Besides the new ball-funnel, the real main difference between the current design and the previous one is the placement of the triangle 'strength' plate. We changed the design from one plate on the front to two plates on the sides. Before I explain why we did that, let me let me just preface it with this –we have sold nearly 18,000 Ultimates since its debut early 2011, and have not had one failure of any of them. That's the reason we changed its warranty this year to a lifetime coverage. However, we did have a few units that were hooked up to very heavy trailers where the coupler tube section shifted about 3-5 degrees under extreme braking conditions. Although that was the extent of the issue –and the unit continued to function normally– we switched out all of those units under warranty. We then pulled together our engineering team together and decided to make a little beefier version to cover that type of situation. We actually thought about selling it as a 'high end' option for super heavy-duty applications, but decided against it as we didn't want to add a separate model, so we just made it a 'one-size fits-all' version. 

Of course, the other change was the addition of the ball-funnel based on the design of our long-selling Ranch Hitch Adapter. Where you bought your Ultimate Connection recently, we can offer you the separate ball-funnel as an add-on at a heavily discounted price. Since we didn't change the king pin block design, it fits all blocks manufactured since 2012.