Anderson Ultimate Fifth Wheel Hitch

[Clark2262]

I barely tapped the car in front of me. Long story short, this started because the car I hit was run off the road by a tractor trailer (who never pulled over). Anyway, my hitch came off the goose neck and collapsed then my camper rear ended my truck. I don't want to post any pictures and do any harm to Andersen

Did the struts fail ? Did welds fail?

The simple answer, both. The welds broke and struts failed. It more or less rolled off the goose neck connection (in the bed of the truck). Not sure if the connection was the weak link or the struts were the weak link. It looked just like the other pictures in this thread only the welds were ripped apart too. FYI - My camper was probably weighing in around 17K.

 

[Bones]

The simple answer, both. The welds broke and struts failed. It more or less rolled off the goose neck connection (in the bed of the truck). Not sure if the connection was the weak link or the struts were the weak link. It looked just like the other pictures in this thread only the welds were ripped apart too. FYI - My camper was probably weighing in around 17K.

I hope you don't mind me asking. What was the height of your goose ball. Was the Anderson configured in the lower setting or the higher setting?

 

[Clark2262]

I hope you don't mind me asking. What was the height of your goose ball. Was the Anderson configured in the lower setting or the higher setting?

Not a problem. The middle hole.

 

[Bones]

Not a problem. The middle hole.

Thanks. i'm just wondering if leverage is playing a role in these two incidents.

 

[CoveredWagon]

Thanks. i'm just wondering if leverage is playing a role in these two incidents.

If I’m correct, the first was a roll over, and after thinking about the second, I wonder if, for whatever reason, the trailer brakes did their job of stopping. And what damage might have happened to the truck with a standard 5th wheel hitch?

 

[Bones]

If I’m correct, the first was a roll over, and after thinking about the second, I wonder if, for whatever reason, the trailer brakes did their job of stopping. And what damage might have happened to the truck with a standard 5th wheel hitch?

I think I only know a few incidents.

Pin box cupping from adapter. It is unknown if the pin box was structurally strong enough.
The roll over you mentioned.
Clark2262 hitch buckling. Was that the rollover?
and this current incident of the hitch buckling. Unknown what caused this. I have only seen the few pictures and I see a lot of speculation.

So far I think there is a decent track record. I have seen a few post that it is the truck bed that is holding most of the weight of the hitch and is why the base is so wide. (I don't know if this is speculation or not) what makes this a bit more believable is that when you think about how the Anderson is mounted. It is designed to pull up on the ball as Porthole mentioned before. when you pull up and tighten on the goose ball you are displacing or pre-loading the frame of the Anderson on the truck bed and locking it in that position. I would probably have to investigate further on this to make a final determination as to weight distribution.

With the goose Box by Reese you can tell that the weight is sitting on top of the ball just by porthole mentioning the issue with getting the ball out of the fixture because of the damage to the area where the release lever is.

I do know that the way the Anderson is designed that even if your goose ball is taking the weight something has to take the lateral forces when you start moving turning and stopping and that is the upright angles of metal. Don't mind me I'm just analyzing the set up and some of the few incidents. I still really like the idea of the Anderson.

 

[Clark2262]

To answer some questions:

1. Yes the hitch was torqued per the specs. No issues with the connection at the pin box or king pin.
2. I would say that the hitch rolled over, then buckled. This is why my new hitch is a Pullrite 2400 attached to a Reese base rail adapter rated at 25K. This will provide four points of connection to the truck instead of one via the goose neck.
3. I like the Pullrite because it's steel instead of aluminum and connected at multiple locations.
4. Trailer brakes are a concern. I did not get disc brakes, that may have helped. ABS may have saved the day. I'm pretty sure my trailer brakes locked up the tires and then they provided very little assistance stopping.
5. I don't think my previous hitch would have failed this way. It was a Curt 24K.
6. Through this forum and other sources, we have heard of or read about Andersen failures. Are there any similar stories for Reese, Pullrite, Curt, Hensley, Demco, etc? A friend told me someone in a camper next to him one time, had his Reese hitch roll over when he hit the brakes hard. That's the only other hitch failure I've ever heard.

