Hensley Hitch Problems

Any Helsley Arrow Hitch users out there?  Looking for some info to maybe help a friend.  My friend has a Hensley Arrow hitch and has hitched up and unhitched many, many times.  However, very often this can be very time consuming and frustrating.  Here are a couple examples:

He pulled into a side-of-the-road pull-thru campsite.  Due to the curve of the site and the length of his rig, along with tree locations, he could not get the tow vehicle straight on with the trailer.  It was plenty straight for me to unhitch and hitch up with my old Reese Dual Cam or present Equalizer hitch.  He was having trouble getting unhitched so he called Hensley Customer Service.  They told him that at any angle if he got unhitched he likely would not get hitched back up.

At another campground he camped a few sites down from us.  He got unhitched fine.  However, to hitch back up he had to back the tow vehicle slightly downhill to the trailer.  That put the long square bar on the tow vehicle at a downward angle to the long square Hensley receiver on the trailer side.  At an angle to each other these two components were not going together!! Forty-five frustrating minutes later we finally got hitched and I couldn't tell you how we did it!

One Hensley Arrow owner online reported that he somehow lost his trailer brakes.  In making a quick stop (not a real panic stop) the swinging head on the Hensley hitch swung to one side and the trailer then pushed the tow vehicle around into a jackknife.  That's not good...what happens if the tow vehicle brakes stop a little better than the trailer brakes?

Anyone have any Hensley Arrow Hitch experience to share, particular in hitching up with the tow vehicle at a slight angle, side to side or up and down, to the trailer?     

I own a Hensley,  Never a problem and easy to hook/unhook, I have always been able to back straight in. I use a backup camera which allows me to hook up with out any help. Can't comment on losing brakes on Trailer, never happen to me.

eliallen said:

I own a Hensley,  Never a problem and easy to hook/unhook, I have always been able to back straight in. I use a backup camera which allows me to hook up with out any help. Can't comment on losing brakes on Trailer, never happen to me.

Click to expand...

Same here.  When I had mine I almost always was able to back in straight which does make things a bit easier, the couple of times when I was not able to pull through or back in straight I just backed up at the angle the hitch was left in and again not a problem. 

Interesting...my friend does not seem to have any problem if he can back straight in but if there is any angle he has loads of problems.  Also, like I said in the post when the truck had to back down off the campground road, that was a real problem and took 45 minutes to get hitched.  Perhaps I was just around for a couple of odd situations.  He seems to be very happy with the hitch most of the time.

The jackknife thing was just an add on...I saw that one post the day that I posted so I through it in.  No telling what happened there it was lacking info.

Thanks for the replies!

  you can also put the hitch bar into the hensley without the tow vehicle and move the head around as well.  I hooked and unhooked for 11 years without a camera,  just upgraded truck and wow,  a camera is awesome!  I just made sure my height was correct and then backed right in!  Just sold TT and Brother In Law purchasing my old Hensley.  In case you didn't know, Hensley will buy back your old arrow for 500 bucks!  Can't go wrong with Hensley!  Great hitch.

  I am thinking maybe your friend was borderline on truck and trailer if the trailer caused a jackknife?  Just thinking out loud....

Jim H. Pa

I used my hensley for about 3 years, at first had problems learing the "tricks" to hitch and un-hitch when not straight. Once I understood, I could back in almost 90 degrees and unhook, or hook back up. Sometimes I did put the bar into the hitch and then adjusted the head to fit the angle needed to connect to the truck. With the adjustment bars loose, that head will twist, adjust up or down and adapt to the connecting truck. But it took a while to get the hang of it.