Adequate Tow Vehicle Rating

In all the years of camping/towing I have ONLY heard great things about this system and NEVER even a bad comment (other then the cost). People today have no problem telling about their personal experience (whether good or bad) with a product and in time (just like everything) the truth comes out. There is no way a product that has been available for so many years and costs this much could still be on the market unless it is a good product. I certainly could care less about ANY advertising from the maker of a product. I base my opinion only on facts and owner’s personal experiences. The reason the Cub was added to the 15 year old design was to allow this PROVEN design to be used with smaller TV (mainly small SUVs, pickups and mini vans) and trailers. I would love to see someone with a 3500 lbs rated TV and a TM give some feedback! After driving a setup with the original design I would think the Cub would make a world of difference. This is only a personal opinion!

BTW - The Cub (and original Arrow) also have weight distribution build into its design.

Koz

[mjlaupp]

For those that are interested, the Hensley Arrow now has direct competition. Take a look at the ProPride 3P hitch:

http://www.propridehitch.com/

The Cub is for use pulling trailers from 2,000 to 6,000 lbs.
Don't know what it sells for.
The Arrow sells for aprox $3,000, but includes lifetime warranty and any parts switch out if you change TV or trailer.

PS good find Mike-great product but they need some competition

I had a Hensley Arrow hitch which really worked well with the pre Trailmanor travel trailer. It became unnecessary when I bought the Trailmanor so it was sold, but I still have the 8 inch drop down drawbar that I bought from Hensley for the hitch height of the newer Chevy Suburbans.

I see we're still chewing the same dead dog trying to make it taste better...

that somehow "experience" overcomes physics...
It's like proudly saying that you're an experienced Russian Roulette player.

I will just repeat what I've always said:
Do your own homework on your own rig. Know what your fully loaded TM weighs, what your tv is capable of, and everything in between. As Bill and several others have said, understand the loads and specs and how they may work FOR you and AGAINST you. Make your own decision based on your findings, and be prepared to live with the results. This is not a video game where you get unlimited restarts. When people are lying dead in the road you can't say, "He told me it was safe." and everything is ok again. YOU are ultimately responsible for your rig.
Risking your family's life on a comment you read online from someone you don't know is not in my book of wisdom.

[ZekenSpider]

Originally Posted by mjlaup
How do you deal with the frame brackets and jacks when you open the slideout on the 3326? It looks like they would have to be dismounted.

Originally Posted by ZekenSpider

We disconnect the jacks at their lower attachment pins and pivot them to a horizontal position as we pull out the slide. The jacks fit nicely under the slide out floor. That leaves the WDH bars hanging so we use bungee cord to temporarily tie them up under the tongue.

I'll send some pix the next time we do a set up (in about two weeks).

P.S to moaboy; Just curious, on the Hensley Cub, it does not look like one could use it on a swing hitch or at least after the Cub is mounted, one could not break and swing, a swing hitch.
Is that correct?

I think it would not work on the swing hitch without modification. I'll look at it carefully next time it is set up and comment on what I see. The WDH bars and jacks are easily removed. The frame brackets are not easy to remove and may interfere with the swing pivot and latch. The big orange head usually remains installed on the hitch ball(but is also removable).

Jerry

Attached are pictures of the Hensley Cub in use on our 3326K. We disconnect the spring bars from the bottom end of each screw jack(easily done with one spring pin on each bar) and pivot the jack to parallel with the ground as we pull the slide out over the top of the jack mount brackets. The installation works quite well with our slide out. We are slightly over 5,000# trailer weight when fully loaded.

Over the years I have towed many trailers and with several different tow vehicles. Most behaved fairly well but all would occasionally get into uncomfortable sway situations....and one (a Coleman Niagra) scared the heck out of me. The process taught me that a trailer must be loaded very heavy on the hitch or it becomes unstable. Even then, the TV/trailer combination can go unstable in high winds and emergency conditions. After looking at the TrailManor line of trailers in 2009 I realized they had a great design to reduce sway and improve stability (by moving the axle further back on the frame).

Even so, when we decided to buy the heaviest model (with two axles) I decided to spend the extra money ($2,300) for the Hensley Cub system. I wanted the added confidence that extra $2,000 would bring when my combined vehicle weight got to be over 11,000 lbs. The Hensley design combined the built in weight distribution bars with a triangular link, tow bar that locks up solid under tow conditions and does not allow the trailer to pivot on the hitch ball.

