Andersen ball hitch proplems

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ONEHANDRACER

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Joined
Jan 26, 2022
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1
Location
Missouri
I have installed the black andersen hitch with ball and receiver for the king pin. The trailer is higher in front than rear even with the ball in the lowest position. The overhang of the truck Bex is w to 3 inches at the king pin location than the rear of the pickup. The trailer seems to bounce more. I have a 2021 41 ft Montana.
Any ideas on what I should do?
 
The primary fixes are lower the ball (which you already did) and/or raise the pinbox. With only 3" between the bed rails and 5th wheel overhang, though, you're already too close for comfort. 6" is the desired minimum. Some people suggest an "axle flip" on the 5th wheel but I have no advice there.

I can't comment on the bouncing. I'm comfortable with the amount of bounce mine has but I have never towed with a traditional 5th wheel hitch so I have nothing to compare to.
 
As Joe said the least aount of clearance is 6” but IMHO, you can go down to 5” but no less. If yours is 3”, I can guarantee that you’ll have issues the first time you have to drive in a small gully. Can you send us a picture of a side view of your trailer and truck connected together.
 
I would think going over a crest would be the most critical issue with less than 3” clearance over the bed rails. I just measured my standard bed and the pin is 44” from the end of the rails/tailgate. I calculate a crest with a difference of about 7% would cause 5th wheel with 3” clearance to rub rails/tailgate. While that may seem extreme, 7% is well with the 10% max allowed on Illinois highways so I would suggest one be careful with just 3” vertical clearance on bed rails. There are locations that could result in damage to truck or rv.

A 6” clearance and would be more than 13% grade difference which does provide a 3% margin with normal design practices.

You are braver than me. I loved the simplicity and light weight of the Anderson hitch, but the engineer and farmer couldn’t see how it safely holding a 20k lb rv. I remember designing a project as a young engineer. The calcs said 1/4“ was adequate. During peer review a colleague suggested I up the thickness to 3/8” based on his experience. I went forward with 1/4” steel. Three months later, I tore it out and replaced it with 3/8” steel after it got bent.
 

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