Andersen Ultimate Hitch - my observations

[Walaby]

Round trip from mid-Georgia to Greenville SC for a nice long weekend.

About a month ago, I decided to switch from my Superglide auto slider to the Andersen Ultimate hitch. Not that I didn't like the superglide, I do, but I wanted the lighter hitch so it would be easier to remove from the bed between trips. Im not getting any younger, and I am using my truck a lot more as a truck, now that I have 7 acres of land to tend to.

So, install was a snap. Nothing really to adjust. I bought the gooseneck version, with the Andersen shaft, no slip pad and chains. Installed, torqued everything down, and all good.

Driving experience was not so great. Rough roads were REALLY rough with the hitch. I had recently driven over the same roads with my Superglide and it was not anywhere near as rough. Concrete interstate with any sort of roughness was really bad. Like a bucking bronco a couple of times.

I don't think there's anything "adjustment" wise, because it's all install and torque down.. no adjustments to be made. I have a RVing friend who has the same setup. We were camping together this weekend. He has a dually, I have a SRW. He says he does not get the bucking and rough riding I experienced.

On way back, overall not as bad, and the road close to home on southbound side is not as bad as the northbound side was heading out.

Unless there's some way to smooth this thing out, I suspect I will go back to the Superglide. Seems like the extra 200lbs the Superglide weighs really made the ride much smoother.

Wondering if others notice the same thing? Anything I can do maybe to the truck, or the pinbox to smooth things out? I like the hitch overall, like the weight savings, and like the ease of removal.I don't have air-ride on the truck, and have what I consider a standard pin box. Nothing fancy, not a Trail Air or nothing like that.

I won't buy a dually just to get a smoother ride.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Lets just try to NOT make this an AUH bash session.

Mike

[alboy]

EITHER way on my aluminum,ran the head to the back,adapter to front of fiver.4200 pin wt,loved it over my older auto slider.

[ssthrd]

Ah......only applies to aluminum, I guess.

[cummins2014]

Possibly mixing up it up with the one I got ,which is the steel rail mount version. I can run it either way I want ,also the adapter . .

[ssthrd]

gkainz wrote:


I did ask Andersen about reversing the frame on mine (1st gen original aluminum) and they said "no problem".

One of us is getting bad info. I just got am email back from Andersen saying that the base cannot be turned 180*. Only the coupler. The base must be installed with the arrow pointing to the tailgate.

You might want to follow up with Andersen.

[Super_Dave]

The road that I travel to the lake is so rough that it will rattle your fillings loose without towing anything. My Andersen tows no different than an empty load on that rough road.

[Walaby]

Talked to Andersen today, and they had one suggestion. They said in some of the hitch balls, there's some "slop" and they said sometimes that can cause the chucking. They suggested I wrap some teflon tape around the shaft to tighten it up. I checked mine, and sure enough, it's a tad loose. Wrapped the teflon tape and no more slop. I'll test it later. Also suggested checking the torque of the top nut. I will retorque it once I hook back up and then take it for a short test ride and see if there is any improvement.

The guy didn't really have any other suggestions. I talked to him about reversing the hitch and he suggested no, I think primarily because of my short bed and might be too close to the cab.

Guy wassn't all that helpful really, although never know... maybe the teflon tape will help.

Mike

[gkainz]

ssthrd wrote:

Walaby wrote:
Thanks for all the comments.

Couple replies back.

I didn't realize you could install the hitch two ways. I guess in theory that makes sense, I just followed the stickers on the hitch that pointed an arrow towards tail gate and installed it that way. Guess it makes sense that it could go either way.. I was just following the stickers.

My adapter is mounted towards the rear. Based on the measurement instructions from Andersen, it called for it to be mounted that way.

I would check with Andersen before turning the base around. Physically, you can, but structurally, I don't think it's designed to carry the max load that way while pulling the 5er. Makes sense to me when I look at mine.

I put a stall mat under mine to mitigate against rotation, and it works great. After I hooked up the 5er, I re-torqued the top bolt and got another half turn or so......

I have my adaptor mounted towards the cab of the truck. ie, the cup/pin is closer to the cab to put the connection point over the rear axle. I still have lots of cab clearance, so no issue there. At the scale, the weight on the front tires changed by 20 pounds lighter from unloaded to loaded, so it looks like the connection point could still be very slightly behind the rear axle. Not enough for me to notice at all, and it handles great.

I did ask Andersen about reversing the frame on mine (1st gen original aluminum) and they said "no problem".

[Walaby]

ssthrd wrote:


^^^ This
Where I am in BC, a fifth wheel hitch requires no chains but a ball hitch does. The Andersen is a ball hitch.

I have the chains.

