Is the Anderson hitch good enough for a Rockwood 8311ws.

[madmaxmutt]

Several posters here own Andersen's, but to your ease of use point. I have hitched and unhitched completely one handed shortly after shoulder surgery with my Andersen.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[lakejumper]

Sorry, I couldn't edit my first post. My bad! Someone did respond who had the Anderson!

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by Red dog

I have purchased a 2016 Rockwood 8311ws, The dealer through in a Anderson hitch to close the deal for us. I've read a lot of reviews and most of them are positive but this trailer weighs about 7700 lbs dry and is about 35ft long, A lot of the reviews comment about this hitch working good on a lighter weight travel trailer but I'm hoping this set up will work being they included it with The travel trailer. I will be bringing the trailer home in a few days, I guess I will be finding out soon.

My TV Will be a 2015 Chevy 2500HD crew cab 6 1/2 foot box with the Duramax engine.

My set up is close to yours and I couldn't be happier with the Andersen. Glad I chose it over any other.

[uhduh camping]

Originally Posted by lakejumper

I'm going to chime in because I haven't seen any responses from someone that actually has the Anderson hitch. I love mine. It is easier to hitch up. My sister and BIL have one and with my BIL's bad back, My sister (72 yrs old) can attach it without an issue. I have the Travel trailer in my signature. It weighs over 10,000lbs loaded and the tongue is about 1200-1300 lbs. We have towed in 20 MPH winds, had big trucks pass us with no sway. Several of our RV club members also have the same hitch on lighter trailers and recommended it to me. The Hensley and other brands are also good. Try it and see.

The 2015 Rockwood 8329SS has a GVWR of only 8849lbs. I did own the Andersen.

[NorSnrub]

I pull my 8310ss with a f150 and a tow hitch sold me by the dealer. It at first didn't to well but I lowered the ball and put the hitch on the 5th link in. Now follows well.

[hunterrick]

I have a Rockwood Windjammer 3008W that was new this past spring. I tow with a 2009 GMC Sierra 2500 with Duramax. I first started towing it with my 10000 lb Equalizer 4way. I had a more choppy ride than with by old trailer and after scaling, found that my tongue weight was right at the max for that hitch.

Next I tried an Andersen. In fact I had both my Equalizer, and Andersen at the same time, and did several trips where I went one way with one hitch, and returned with the other. I also scaled them both so that I could compare the weight transfer characteristics. It was a unanimous choice among my family members that the Equalizer had a better ride than the Andersen. The scales showed that the max weight transfer that I could get with the Andersen was 50% of the amount lost with the trailer connected and no weight distribution. The pluses of the Andersen are light, easy hookup, no grease and great sway control. The negatives are, slightly poorer ride, and (in my configuration) I can't open the tailgate when connected. It hits the trailer jack. They will custom make a longer shank so you get clearance if you call Andersen's tech support.
Anyway, I decided that I wanted better weight transfer so next I bought a Blue Ox 15,000 lb hitch.

At first I had trouble with the amount of weight transfer that I could get, and had sway issues. A call to Blue Ox tech support resulted in two techs visiting my house to help get things right. It turns out the problem was the 2 inch shank in my truck's 2.5 inch receiver with adapter. The whole adapter thing results in way too much slop. The hitch pin was hogging out the hole in the receiver so it looks like an egg and all the slop was allowing the hitch to pivot up several degrees, resulting in poor weight transfer. The head angle of this type of hitch is critical to get proper weight transfer and most of the preset angle was being used by the slop. Blue Ox sent me, free of charge, a 2.5 inch hitch shank so I could eliminate the adapter. All was then well with the world. Sway went away and I could easily get more than enough weight transfer (116%). I put over 7000 miles on this setup this past fall, mostly through the Colorado Rockies.

This slop problem is something that I had noticed with both my original hitch, and especially with the Andersen, but it never occurred to me that it might be a problem. Regardless of the hitch you decide on, I'd recommend that you get a 2.5" shank. The hitch will work much better. The Andersen has only a small pivot range to apply leverage to the front axle. The slop used up all available leverage resulting in poor weight transfer. Andersen will also supply 2.5" one if requested. When you are getting the longer shank made, you can also get it in 2.5". I have no doubt that the Andersen would have performed better for me if I had realized that the slop was a problem early on.