 

[Bones]

To answer some questions:

1. Yes the hitch was torqued per the specs. No issues with the connection at the pin box or king pin.
2. I would say that the hitch rolled over, then buckled. This is why my new hitch is a Pullrite 2400 attached to a Reese base rail adapter rated at 25K. This will provide four points of connection to the truck instead of one via the goose neck.
3. I like the Pullrite because it's steel instead of aluminum and connected at multiple locations.
4. Trailer brakes are a concern. I did not get disc brakes, that may have helped. ABS may have saved the day. I'm pretty sure my trailer brakes locked up the tires and then they provided very little assistance stopping.
5. I don't think my previous hitch would have failed this way. It was a Curt 24K.
6. Through this forum and other sources, we have heard of or read about Andersen failures. Are there any similar stories for Reese, Pullrite, Curt, Hensley, Demco, etc? A friend told me someone in a camper next to him one time, had his Reese hitch roll over when he hit the brakes hard. That's the only other hitch failure I've ever heard.

I'm have a few issues with my Reese 20k hitch that mounts in the pucks. Has it failed no. the worse thing I hear with my hitch is Mid Pinning and High pinning

 

[Doublegranch]

I spoke with Archie at Anderson and sent copies of the pictures and posts. Something isn't being said about these pictures and the story isn't being told!!
Archie is going to investigate this and get back to me. When that happens, I will make a post.

 

[Clark2262]

I spoke with Archie at Anderson and sent copies of the pictures and posts. Something isn't being said about these pictures and the story isn't being told!!
Archie is going to investigate this and get back to me. When that happens, I will make a post.

Interesting. What do you think isn't being said or told?

 

[2psnapod2]

Interesting. What do you think isn't being said or told?

That they are not sure what caused this malfunction.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[CoveredWagon]

Interesting. What do you think isn't being said or told?

l just bet Andersen would like to see your failed hitch. Have you offered it to them?

 

[Clark2262]

l just bet Andersen would like to see your failed hitch. Have you offered it to them?

I sent them pictures and eventually spoke with them. They were very concerned I wanted money from them. I told them no, I just want to understand the failure and share it with them for their own understanding. I never wanted money or anything like that. My insurance paid for my hitch. Beyond that, they did not seem to be very concerned. In fact, he (Spencer Anderson) told me they have sold over 40,000 units without any problems.

 

[porthole]

I spoke with Archie at Anderson and sent copies of the pictures and posts. Something isn't being said about these pictures and the story isn't being told!!
Archie is going to investigate this and get back to me. When that happens, I will make a post.

When you spoke to him did he mention that Anderson already addressed this particular set of pictures with another RV'er and sent him this response?

"Hello - and thank you for contacting us. We were recently made aware of this customer's unusual circumstance and are currently working with them. We have been looking into all of the particulars with this one so we can figure out exactly what may have caused it.On a side note, any bending problems like this with the Ultimate Connection are extremely rare - in fact, out of all of the units we have shipped since early 2011, we have only seen this happen to 2 other units total (which equates to approximately 0.00007%). In each of these cases the trailer did NOT detach from the ball –so safety was not compromised, and damage to the truck or trailer was either non-existent or minimal. For each one we were able to get a replacement unit to the customer promptly so they could continue their trips.

We did bring each of the bent units into our engineering dept. to look them over carefully. We were happy that we did to find any defect in the part itself. Since it is not really possible to determine if the problem was caused by installation error, or other extenuating circumstances, we just went ahead and made the decision to increase the strength of the Ultimate Connection (part 3220 and 3221) by 30% to alleviate the issue in the future.Here at Andersen Hitches we continue to stand behind our product and we will always put the customer first. Along with a lifetime warranty on the Ultimate Connection itself, we also have a $5,000,000 supplemental warranty covering the frame and other damage that might occur. We do this because we have absolute trust in our products and want anyone who owns or purchases an Andersen Ultimate Connection to be assured of their purchase. I know of no other manufacturer in our industry that does anything like that.

