Anderson No Sway Hitch PROBLEMS!!!

[ccarole]

Started hearing grinding noises during turns on my trip home from picking up trailer. Went to a local RV join and also called Olliver trailers. Both felt it was the ball/bulldog hitch socket making the grinding noise. Along with the grinding noise there was a noticeable difference in the tension between the two chains. One became very loose and the other very tight. Went to the RV repair shop -- they reset it and lubed the hitch ball. Made it home safely but the grinding continues.

 

Today spent the day messing with the hitch AGAIN (shouldn't this have been checked out before delivery to me??) finally gave up after a couple of hours.  Chains continue to get uneven in tension and the grinding noise. I took the hitch off -- and a beautiful pull.  No grinding. Therefore, it is NOT the ball and bulldog hitch grinding. There is something wrong with the hitch itself. I did see on another site that the attachment of the hitch to the trailer should be perpendicular.......mine certainly are NOT......and I was wondering if this was a problem.

 

I'm starting to guess that the hitch was just poorly/hasitily installed by Oliver ( they had forgotten to install / wrong install of several items).

 

Has anybody had any similar experience?  Any suggestions?  Help !!!!!!!

[John E Davies]

I did see on another site that the attachment of the hitch to the trailer should be perpendicular…….mine certainly are NOT……and I was wondering if this was a problem.

The brackets are supposed to be angled forward at the bottom so that they do not  try to move.

 

Your grinding noises are bad, but not unusual. There is a problem with the ball insert.

 

Read here: ... http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/andersen-wd-hitch-faq/

 

I won't buy one....

 

Good luck.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

 

 

[GaryJona]

Two things I will say first I do not believe you are to grease the ball the whole ball turns as the TV turns by the wing at the bottom. I would think  that the loud turn heads noise is the liner they use on the trailer ball and needs a new one put in see the post here or call Anderson and they will send one right out to you I had the same thing and when I was pulling into a campground every head turned knowing the oliver was pulling in with the Anderson Hitch.  The chains getting lose might be as John was stating the brackets , also make sure the turn buckle connection is not unscrewing if you have those to make the chain longer to fit the longer length needed I had one that did and stretched open. Read the post on the Oliver site great info given on the subject. Thanks Gary

[topgun2]

Pictures help!  It is well known on the this Forum that John does not like the Andersen but there are others of us that have also had multiple years of experience with the Andersen and other WDH without major issue.  A fair amount of discussion on this topic can be read here by simply "searching" for Andersen hitch here.  These hitches are usually no more noisy than other WDH and a most often quieter.   Having said this - with the little information you provided - it appears that John is correct.  However, it usually takes a bit longer for the noise to start if the ball insert is the problem.  One of the members of this Forum is an Andersen employee and he is usually very responsive to owner's problems with the hitch.  Don't be afraid to either send him a private message or to call the Andersen office first thing Monday morning.  Bill

[ccarole]

Thank you for your quick thoughtful responses. I just sent an email Sage. Hopefully he will be able to help me with these problems.

 

Hitch worked fine for a couple days - drove in some windy Wyoming conditions one evening. Have had these problems since.

 

Thank you for offering suggestions.

 

Carole

[Sage-AndersenHitches]

Hi Carole,

 

I have responded to your email but wanted to put this on here in case anyone else has this issue. I also have two posts up in the towing section of this forum that will help, one is an Overview of the Andersen WD (Read first), the other is FAQ.

 

Here is the response to your question via email.

 

I am sorry for the problems you have been having with your hitch. It sounds like there may be two things happening that is causing an undesirable experience.

 

The noise is most likely coming from what we call a friction cone. That is the material between the ball and the ball housing. We have had some of those cones that don't do well when they get some moisture in there. We can send you a replacement friction cone to change or if you would rather send us your ball housing and ball we can refurbish it and ship it back to you. That will fix the grinding noise you are hearing.

 

The loose chains could be the frame brackets, they should have the bottom side angled forward and the top towards the back of the trailer and be an equal distance from the ball. Once you have verified those are properly installed a couple tricks when you hook up will be helpful. First lock the trailer coupler on the ball, then with the tongue jack lift everything a couple inches. Now swing the triangle plate up and pin it to the bottom of the ball. Hand tighten the nuts on the back of the chains then put a few turns on them with a wrench to get an equal number of threads on each side. Retract the tongue jack and it is ready to pull. The red bushings on the back of the chins should have a little bulge when the chains are properly tensioned.

 

When unhooking have the trailer and tow vehicle as straight as possible,  loosen both chains so the pin on the triangle plate comes out easily and the plate swings away from the tow vehicle then unhook like normal.

[topgun2]

ccarole,

 

So, did Sage get you on the right track?  Is there something that we missed?  Is it all better yet?

 

Bill

[ccarole]

Hi Bill,

 

I did contact Sage and he is trying to help me out. I needed to take a break from my Ollie with it's problems......so it's taken me a few days to get back to the forum.

 

I did take off the hitch a reattach it to instruction. But I'm having the same problems. I will continue to try and work them out and get back to the forum....as it might be useful information to others.

 

Carole