Advice on New Slider Hitch

R

Rollin_Free

Well-known member
I'm pretty sure you are correct regarding a gooseneck adapter and Heartland. The Andersen Ultimate however is a hybrid and doesn't put any more stress on the trailer than a conventional 5th wheel. Ironically Heartland, Lipert actually, does warranty if using a Goosebox hitch. No difference in hitch stresses than a gooseneck adapter but the parts inside the Goosebox are manufactured by Lipert. Kinda fishie don't you think. Regardless there was some discussion about this very topic on another thread. Bottom line Andersen has something like a $5 million warranty for any damage caused by their hitch. I never said the bar hitch didn't securely lock it's just an.entry level hitch.

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SNOKING

SNOKING

Well-known member
Rollin_Free said:
I'm pretty sure you are correct regarding a gooseneck adapter and Heartland. The Andersen Ultimate however is a hybrid and doesn't put any more stress on the trailer than a conventional 5th wheel. Ironically Heartland, Lipert actually, does warranty if using a Goosebox hitch. No difference in hitch stresses than a gooseneck adapter but the parts inside the Goosebox are manufactured by Lipert. Kinda fishie don't you think. Regardless there was some discussion about this very topic on another thread. Bottom line Andersen has something like a $5 million warranty for any damage caused by their hitch. I never said the bar hitch didn't securely lock it's just an.entry level hitch.

Sent from my SCH-S968C using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

My old Hijacker Ultra 16K was a sliding bar and I had it from 1997 to this spring in two trucks. No one ever called a Hijacker an entry level hitch. Now Curt? Chris
 
G

GregP

Well-known member
OK. Now that I have started the argument...I think I will keep my existing fixed hitch for the time being. If I had bought the slider at the time of the initial purchase, I am sure I would have been happy with it. That is assuming that I used it it every time I needed it, and one thing I have heard on this and other threads is that those that have the sliders don't always use it. I will remove the tonneau cover, carry my tools in lockable boxes at the front of the truck bed, and trust in the advertised 88 degree turning radius (along with a measure of driver care!!!) to protect my cab. Thanks to all for the advice thus far.
 
R

Rollin_Free

Well-known member
SNOKING said:
My old Hijacker Ultra 16K was a sliding bar and I had it from 1997 to this spring in two trucks. No one ever called a Hijacker an entry level hitch. Now Curt? Chris
Click to expand...

So did you replace your bar lock hitch with a clam shell locking style or are you still using a bar style hitch? If you switched to the clam shell why did you change. Curt has a clam shell Q-24 that I understand works similar to what semi trucks use. I bought one based on distributing the king pin surface area pull over a very large area and holding the king pin tight. If I had a choice between a bar lock or a clam shell I'm sure I'd chose the clam shell.
 
JohnD

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
GregP said:
I think I will keep my existing fixed hitch for the time being. If I had bought the slider at the time of the initial purchase, I am sure I would have been happy with it. That is assuming that I used it it every time I needed it, and one thing I have heard on this and other threads is that those that have the sliders don't always use it. I will remove the tonneau cover, carry my tools in lockable boxes at the front of the truck bed, and trust in the advertised 88 degree turning radius (along with a measure of driver care!!!) to protect my cab.
Click to expand...

This last Thursday while at my Chevy dealership getting an oil change and tire rotation on my Chevy 2500HD, the truck that pulled in behind me was there getting his Silverado short box back window replaced . . . smashed out by his 5'ver.
 
R

Rollin_Free

Well-known member
GregP said:
OK. Now that I have started the argument...I think I will keep my existing fixed hitch for the time being. If I had bought the slider at the time of the initial purchase, I am sure I would have been happy with it. That is assuming that I used it it every time I needed it, and one thing I have heard on this and other threads is that those that have the sliders don't always use it. I will remove the tonneau cover, carry my tools in lockable boxes at the front of the truck bed, and trust in the advertised 88 degree turning radius (along with a measure of driver care!!!) to protect my cab. Thanks to all for the advice thus far.
Click to expand...

Don't let the discussion change your mind to purchase a slider. You can see from the discussion around this topic there is always interest but the subject has two sides. I was only trying to say if you want a slider then purchase a high quality one. My Curt E16 w/slider was the bar style and I didn't like the constant jerking of the truck that was caused by hitch movement and the slider was also not snug so it added to the jerking, chuckling problem. You probably already know that there are completely manual or totally automatic sliding action options to choose.
 
Lynn1130

Lynn1130

Well-known member
I don't think any of the other Curts do either or owners would be posting about it and it just ain't there.
 
R

Rollin_Free

Well-known member
Last edited:
G

GregP

Well-known member
The slider I was looking at was the Curt Q16. It has wrap-around jaws and not the bar lock. My reason for staying with what I currently have is that the hitch is working well, with little or no noticeable chucking, and the damage to my trailer nose has already been done thru contact with the tonneau cover frame. As I said, I will try towing without the cover and trust in the design of the front cap and driver care to keep me from exceeding the 88 degree turn radius. I will put the $650 or so to other purposes.
 
R

Rollin_Free

Well-known member
Lynn1130 said:
I don't think any of the other Curts do either or owners would be posting about it and it just ain't there.
Click to expand...

The problem is the bar slider lock 5th wheel is the cheaper style hitch to purchase, really only captures the kingpin not locking onto it and is probably purchased by new RV'ers that know very little about this stuff. To add to the confusion I don't think new members sign up to a forum like this until after they have purchased truck, trailer, and of course the hitch. Doesn't seem to matter if it's a TT or a 5th wheel the hitch isn't going to be high quality and the weights are probably going to be wrong to match trailer to TV. It's a big expensive learning curve to get things right.

When I bought my 5th wheel I thought I accurately crossed my T's and dotted my i's and was solid with my purchase. Needless to say this forum clarified what is really correct so many many thanks to all those that have helped me understand how to do what I need to do to make sure I do it right the second time.
 
Lynn1130

Lynn1130

Well-known member
I suggest you do a search of that particular hitch and see if you can find any negative feedback involving chucking. I could not. But I did find a whole bunch of good feedback from owners. You may have had a problem, and I have no doubt that you did, for whatever reason but it seems that may have been an individual and isolated incident. So time to put this one to bed,
 
Sarge

Sarge

Well-known member
Pulled the RW to the house today - Purposely over cut quite a few turns to test out the replacement hitch from Demco.

I'm convinced they were correct - The issues were caused by a dealer install issue.

EZ hookup - Smooth tracking at max angles on both sides.

Higly recommended...

Sarge
 
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