ITEM FOUND: Looking for a hensley hitch

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oldmannj

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Anyone out there have their old hensley hitch collecting dust in the corner of the garage??? I know many of you have gone to 5ers after having TT's so I figured I'd take a shot. Would like an arrow hitch. I have a 34' Trailrunner that's a little squirrelly going down the road. PM me with what you have and I'll get back to you asap. Thanks for your time. ED.
 

EandJ

Well-known member
Re: Looking for a hensley hitch

Have you looked at the ProPride hitches? I just finished installing one on my new Northtrail 2 weeks ago. It's basically the same design as the Hensley, but was significanly cheaper.

We went camping over the weekend, only about 75 miles each way for a test run, it was fine. I was driving down the road at one point, eating a hamburger with one hand and no squirrelness. Last long trip we took (it was with our old Mallard tt) was a white-knuckle trip all the way.

It was very windy and you could still feel the gusts, but it recovered no problem. Was actually going 70 on accident a few time (have to keep it at 65 because of the Towmax tires). Made the trip enjoyable again. There is still a little dialing in to do, but I'm happy compared to being pushed all over the road by 18-wheelers.
 

ILH

Well-known member
Re: Looking for a hensley hitch

Have you called Hensley? They have refurbished hitches available at reduced prices.
 

oldmannj

Well-known member
Re: Looking for a hensley hitch

Have you called Hensley? They have refurbished hitches available at reduced prices.

I've been in touch with Hensley. The refurbished unit are STILL sky high price wise. I was just hoping someone here might be looking to sell their old hitch outright. Thank you though for the response. ED
 

oldmannj

Well-known member
Re: Looking for a hensley hitch

Have you looked at the ProPride hitches? I just finished installing one on my new Northtrail 2 weeks ago. It's basically the same design as the Hensley, but was significanly cheaper.

We went camping over the weekend, only about 75 miles each way for a test run, it was fine. I was driving down the road at one point, eating a hamburger with one hand and no squirrelness. Last long trip we took (it was with our old Mallard tt) was a white-knuckle trip all the way.

It was very windy and you could still feel the gusts, but it recovered no problem. Was actually going 70 on accident a few time (have to keep it at 65 because of the Towmax tires). Made the trip enjoyable again. There is still a little dialing in to do, but I'm happy compared to being pushed all over the road by 18-wheelers.

Seems this is the way I'll go. found this hitch online for a more fair price than Hensley. Your positive review makes 78 atta boy's for the 3P hitch :). 77 of them on their website, therefore yours counts more!! Thanks for the review and suggestion. ED:D
 

EandJ

Well-known member
Re: Looking for a hensley hitch

One thing - it is VERY different hooking up your old style ball-hitch. We are still getting it down to an exact science - but we figure a couple more trips and we should et most of the kinks out. The first time - we were fussin' and cussin'. Just saying - be prepared for a big learning curve on hitching up.

And it took a while to put on. I think the instructions said a couple of hours - hah!. But I also had to move the propane tanks forward, and while I had them off, I scraped off and repainted the rust (on my 1-month old trailer :rolleyes:) and then there was an electrical junction box under the propane tank base that had to be moved. And when I did, I found a connection that was loose and slipped right off - so I had to repair it. (guess I'm glad I found it then, rather than wondering where the loose connection was later). Plus the end of the stinger that goes into my hitch carrier was too tight and I had to grind the corners down to get it to fit - so a couple of runs to hardware store later, etc. the two-hour job ended up being a day and a half.

And things are TIGHT on my trailer tongue. I was just able to squeeze the propane tank cover on in between my electric tongue jack and the towers that the weight distributing bars hook into. The towers can only go one place on my trailer due to cross-supports welded underneath my tongue. I didn't have to cut anything on my actual trailer tongue. Just had to drill some new screw holes to remount the pan for the propane bottles and the electric junction and wire brackets. But it took a while to figure it all out and there is zero extra room. Your trailer will probabably be totally different.

Just wanted to let you know the downside. But like I said before - I found it cheaper than even the used Hensleys and it's pretty much the same design. Neither company likes the other so both will bad-mouth the other somewhat.

If you go on Ebay, you can see the Pro-pride for cheaper sometimes. (new) I called up Pro-pride itself and he matched the eBay price for me. I also bought the extension kit (longer safety chain and seven-way plug extender) and I needed it for my rig. BTW - it came in four boxes - heaviest box was about 85 lbs. Whole thing weighs about 220 lbs. It's a pretty serious hitch. But we like the way it pulls. Like I said if I can eat a hamburger and pull a 34' TT at 65 mph without swaying all over the road, I'm a happy camper.

Now I just need to upgrade my tires so I can go faster. :cool:
 

oldmannj

Well-known member
Re: Looking for a hensley hitch

Well......The deed is done. Hitch should be here in 10-14 days via UPS. Which loosely translated means the boxes will be shredded and the hardware missing. :( Thanks EandJ for the insight. Seems though that your trouble led to fixes that would have been more troublesome down the road. Should be plenty of time between trips in April and May to get this beast installed. If I run into any snags I'll be in here post haste......'cause you'z guyz am da bomb when it comes to helping out. Thanks again for all the info ...Laterz ED:)
 
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