Please contact us at customerservice@anderseninc.com if you have further questions or comments. Thank you."

 

[Bones]

When you spoke to him did he mention that Anderson already addressed this particular set of pictures with another RV'er and sent him this response?

"Hello - and thank you for contacting us. We were recently made aware of this customer's unusual circumstance and are currently working with them. We have been looking into all of the particulars with this one so we can figure out exactly what may have caused it.On a side note, any bending problems like this with the Ultimate Connection are extremely rare - in fact, out of all of the units we have shipped since early 2011, we have only seen this happen to 2 other units total (which equates to approximately 0.00007%). In each of these cases the trailer did NOT detach from the ball –so safety was not compromised, and damage to the truck or trailer was either non-existent or minimal. For each one we were able to get a replacement unit to the customer promptly so they could continue their trips.

We did bring each of the bent units into our engineering dept. to look them over carefully. We were happy that we did to find any defect in the part itself. Since it is not really possible to determine if the problem was caused by installation error, or other extenuating circumstances, we just went ahead and made the decision to increase the strength of the Ultimate Connection (part 3220 and 3221) by 30% to alleviate the issue in the future.Here at Andersen Hitches we continue to stand behind our product and we will always put the customer first. Along with a lifetime warranty on the Ultimate Connection itself, we also have a $5,000,000 supplemental warranty covering the frame and other damage that might occur. We do this because we have absolute trust in our products and want anyone who owns or purchases an Andersen Ultimate Connection to be assured of their purchase. I know of no other manufacturer in our industry that does anything like that.

Please contact us at customerservice@anderseninc.com if you have further questions or comments. Thank you."

Duane,
Thanks for this info. It is helpful.

 

[CoveredWagon]

I sent them pictures and eventually spoke with them. They were very concerned I wanted money from them. I told them no, I just want to understand the failure and share it with them for their own understanding. I never wanted money or anything like that. My insurance paid for my hitch. Beyond that, they did not seem to be very concerned. In fact, he (Spencer Anderson) told me they have sold over 40,000 units without any problems.

Fair enough. I don’t blame you for your concern. I’d be too.

 

[Doublegranch]

Regarding my post to Archie at Anderson.....I was only discussing the DRV pictures...it had nothing to do with
Clark2262 post.

 

[porthole]

Regarding my post to Archie at Anderson.....I was only discussing the DRV pictures...it had nothing to do with
Clark2262 post.

My post with the Anderson email reply is related to the facebook drv pics as well

 

[SNOKING]

According to a post on RV.net the drive notice a tug just before the hitch failed. I have a theory that the emergency brake pin got pulled out on the trailer and locked up the trailer brakes, which was to much for the hitch with the PowerStroke up front.

I have long said that Andersen vertical compression testing does not account for what will happen if the truck impacts something and comes to a quick stop or in this case the trailer stops and the TV tries to continue on down the road.

Also the numbers in that email are screwy. I do not think they have sold 2.8 million hitches. The percent sign adds two decimal places. It should be .007% or .00007, or 28K units sold. Chris

 

[porthole]

According to a post on RV.net

Where is the link?

- - - Updated - - -

I have a theory that the emergency brake pin got pulled out on the trailer and locked up the trailer brakes, which was to much for the hitch with the PowerStroke up front.

I can't see any recreational trailer having enough brakes and tires to stop that sudden and bend the hitch. And from a dead pull the Tier 2-3-4 diesels just are not going to make the power (stock at least).

Since we are all speculating - i'm going to speculate a solid object was involved, perhaps a bridge.

- - - Updated - - -

It should be .007% or .00007, or 28K units sold

Much more believable number.