to get the bars on and off without the provided bar. All in all I would buy the husky centerline again as for about $300 you can not find a better option and even though it was worse to hook and unhook on my 1500 it still wasn't that bad.

P.S. I upgraded to the f350 powerstroke not because of sway or anything like that, my ram 1500 was the 3.0 diesel and almost stalled going up some of the "hills" around me.

[chewie37]

I am by no means any kind of expert, but I've had my Centerline TS for just about a year now and I'm very happy with it. Went that direction as I have friends with them and got to observe their experiences before we got our rig.

Self-install is not super difficult if you have general knowledge and experience working on vehicles. To be fair, that statement also makes a lot of assumptions and covers a lot of ground - your comfort level may vary greatly.

If you go that route, pay attention to the instructions, take accurate measurements where specified and make sure you're on level ground during setup. You should be OK. Or, if you do have a dealer do the install, use the instructions to educate yourself enough to do your own measurements and double check their work if that helps your comfort level.

I'll fess up to pooching my initial setup because I didn't realize my driveway has a subtle slope and it's not quite level. Once I got on level ground and ran through things again I've been good to go.

As others have said, you do need to lift the rear of a vehicle up to get the tension off the bars. The included tool provides enough leverage to get them on and off without Herculean effort.

I have personally seen what appeared to be a poorly installed/mis-adjusted system back in March of this year. Watched a gentleman in the site next to me at Ft. Wilderness literally pull his bars off by hand with no tool. Absolutely zero tension on the bars. . .

[stlsailor]

Well, I could see that the Andersen had a lot of advantages, but as per previous posts, my set-up was not in the sweet spot for it. So I bought the Centerline TS yesterday and had the dealer install it. Your comments convinced me I could install it, and watching the dealer do it confirmed that, but I needed to get it and get it installed right away and that was fastest.

First impressions pulling it about 10 miles back to the lot and unhooking it:

• It pulled very well. But it was a short distance, and since I expected it to pull well, that could have been a self-fulfilling prophecy. So we'll see shortly when I take it out camping. But initial indications are positive.
  
• To unhook, I put three blocks under the electric jack rather than my normal two thinking that would help.
  
• Unhooking the first spring bar was so easy I was amazed. I did raise the jack most of the way, but no issues.
  
• Unhooking the second spring bar on the other hand was like wrestling a bear (not as picturesque as the earlier quote about the amorous whales, but you get the idea). Tight space makes it very difficult to back in straight at the lot and and so the TV was somewhat at an angle to the trailer. Suddenly I knew why the first spring bar was so easy. I eventually got it.

I think it's going to tow and control weight very well, as many of you have said. I think perhaps the first time unhooking is will be the worst, and when I learn its idiosyncrasies it will probably be fine. We'll see after a few trips.

I appreciate all the comments, and I definitely have my eye on an Andersen in the future when I have a rig better suited to it.

[stlsailor]

Originally Posted by Grey Wolf 26RR

The key is only to lightly lube the frame brackets. From the manual located at:

https://assets.rigidhitch.com/hitch_...ions/32215.pdf

The info is on page 24. Also, you can see attachment pdf for that page of the manual.

The light lube makes a difference in the squeaking and creaking with losing the sway control. IMHO

Thanks for that information. I looked at page 24 and saw the sentence "The 3/4” trunnion hex bolts come lubricated from the factory re-lubricate if needed with bearing/axle grease" and thought this was what you were talking about. From looking at the hitch and diagram I couldn't figure out why you'd do that.

I just read it again, however, and saw what you were talking about at the small print at the top that I'd somehow read over. That makes perfect sense. I'll do that when I next go out. Thanks for pointing that out.

[stlsailor]

Now that I made the decision to go with the Centerline (and wishing that my rig was in the sweet spot for the Anderson) I’ve found that hitching and unhitching can be a real pain when limited room at the storage lot forces one to be at too much of an angle to the trailer when he’s backed in. The first spring bar sure is easy in that case. The second one, well…..challenging would be one of the nicer words. And in that case I have to add a couple of extra blocks under the jack and still take it as high as it will go.

What tips or tricks do you have to make the job easier? Here’s what I’m thinking.

