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EchoGale ![]() Senior Member ![]() Joined: 10 Mar 2019 Location: FL Online Status: Offline Posts: 469 |
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There are no "bars" so I don't know what you are referring to but I am saying the whole process of using my WDH is harder for me than you might believe.
Carrying the hitch itself from my garage to the receiver on my SUV is an ordeal. It is heavy. Holding it exactly right to put it into the receiver is hard because it is heavy and I have to lean into an awkward position to see if it's lined up. The plate and the chains are heavy. And every part of this definitely takes both of my hands. It's not always easy to get the plate holes and the hitch holes lined up to be able to easily get the pin inserted because I have to hold multiple things at once, each of which you might be able to easily hold with one hand but I cannot.
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Julie
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deanj ![]() Newbie ![]() Joined: 23 Dec 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 18 |
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Have electric tongue jack. My concern was weight in general. She was fine towing our 5th wheel with our F350 dually. We have always had a rule that if anything happened to me she could at least get home, knowing the fundamentals, this applied to our boats as well.
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S y D
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lostagain ![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2595 |
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EchoGale, you may want to take a look at the Fastway e2. Though the head is heavy and awkward to lift, the bars weigh 11 pounds and are easy to manage, as opposed to plates and chains. My solution to the heavy head is to leave it on the truck during camping season with a locking retainer pin [I'm not sure of the technical name] so someone doesn't borrow it. The bars are pretty easy to lift into position and are held in by a little flat retainer spring that you lift to release with one finger, while holding onto the bar with the other hand. To put the bars into position to effortlessly set them on the L brackets on the trailer tongue, you use an electric jack to lift the tongue until the bars clear the brackets, then drop in and lock the bar retainer thingies. My wife, who is just a tad over 100 lbs. can easily hook up the Fastway e2. Also, there are after market bar retainers that have a clip that is spring loaded that locks them onto the L bracket.
The hitch comes with a lever bar to use to place the spring bars, but it is not really needed if you use your tongue jack properly.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
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StephenH ![]() podders Helping podders - pHp ![]() ![]() Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6418 |
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For any of the hitches that have a heavy hitch head, look into getting a Hitch Grip. It will make things a whole lot easier.
It worked great with the Equal-i-zer hitch. I gave it to my daughter when I gave her the hitch. I got another one to help with the Hensley Cub hitch, although it does not work quite so well because of the articulation which throws the balance off. However, it does work well enough to still be very useful.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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offgrid ![]() Senior Member ![]() Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
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EchoGale, all wdh’s have to have some spring action, if it lifted the tongue and rear axle of your TV without being able to flex it would put a huge stress on your trailer and tv frame (and itself) when you went through a low spot or went over a bump. Most wdh’s do this with flexing spring bars that are under tension once installed. In the case of your Andersen wdh this is accomplished by urethane springs which compress to allow the chains to take the stresses.
One thing you might want to do is just leave the hitch in your receiver so you don’t have to take it on and off all the time. I agree they are heavy. Mine is on my Highlander most of the time because it seems I’m dragging around one of my trailers every few days. I got tired of constantly taking it on and off. It’s really not in the way of anything because I never need to parallel park in my area. |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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EchoGale ![]() Senior Member ![]() Joined: 10 Mar 2019 Location: FL Online Status: Offline Posts: 469 |
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Thanks for all the suggestions! I think I have it managed now with practice (and I do have someone put the hitch in the receiver for me and leave it there locked).
I was merely explaining why it's harder (for us little people) and OP's wife is reasonable to care about the choice. As always though, appreciate the helpful ideas. It's completely doable but it is the hardest part for me but practice has helped a lot.
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Julie
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GlueGuy ![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2706 |
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Sorry you're having such a time with your WDH. I was speaking specifically about our fastway E2, and how easy it is to hook up. Except for the hitch head, which I think will be a common issue for any WDH. But putting the bars on and off is really, (really) easy.
Which hitch are you using? It would be helpful for the rest of us to know. |
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
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deanj ![]() Newbie ![]() Joined: 23 Dec 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 18 |
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[QUOTE=GlueGuy]Sorry you're having such a time with your WDH. I was speaking specifically about our fastway E2, and how easy it is to hook up. Except for the hitch head, which I think will be a common issue for any WDH. But putting the bars on and off is really, (really) easy.
Which hitch are you using? It would be helpful for the rest of us to know. |
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S y D
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GlueGuy ![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2706 |
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I was speaking to EchoGale (AKA Julie)
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
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EchoGale ![]() Senior Member ![]() Joined: 10 Mar 2019 Location: FL Online Status: Offline Posts: 469 |
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Hi GlueGuy, I'm not really having trouble.
The OP asked about the Anderson, which I use (see the beginning of the thread). I shared some of the plusses and minuses and when you suggested that the difficulties were a result of me just not doing it right I tried to explain that that's not the case. As I understand it, the Anderson is the lightest of them and, with practice, I've been able to learn to use it effectively though there are still aspects that are hard. Thanks for trying to help, though.
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Julie
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