Just a personal decision I suppose....but it works for me.

Jerry

[ZekenSpider]

Bill:

I'll take a shot at explaining how the Hensley/ProPride hitch systems work (they both were designed by Jim Hensley). I'll add blue comments inside your quote as appropriate.

Attached is a drawing taken from the Hensley White Paper available on their web site. I have added the locations of the link bearings to that drawing and will discuss the drawing at the end of this post.

Originally Posted by Bill

Where are you folks finding meaningful information about the Cub? I've been to the Hensley site, and the opening page contains an uninformative picture, but nothing else. I've tried to download an instruction manual for the Cub, but it is not there. I've tried to download the video, but they won't allow a download until I give a name and email address (precursor to a spam blitz?). I've looked for a price, and it is not available unless you call them - why? For a clue, I look at the price of a Hensley Arrow. And I note that pplmotorhomes.com, which carries every hitch in the world (more or less), doesn't carry Hensley.

Hensley is supposed to be one of the good guys, but I can tell you that if any other site did these things when I wanted information, I would dismiss their product out of hand.

The primary advertised benefit of a Hensley hitch seems to be that it reduces sway. For most trailers, this is important, but TMs don't sway, so why would I buy one?

TM's do sway. They just sway a whole lot less than some other trailers. It depends on how the trailer is loaded and because of the way a TM is built it is really hard to load it neutral or tail heavy. You have obviously had good success and I agree..."why indeed would you buy a Hensley hitch".


As for the picture on the intro page, it looks to me like the jacks are simply another version of the chains on most WDHes. Why are the jacks better than chains?

Not better but easier to control the Hensley receiver alignment when hitching up to the TV.


The anti-sway device appears to be a pair of rods extending from the hitch head / ball mount back to the trailer A-frame, with a black box in the middle.

The rods are to hold the orange head(rear bearing support and long (rear) edge of the trapezoid) at 90 degrees to the trailer center line. Once the rods are adjusted, they are locked in position and never need further adjustment. They make the orange head, the hitch ball and trailer "A" frame all one solid unit.


What is in the box? It is not described. I initially assumed it was a hydraulic shock absorber, but the box is too small for that. From the size, it probably contains a friction pad or sleeve. If so, why is it better than a inexpensive Reese friction sway control - which the towing expert on this board actively discourages, by the way. See
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=2923

The black box is the front half of the trapezoidal link assembly. It is the short (front) edge of the trapezoid and contains the front bearings of each link and is the receiver for the Hensley tow bar. There are no friction pads or sleeves. It freely moves from side to side under the orange head when not being pulled. When being pulled, the links locks up and will not allow the hitch assy. to move side to side.


It looks like the jack brackets might get in the way of the swing tongue, but from the info available, I can't tell for sure. Beyond that, since many members of this board have conventional chain-lift WDHes on swing-tongue TMs, and we know they work - again, why the Cub?

So I am mystified. Zeken Spider, you've got one. Help me understand all this.

Refer to the attached drawing. The Hensley/ProPride stops sway by pulling on the leading edge (short) edge of a trapezoid. The long edge of the trapezoid is locked to the trailer tongue. The right and left edges of the trapezoid are hinged at both ends. When the TV pulls on the trapezoid, the side links lock up like a triangle making it impossible for the trailer to pivot at the hitch.

The only reason to use the Cub as opposed to the Arrow or the ProPride is the trailer GTW being under 6,000#


Bill

I respectfully hope this helps understand how it works and also why it costs so much. Is it worth it? For me...yes.

Jerry

[Bill]

Thanks, Jerry, for taking the time, and making the effort, to put this together. The trapezoid picture helps me understand. And at the bottom line, the answer is the one you gave - "It is worth it for me." There can be no better answer.

Bill

[mjlaupp]

Thanks for the pictures Jerry. Looks like I would have even more clearance since my 3326 has the older style slide with the large front opening.

My experience is that the dual axle 3326 is less prone to sway than the single axle 2720.

Originally Posted by mjlaupp

Thanks for the pictures Jerry. Looks like I would have even more clearance since my 3326 has the older style slide with the large front opening.

My experience is that the dual axle 3326 is less prone to sway than the single axle 2720.

That is saying a lot.

Since April 2005 I have never experienced sway towing my 2720.

If anyone is experiencing sway towing a 2720 then it would seem to be that it depends on what you are towing it with.

Or, the TM tires were under inflated.