• I’m going to take Go West’s tip and get a couple of 2x6x24” boards put under the TV’s rear wheels to help the lift process which will hopefully put less pressure on the jack.

• I could take the spring bars off while I’m straight before I back in, but that seems like a bit of a pain.

• Any other thoughts?

[babock]

Originally Posted by stlsailor

Now that I made the decision to go with the Centerline (and wishing that my rig was in the sweet spot for the Anderson) I’ve found that hitching and unhitching can be a real pain when limited room at the storage lot forces one to be at too much of an angle to the trailer when he’s backed in. The first spring bar sure is easy in that case. The second one, well…..challenging would be one of the nicer words. And in that case I have to add a couple of extra blocks under the jack and still take it as high as it will go.

What tips or tricks do you have to make the job easier? Here’s what I’m thinking.

• I’m going to take Go West’s tip and get a couple of 2x6x24” boards put under the TV’s rear wheels to help the lift process which will hopefully put less pressure on the jack.

• I could take the spring bars off while I’m straight before I back in, but that seems like a bit of a pain.

• Any other thoughts?

Just hook it up and pull it a short distance to a place that is straight and level and then put on the bars. I do this all the time. Just did this recently at a campsite where one side of the trailer was much lower than the other and the trailer was jacknifed. One of the bars was tough to remove so I didn't want to repeat the experience putting it back on.

[stlsailor]

Originally Posted by babock

Just hook it up and pull it a short distance to a place that is straight and level and then put on the bars. I do this all the time. Just did this recently at a campsite where one side of the trailer was much lower than the other and the trailer was jacknifed. One of the bars was tough to remove so I didn't want to repeat the experience putting it back on.

Thanks for that thought. That's what I had to do with the sway bar on my old hitch since I couldn't back with it, though I didn't remove the spring bars until I was situated. I thought I could do away with that step with this hitch, rather than make it a bit more complex by probably having to use the jack an extra time to manage the spring bars. But that may be the easiest solution. After a white-knuckle drive in an extremely heavy wind with the old WDH, if get a more stable drive in such circumstances it will still be a net win I suppose. I expect your suggestion may become part of my standard drop-off procedure at the storage lot, at the the least.

[babock]

Originally Posted by stlsailor

I expect your suggestion may become part of my standard drop-off procedure at the storage lot, at the the least.

When I used to store my trailer in a storage lot that was only 15 minutes away, I didn't even bother putting the bars on. Was all city streets though.

[Wileykid]

Originally Posted by stlsailor

Thanks for that thought. That's what I had to do with the sway bar on my old hitch since I couldn't back with it, though I didn't remove the spring bars until I was situated. I thought I could do away with that step with this hitch, rather than make it a bit more complex by probably having to use the jack an extra time to manage the spring bars. But that may be the easiest solution. After a white-knuckle drive in an extremely heavy wind with the old WDH, if get a more stable drive in such circumstances it will still be a net win I suppose. I expect your suggestion may become part of my standard drop-off procedure at the storage lot, at the the least.

I have the same hitch, and usually keep the bars on backing up to park. But when it is going to be a very tight area I am backing into, or really uneven, I just take the bars off to avoid the pain of taking them off at the odd angle. One storage lot I was in several years ago, was a nightmare on how tight and small the spaces were, much less the maneuvering area for the truck. Everyone took off, or disconnected their bars/chains when backing in. Was I every glad to get out of that lot.

Been across the country several times using the Centerline TS, and it has been nothing but rock solid, even in winds that has the 80' 'ol glory standing straight up.

[Boomerweps]

I once camped at a pull through site locally that had the vehicle angled and twisted from the TT. It was hell getting off the one spring bar. I didn't bother trying to install them prior to departing the site. I pulled up onto the access road, leveled out straight, and installed the spring bars there. Had the stock manual tongue jack and usually used four 4x4 blocks cross stacked to save on cranking and make sure I had the height I needed available.
My new electric tongue jack has a drop extension of about 8". Since I have drain pipe driveway clearance concerns, I leave without the spring bars installed. I have a couple close options to pull in and install the spring bars. I leave them on when arriving home.