How does the Andersen Weight Distribution No-Sway Hitch stack up against the competitors?
Question: I've just entered the world of travel trailers and towing. I've just bought a 2014 Ford F-1 50 XLT V6 3.5L EcoBoost with a 3.31 rear axle ratio and the HD Tow Package. I have the base level payload package and my charts say I have a max loaded trailer tow of 9,300 lbs. I'm looking at all of the top brands:
Equalizer
Husky Centerline
ProPride
and Andersen
From what I see in your marketing this system out performs the other brands in a few areas. Being new to this I really want to make the best choice for safety and peace of mind.
Short Answer:
Some of the best qualities of our hitch compared to the other brands, is the ride control (sway and bounce), quietest hitch on the market (no popping, squeaking), cleanest (no grease needed), Lightest weight (Aluminum components), and easiest to connect and disconnect.
Long Answer:
You are looking at some of the best options that are out there in the industry. Where you are new to towing you will find almost too many opinions and some people assume only their way is the correct way. The good thing is you are looking at great options and I will only go through the benefits of ours.
Sway Control - Sway is caused by multiple of things while towing and the most common are caused by head on traffic passing on two lanes highways, lots of wind getting under the trailer due to the nose of the trailer being higher in the air than the back, crosswinds while towing etc. Hands down the best in the industry for controlling sway is our hitch, the tongue weight of your trailer pushes the ball into the friction liner between the ball and ball housing which locks the ball into place and uses the weight of the trailer to keep the trailer stable and following directly behind you.
Bounce Control - While towing a trailer you will hit overpasses, railroads, intersection etc at a high enough speed to cause the tow vehicle and trailer to bounce. A traditional spring bar set up WD Hitch has an upward lift motion that can often make one bounce turn into multiple bounces in a porpoising effect with each bounce becoming less and less noticeable. Our hitch uses the red urethane springs at the end of the chain to control this bounce by absorbing the energy before it comes to your tow vehicle. Once you go over a bump using our hitch it is very rare to feel the multiple bounces after.
Weight Distribution - One of the main ideas you are looking at these brands is you have a lot of tongue weight for an F-150 and alleviating some of that is a good idea to assist with steering, braking, and comfortable towing. The spring bar setups excel at this area and are the best option if someone is looking to lift a lot of tongue weight for whatever the reasons they have. Our setup will leave more tongue weight on your vehicle than the other options you mentioned as they can be setup to even have a negative tongue weight. The one positive to the tongue weight we leave is that the trucks weight helps control the bounce and sway, you also leave our hitch connected when on wet, slick, gravel roads and backing up. A few occasions we leave a little too much tongue weight and we can not get all of the necessary tongue weight removed and the customer needs to use either air bags or other suspension upgrades to help with our hitch.