[Ed9824v]

The pullrite does appear to have the offset ability like the Anderson

[mikewats]

I just replaced my old pullrite hitch for a new Super lite pullrite. Very similar to a Anderson hitch. I love the light weight of the hitch very easy to remove and reinstall . I have a 36 ft Carriage Cameo very heavy. This hitch pulls very easy very little “bucking” and super easy to hitch and in-hitch.
Great hitch for the money.

[ssthrd]

laknox wrote:

Walaby wrote:
Round trip from mid-Georgia to Greenville SC for a nice long weekend.

About a month ago, I decided to switch from my Superglide auto slider to the Andersen Ultimate hitch. Not that I didn't like the superglide, I do, but I wanted the lighter hitch so it would be easier to remove from the bed between trips. Im not getting any younger, and I am using my truck a lot more as a truck, now that I have 7 acres of land to tend to.

So, install was a snap. Nothing really to adjust. I bought the gooseneck version, with the Andersen shaft, no slip pad and chains. Installed, torqued everything down, and all good.

Driving experience was not so great. Rough roads were REALLY rough with the hitch. I had recently driven over the same roads with my Superglide and it was not anywhere near as rough. Concrete interstate with any sort of roughness was really bad. Like a bucking bronco a couple of times.

I don't think there's anything "adjustment" wise, because it's all install and torque down.. no adjustments to be made. I have a RVing friend who has the same setup. We were camping together this weekend. He has a dually, I have a SRW. He says he does not get the bucking and rough riding I experienced.

On way back, overall not as bad, and the road close to home on southbound side is not as bad as the northbound side was heading out.

Unless there's some way to smooth this thing out, I suspect I will go back to the Superglide. Seems like the extra 200lbs the Superglide weighs really made the ride much smoother.

Wondering if others notice the same thing? Anything I can do maybe to the truck, or the pinbox to smooth things out? I like the hitch overall, like the weight savings, and like the ease of removal.I don't have air-ride on the truck, and have what I consider a standard pin box. Nothing fancy, not a Trail Air or nothing like that.

I won't buy a dually just to get a smoother ride.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Lets just try to NOT make this an AUH bash session.

Mike

I will tell you that some states, like AZ, do consider the AUH a gooseneck hitch and will require safety chains. Not that you're likely to get checked, but if anything happens, you're SOL; especially liability-wise. Also, because AZ considers this a "ball hitch", it is technically illegal to tow doubles behind one.

Lyle

^^^ This
Where I am in BC, a fifth wheel hitch requires no chains but a ball hitch does. The Andersen is a ball hitch.

[ssthrd]

Walaby wrote:
Thanks for all the comments.

Couple replies back.

I didn't realize you could install the hitch two ways. I guess in theory that makes sense, I just followed the stickers on the hitch that pointed an arrow towards tail gate and installed it that way. Guess it makes sense that it could go either way.. I was just following the stickers.

My adapter is mounted towards the rear. Based on the measurement instructions from Andersen, it called for it to be mounted that way.

I would check with Andersen before turning the base around. Physically, you can, but structurally, I don't think it's designed to carry the max load that way while pulling the 5er. Makes sense to me when I look at mine.

I put a stall mat under mine to mitigate against rotation, and it works great. After I hooked up the 5er, I re-torqued the top bolt and got another half turn or so......

I have my adaptor mounted towards the cab of the truck. ie, the cup/pin is closer to the cab to put the connection point over the rear axle. I still have lots of cab clearance, so no issue there. At the scale, the weight on the front tires changed by 20 pounds lighter from unloaded to loaded, so it looks like the connection point could still be very slightly behind the rear axle. Not enough for me to notice at all, and it handles great.

[Walaby]

Thanks for all the comments.

Couple replies back.

I didn't realize you could install the hitch two ways. I guess in theory that makes sense, I just followed the stickers on the hitch that pointed an arrow towards tail gate and installed it that way. Guess it makes sense that it could go either way.. I was just following the stickers.

My adapter is mounted towards the rear. Based on the measurement instructions from Andersen, it called for it to be mounted that way.

Noticed on the hitch there is a sticker that says to loosen the two bolts and re torque the top bolt, then torque the side bolts. I will also give that a try.

I do have the no slip mat.

I'll have to hook up and measure where king pin is with Andersen vs where it is with the Superglide.

Some really good info and inputs guys. Thanks. I don't know when I'll be able to test some of these ideas. Hooking up and re torquing the top bolt is an easy check.

Thanks

Mike

[cummins2014]

jdc1 wrote:
Heavy? I use an electric hoist I mounted my garage to unload my 5th wheel hitch. My garage is tall (12') enough I don't have to remove the hitch to park our car under it, but, even an 8' high garage will do.

Same here ,electric garage hoist mounted to the ceiling. I got my Andersen for our summer trip to Montana, need the hitch out of the way to transport my inflatable pontoon boat to the lakes up there for fishing. Got tired of dealing with that heavy manual sliding hitch away from home .