[Red dog]

Great post Hunterrick, that is some great information that you shared.
I have also noticed the slop in the receiver hitch adapter when using it to pull a small car trailer, I actually made me some thin shims to slide in beside the adapter piece and take some of the slop out. I will definitely keep an eye on this when hooking up the trailer.

[Henboy]

Originally Posted by uhduh camping

X2

X3. I am a happy Andersen user, over 15K miles. Just be sure to follow the initial setup instructions very carefully.

[madmaxmutt]

Originally Posted by Henboy

X3. I am a happy Andersen user, over 15K miles. Just be sure to follow the initial setup instructions very carefully.

And the fitment guide before purchase. You want to make sure you get the correct model.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[silverback 35ts]

Originally Posted by Red dog

I have purchased a 2016 Rockwood 8311ws, The dealer through in a Anderson hitch to close the deal for us. I've read a lot of reviews and most of them are positive but this trailer weighs about 7700 lbs dry and is about 35ft long, A lot of the reviews comment about this hitch working good on a lighter weight travel trailer but I'm hoping this set up will work being they included it with The travel trailer. I will be bringing the trailer home in a few days, I guess I will be finding out soon.

My TV Will be a 2015 Chevy 2500HD crew cab 6 1/2 foot box with the Duramax engine.

First you should "always look" at the company web site first, and in this case it would have helped you out a lot, take a look here;Andersen 'No-Sway' Weight Distribution Hitch
The company site states w/ 2" ball it tow 10,000 lbs, and w/ 2 5/16 ball it will tow 14,000 lbs w a minimum of 1400 lbs tongue weight.
So to answer your question "YES" it will work fine, now if the dealer put it in the deal to me means one thing (working in retail for to many yrs) is it was what is called a "spiff product" meaning the dealer still makes money on the sale no matter what, but it makes the customer feel they got a great deal.
The Anderson line of hitches have gotten great reviews all around the net by many folks, so go camping and enjoy.
I hope this helps and Happy Camping

[HONDAMAN174]

If it helps any, I called Anderson last week cause I pulled out my lining for cleaning and was just starting to split. Sent me new one FOC. Nice!


2014 Evo 2850 "Woodstock"
2011 Toyota Tundra "Clifford"

[Red dog]

Well everyone first off I want to thank all of the guys that replied to my original post. I really enjoyed reading everyone's thought and ideas.
this afternoon I got off work a little early and drove up to get my new 8311ws. The trailer was waiting for me in the parking lot, the salesman and service man came out and helped get the hitch hooked up. First thing I noticed was a lot of slop with the GM receiver hitch adapter and the Anderson receiver, I put in some shims for now and made it fit a lot snugger. I then proceeded on the 40 mile drive home. My first impressions are that the hitch is very quiet, has good sway control, rides smooth with little bucking, very!very!easy to unhook and hook up. The only thing that I'm unsure of is if it is transferring much weight to the front tires of the truck it felt very stable the truck is setting level so I think it is ok but I will definitely be making a trip to the scales. Myself personally I would not want anything less then a 3/4 ton truck for this trailer.
I think the Anderson hitch will work good with my truck, One other thing and it's a biggie there was no wind I think that will be the biggest test of all.

[madmaxmutt]

Originally Posted by Red dog

Well everyone first off I want to thank all of the guys that replied to my original post. I really enjoyed reading everyone's thought and ideas.
this afternoon I got off work a little early and drove up to get my new 8311ws. The trailer was waiting for me in the parking lot, the salesman and service man came out and helped get the hitch hooked up. First thing I noticed was a lot of slop with the GM receiver hitch adapter and the Anderson receiver, I put in some shims for now and made it fit a lot snugger. I then proceeded on the 40 mile drive home. My first impressions are that the hitch is very quiet, has good sway control, rides smooth with little bucking, very!very!easy to unhook and hook up. The only thing that I'm unsure of is if it is transferring much weight to the front tires of the truck it felt very stable the truck is setting level so I think it is ok but I will definitely be making a trip to the scales. Myself personally I would not want anything less then a 3/4 ton truck for this trailer.
I think the Anderson hitch will work good with my truck, One other thing and it's a biggie there was no wind I think that will be the biggest test of all.

Congratulations!! Make sure to read that Andersen manual. I wouldn't want to say most dealers don't take the time to setup a hitch properly, but yeah there is that . . .

