I was unimpressed with the square-bar weight distribution and sway control hitch our trailer’s RV dealer sold us. It was heavy. Hitching and unhitching required strength and a special lever. Grease from the ball assembly frequently got on my hands and clothing. Careful weighing of our trailer showed we were near the limit for that hitch’s tongue weight.
Three years later and 19,000 miles we decided to replace that square-bar hitch with the Andersen Weight Distribution Hitch.
After reading several reviews and I still had doubts if the Andersen hitch would significantly improve our towing experience.
I now have over 2,000 miles experience towing with the Andersen hitch and feel confident writing this review. (Want to jump to the bottom line? Click here.)
Capacity
Our old hitch had a towing capacity of 10,000 pounds. This should have been ample for the maximum weight of the trailer. However our trailer as loaded is tongue heavy when measured by a professional weighing of the trailer and tow vehicle. Instead of a nominal 10% of the trailer’s weight on the hitch our trailer put over 13% when not maximally loaded. Carrying extra fresh water shifts weight aft lowering the tongue weight.
The Andersen hitch can tow up to 16,000 lbs with a tongue weight of up to 1,600 lbs. More than ample for our trailer and slightly more than the limits of our tow vehicle. Our hitch is no longer the weakest link.
Weight
The ball assembly of the square-bar hitch was big, ugly, and heavy. I put reflective tape on it so people would not bump into the black monster when we left it on the tow vehicle when not towing. Removing it from the tow vehicle necessitated a special carrying tool and two hands. I would waddle lugging it from the truck to a spot under the trailer. Most of the square-bar hitch’s weight was in its ball assembly.
The ball assembly of the Andersen hitch can be carried in one hand and easily stowed in the trailer. Now we normally remove it each time we unhitch.
The square-bar hitch has a shipping weight of 120 lbs verses 60 lbs for the Andersen. Upgrading the hitch removed about 60 lbs from where the trailer was already heavy.
Installation and Adjustment
A weight distribution hitch creates a lever that presses the trailer’s tongue weight forward on the tow vehicle keeping its front axle loaded and both vehicles level. One can readily find numerous humorous but ultimately ruinous videos of overloaded trucks with too little weight on their front axles.
For our trailer a full fresh water tank shifts weight aft. Full sewage tanks shift weight forward and onto the tongue. Fluids or other items carried can change both the trailer’s and tow vehicle’s level.
Installing the Andersen hitch requires an Allen wrench, plus a few wrenches. I added a few new sockets to my collection plus a large box wrench. We easily installed this hitch by following its enclosed printed directions.
The Andersen hitch is readily adjusted for each tow to compensate for weight changes by tightening/loosening the tension nuts an additional turn or so.
At purchase, the dealer adjusted the square-bar hitch with our empty trailer: no water, no personal items, no food. A few months down the road we hired a technician to re-adjust the hitch. With the right tools, now I could have adjusted it myself, but not on a day-to-day basis. Like the Andersen hitch, the ball height could be adjusted in 1.5 inch increments. But it has only only three positions for weight distribution. Our best position was its maximum.
The square-bar hitch has six pins that must be engaged for it to operate safely. The Andersen uses three.
Porpoising
With the square-bar hitch each bump in the road is felt four times: front truck wheels, rear truck wheels, front trailer wheels, and rear trailer wheels.
With the square-bar hitch when the trailer bounces up and down the truck bounces down and up like a porpoise playing in the sea.
The Andersen hitch uses urethane bushings on each tension chain to absorb the trailer’s bounce. A low speed trailer bounce over a speed bump can still be felt in the truck. But at highway speeds road seams that vibrate the truck with a periodic thump, thump, thump, do not generate noticeable porpoising by the trailer.
Sway
Driving across Kansas drove me to replace our square-bar sway control hitch.
Sway happens when wind or another external force causes the trailer to wag from in-line directly behind the tow vehicle. Unattenuated trailer wag can cause the tow vehicle to sway in the opposite direction.
Under most conditions the square-bar hitch adequately reduced sway by the friction of the bars sliding over L-brackets on the trailer. Within the first few months with the square-bar hitch I learned to sense truck sway in my back and how to adjust for it. I typically drove with cruise control off to quickly adjust speed when I sensed sway. After 19,000 miles the square bars had worn off about 1/16″ of the L-brackets.
The Andersen hitch’s urethane bushings and sway control plate greatly attenuate tow vehicle sway. When hit by a wind gust the combined truck and trailer move sideways together in a line. This requires different and gentler steering adjustments. Andersen recommends turning off the tow vehicle’s sway control.
One might conduct an interesting study by mounting accelerometers in both the truck and trailer and compare measured sway for each hitch, presuming one could construct the same crosswind conditions.
Absent that experiment, and not wanting to drive across Kansas, the Andersen hitch provides superior sway control. Except when in traffic, I feel confident running with cruise control on and adjusting for gusts by steering.
Cleanliness
With the square-bar hitch every time we hitched up or disconnected I got grease on my hands or my clothing, and frequently both; especially when installing or removing the ball assembly from the truck. The plastic cap we kept over the greased ball while not towing added to the mess when removing/installing it. The ball assembly required two squirts of grease every 500 miles adding another source for grime.
No grease for the Andersen hitch. Instead they recommend cleaning the tongue coupler with brake cleaner to remove any grease from the old hitch. The ball should not rotate within the coupler. Instead the ball is mounted atop an assembly with brake material inside so that it can rotate when the trailer is turning (e.g. backing into a site) but is deterred from rotating when the trailer wags.
Price
In May 2024 Amazon sells the 17500 TruTrack Weight Distribution Hitch for the same price as a comparably configured Andersen Weight Distribution Hitch 3350.
The Bottom Line
The Andersen hitch is cleaner, lighter, easily adjusted to redistribute weight, eliminates porpoising, and effectively controls sway. Towing an 8,000 pound trailer feels like driving with a heavy load in the bed of the truck.
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