Oliver Towing Setup Guide

[topgun2]

HERE is a new video from Oliver featuring Aaron Wolters.

Bill

[Mike and Carol]

He doesn’t use an Andersen hitch on his Tundra?

[DanielBoondock]

I found towing and the setup easy. With the Anderson for me simply adjusting via the bolts to slack or tighten the chains far easier and faster than the 'lift the truck' method. 

The only puzzling thing is weight distribution. I don't see how this is providing any. The Oliver techs put 5 threads on it and recommended that the chains be slightly slack with a bit of play. This isn't distributing any weight, at that point it's just a receiver on the ball with sway control. If the truck inclines up relative to the trailer then that should add some tension and WD, but otherwise no. 

What's the thinking here?

[CRM]

4 minutes ago, DanielBoondock said:

The only puzzling thing is weight distribution. I don't see how this is providing any. The Oliver techs put 5 threads on it and recommended that the chains be slightly slack with a bit of play. This isn't distributing any weight, at that point it's just a receiver on the ball with sway control. If the truck inclines up relative to the trailer then that should add some tension and WD, but otherwise no. 

What's the thinking here?

Chains have to be tensioned to distribute weight, and I don't think you'll have any sway control either without the tension. 

[DanielBoondock]

22 minutes ago, CRM said:

Chains have to be tensioned to distribute weight, and I don't think you'll have any sway control either without the tension. 

The sway control comes from the resistance from the inner plastic hub that the ball rides in. So as long as the chains are 'engaged', meaning little play (not slack), than if the trailer fishtails that resistance will mitigate it I believe. So I do think the sway is always active. For my rig I think it's a non issue. The truck weighs more than the trailer, has rear steering (the rear wheels steer for a fantastically tight turning circle) and sway control. That means they'll use that rear steering to counteract any sway. But the Ollie doesn't serve up any sway I can tell so it's all moot AFAIK. 

The tension rod systems provide WD because the bars are always tensioned. But without tensioned chains, no WD. It's a two axis system - yaw control is provided by the ball insert friction. WD is provided by a negative pitch force which is nonexistant here, if you know what I mean. 

Edited 13 hours ago by DanielBoondock

[jd1923]

Beef up the leaf springs on the Oliver and ditch the Andersen ASAP 😎 (given a 2500+ series truck). Yes, as Chris noted, only with proper tension is it a WDH. And if OTT is still installing Dexter 1750 LB springs, the hulls waddle like a duck! 🤣

Edited 11 hours ago by jd1923

[topgun2]

There are numerous videos on YouTube showing how to setup the Andersen Weight Distribution hitch - like THIS ONE FROM ANDERSEN.

Bill