[thestrangebrew]

Congrats! I love my Andersen. They have some of the best customer service around IMO also. Very responsive and happy to answer any questions. I'll be hooking her up tonight for a trip to Pismo Beach tomorrow. Excited to get the camping season going again!

[thebrakeman]

Glad to hear you had a good trip home.
Get that trailer loaded for camping, then take a trip to the scales (or do the wheel-wall height thing). You want the front loading back to stock.

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by Red dog

Well everyone first off I want to thank all of the guys that replied to my original post. I really enjoyed reading everyone's thought and ideas.
this afternoon I got off work a little early and drove up to get my new 8311ws. The trailer was waiting for me in the parking lot, the salesman and service man came out and helped get the hitch hooked up. First thing I noticed was a lot of slop with the GM receiver hitch adapter and the Anderson receiver, I put in some shims for now and made it fit a lot snugger. I then proceeded on the 40 mile drive home. My first impressions are that the hitch is very quiet, has good sway control, rides smooth with little bucking, very!very!easy to unhook and hook up. The only thing that I'm unsure of is if it is transferring much weight to the front tires of the truck it felt very stable the truck is setting level so I think it is ok but I will definitely be making a trip to the scales. Myself personally I would not want anything less then a 3/4 ton truck for this trailer.
I think the Anderson hitch will work good with my truck, One other thing and it's a biggie there was no wind I think that will be the biggest test of all.

Not sure what receiver hitch you have but if it's a class 5 2-1/2" you need to get the adapter to take up the slack. Otherwise it's hard to impossible to transfer much weight back to the front wheels.

[webejamming]

Originally Posted by hunterrick

I have a Rockwood Windjammer 3008W that was new this past spring. I tow with a 2009 GMC Sierra 2500 with Duramax. I first started towing it with my 10000 lb Equalizer 4way. I had a more choppy ride than with by old trailer and after scaling, found that my tongue weight was right at the max for that hitch.

Next I tried an Andersen. In fact I had both my Equalizer, and Andersen at the same time, and did several trips where I went one way with one hitch, and returned with the other. I also scaled them both so that I could compare the weight transfer characteristics. It was a unanimous choice among my family members that the Equalizer had a better ride than the Andersen. The scales showed that the max weight transfer that I could get with the Andersen was 50% of the amount lost with the trailer connected and no weight distribution. The pluses of the Andersen are light, easy hookup, no grease and great sway control. The negatives are, slightly poorer ride, and (in my configuration) I can't open the tailgate when connected. It hits the trailer jack. They will custom make a longer shank so you get clearance if you call Andersen's tech support.
Anyway, I decided that I wanted better weight transfer so next I bought a Blue Ox 15,000 lb hitch.

At first I had trouble with the amount of weight transfer that I could get, and had sway issues. A call to Blue Ox tech support resulted in two techs visiting my house to help get things right. It turns out the problem was the 2 inch shank in my truck's 2.5 inch receiver with adapter. The whole adapter thing results in way too much slop. The hitch pin was hogging out the hole in the receiver so it looks like an egg and all the slop was allowing the hitch to pivot up several degrees, resulting in poor weight transfer. The head angle of this type of hitch is critical to get proper weight transfer and most of the preset angle was being used by the slop. Blue Ox sent me, free of charge, a 2.5 inch hitch shank so I could eliminate the adapter. All was then well with the world. Sway went away and I could easily get more than enough weight transfer (116%). I put over 7000 miles on this setup this past fall, mostly through the Colorado Rockies.

This slop problem is something that I had noticed with both my original hitch, and especially with the Andersen, but it never occurred to me that it might be a problem. Regardless of the hitch you decide on, I'd recommend that you get a 2.5" shank. The hitch will work much better. The Andersen has only a small pivot range to apply leverage to the front axle. The slop used up all available leverage resulting in poor weight transfer. Andersen will also supply 2.5" one if requested. When you are getting the longer shank made, you can also get it in 2.5". I have no doubt that the Andersen would have performed better for me if I had realized that the slop was a problem early on.

Hey Hunterrick, thanks for the good input. I was curious you didn't mention what you thought about your blue ox. I have the 3006wk windjammer and have been debating all these same choices but leaning towards the blue ox. My TV is 2500 Ram also with the class V.
Thanks

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

[goduc]

You never noticed that you were putting a 2" in a 2.5" hole?